Why did House of the Dragon keep the Game of Thrones theme song?

House of the Dragon kept the original Game of Thrones theme song. Why didn’t it go with something new? Composer Ramin Djawadi breaks it down.

Game of Thrones has one of the most famous opening theme songs in television history. I know you know it. Let’s sing along: DA da dada DA da dada DA da dada DA da dada dooooo dooooo do do dooooo…

Somewhat surprisingly, the new Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon kept this theme song for its opening credits, although the visuals were changed:

Why did House of the Dragon choose to reuse this song rather than come up with something new? Ramin Djawadi, who composes the music for both shows, broke down the reasoning while speaking to IGN:

"I think it’s a good example of bringing old stuff together with new stuff. As a franchise, we connect both stories. When it comes to the Game of Thrones opening credits, we always looked for and thought of that music as a theme that would broadly encompass and connect all the characters and the journey and adventures of this universe. So we felt it would be appropriate to reconnect with this opening theme for House of the Dragon again."

I actually don’t mind the reuse of the theme; it’s a great song and it does help tie the new show back to the old one. I don’t like the new visuals as much as the old ones, though. I think I’d prefer that House of the Dragon either keep both the old song and the old map theme for the opening credits or that it ditch both and give us something completely new.

That said, House of the Dragon season 2 will feature our characters traveling to more new areas, so it’s possible the show will bring the map back. We’ll have to wait a while to be sure. In the meantime, Djawadi talked more about the music of the show on the official House of the Dragon podcast:

You can stream all 10 episodes of House of the Dragon now on HBO Max.

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h/t Los Siete Reinos