House of the Dragon boss surprised by show’s popularity

Game of Thrones fans rejoice! HBO’s spinoff series House of the Dragon, which chronicles a brutal civil war between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty, has finished airing its debut season, and it’s terrific. The success was never in doubt…or was it? Showrunner Ryan Condal has revealed he was initially nervous about whether fans would “come right out the gate and accept it.”

Developing a TV show, especially one as complicated House of the Dragon, is a marathon, not a sprint. HBO took its time developing a follow-up to Game of Thrones. In fact, they famously axed  a prequel called Bloodmoon after reportedly spending over $30 million on the pilot. If a spinoff is going to air, it needs to be perfect.

Thankfully, after years of development, House of the Dragon season one has finally come to pass and the wait has paid off. “It’s so weird, after spending so long making the show, that the finale is airing already,” showrunner Ryan Condal told The New York Times. “It felt like it took years and years just to get that first episode aired. Then, very quickly, everything airs, and that’s it.”

It was worth the wait. House of the Dragon managed to stand out from the glut of big-budget fantasy content this summer, even with stellar competition from the likes of Amazon’s The Rings of Power. Still, the biggest challenge for the spinoff was to live up to the immense success of Game of Thrones. “I really thought it was going to be more of a hill to climb because we were following the Beatles, and how do you do that?” Condal asked. “You don’t.”

"You just try to do your own thing, and hope it connects with people. But I was shocked that people came right out the gate and accepted it, generally—this massive fandom, and tens of millions of people watching the show, and writing about it and talking about it."

Make no mistake: Westeros is right back at the forefront of pop culture. This is proven by the prequel currently standing as the most in-demand TV show on the planet, according to Parrot Analytics.

House of the Dragon boss doesn’t understand why everyone loves Daemon Targaryen

One of the breakout characters from the show is Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen. Daemon is unhinged and dangerous, but also exciting and charming. And he’s played by the delightful Matt Smith, which has helped him connect with fans.

That said, Condal is pretty taken aback by all the love. “I’m having trouble understanding it,” Condal said. “We established right out of the gate, in the pilot, that Daemon is a fascinating guy, but he’s not Ned Stark. So I didn’t see it coming.”

"To me, Daemon is the antihero of this story. He’s a character with a real darkness to him, who’s dangerous and charming in equal parts. I knew people would be fascinated by him and latch onto him, but I figured they’d do it in the way they did with Jaime Lannister or Bronn or the Red Viper. I did not think they would oddly apply this sort of super-fandom to him and try to justify every single thing he’s done as being intrinsically heroic. It simply isn’t. It’s not the case. Nor will it be in the future."

Season 1 ended on a huge cliffhanger, with Aemond and his dragon Vhagar killing Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys. This means war.

All 10 episodes of House of the Dragon season 1 are currently streaming on HBO.

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