HBO Reportedly Moving Forward on "Game of Thrones" Prequel About the Targaryen Civil War Known as The Dance of The Dragons!

While we continue to wait for any kind of substantial updates about the “Game of Thrones” prequel taking place during the legendary Age of Heroes (literally all we know is that the pilot is in post-production and that it is possibly called “Bloodmoon”), a new piece of info regarding the handful of GoT prequel projects under development has surfaced, and honestly this sounds way more hype-worthy!

According to reports, HBO is moving forward with another prequel likely focusing on the notorious Dance of the Dragons! Now, this is an event that was only mentioned in passing once or twice on the TV show, but if you’ve read the books A Song of Ice & Fire, including the companion volume Fire & Blood, you’re already way ahead of the game and likely salivating!

The Dance of the Dragons is an infamous civil war in Westeros history, taking place roughly 170 years before the events of “Game of Thrones”. During this 3-year conflict, a war of succession sprung up after the death of King Viserys I Targaryen between his first-born daughter Rhaenyra (whom he had promised the Iron Throne to) and his second wife Alicent Hightower and their son, Aegon. The factions were split between the Blacks (supporters of Rhaenyra) and the Greens (supporters of Aegon), and a bloody, devastating war ensued, resulting in the deaths of many highborns, royals, and almost all living dragons. The events of this war are chronicled in the book Fire & Blood, which was released last November (and which I finally finished reading just last month). According to the report on Deadline, this conflict will be “a significant part of the TV adaptation”.

Sounds pretty epic, right? The report also mentions that this pilot has been in development for about a year by ASOIAF author George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal, who is perhaps best known for co-creating and showrunning the USA sci-fi drama “Colony”. The fact that he has been apparently working closely with GRRM himself gives me some hope that this project could be something really special.

On a personal note, Rhaenyra is one of my favorite characters in all of the World of Ice & Fire. Her story has everything – tragedy, greed, lust, incest, scandal, and lots and lots of dragonfire. She’s a very complex character that could be very easy to mess up in the transition from page to screen. Both Martin and Condal will have their work cut out for them to make her a sympathetic character while not condoning/glamorizing her (many) questionable actions (i.e.: book-Cersei versus show-Cersei… if you’ve read the books, you know what I mean). In fact, the Dance of the Dragons as a whole is an incredibly depressing story, so Martin and Condal will also have to find some way to breathe some hope and levity into a story that can get excessively dark (Blood & Cheese, anyone?).

Watch this space for more info. Neither HBO nor GRRM have confirmed this report, but the latter has been hinting heavily at it for a few months now, so I expect a comment from his camp sooner than later. Stay tuned!