Making House of the Dragon following eight seasons of Game of Thrones, one of the most popular TV shows ever, was always going to be a mammoth task. However, production designer Jim Clay managed to pull it off. His mantra was to “embrace” the original show, but to also “expand” on it, which resulted in some spectacular sets that felt unique while still invoking the Westeros we know.
Clay, 75, has been working in the industry for many decades, Earning a primetime Emmy for his trouble. From Murder on the Orient Express (2017) to Children of Men (2006), his movies have gained critical acclaim.
Deigning sets for House of the Dragon was a particularly tough job; expectation for the spinoff were as high as they’d ever been for a TV show. “It was exciting and in pretty equal measure daunting, obviously, because we were stepping into some pretty big shoes of one of the most successful shows in television history,” Clay told Gold Derby. “There’s a huge fan base there and there would be an expectation from that fan base to continue the feel and be familiar with the world. We wanted to recreate that familiarity and then expand it into our own extended world.”
Of course, with House of the Dragon being set over 100 years before Game of Thrones, the team had the chance to get creative. “We had leeway as ‘House of the Dragon’ is two centuries before ‘Game of Thrones,’ so there’s a little bit of flexibility there. But we wanted the audience to feel they were in the same show, whilst establishing our own show.”
Visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton on living up to the standard of Gameo f Thrones
Visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton also weighed in on living up to the immensely high standard set by Game of Thrones. “We owed it to the audience to make sure we reference the visual legacy from Game of Thrones, both in design and quality,” he told Deadline.
One challenge that the spinoff poses is the glut of dragons. In Game of Thrones, dragons were scarce, but in House of the Dragon, they are everywhere. A lot of work has gone into making each dragon unique and distinctive from others. “It was always George R. R. Martin’s intention that the dragons were diverse and colorful, so the primary design goal at the start of pre-production was to create the distinct characters,” Bickerton said.
Sound supervisor Al Sirkett explained that having Game of Thrones veterans work on the spinoff helped keep the vision alive. “I knew having them on the team would help create a world that was not specifically identical to that of Game of Thrones, but it definitely helped to have them as part of the continuing DNA of this new show,” he said.
House of the Dragon season 2 is currently filming in England. From set pictures, we can see that they’re filming some big battle sequences, as well as some scenes at the Wall. It’s getting closer…
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