George RR Martin has seen a rough cut of the first episode and he’s impressed. 

With the dust settled on that divisive final season of Game of Thrones, eyes are now turning to the spin-off prequel series House of the Dragon.

Set some 200 years prior to the events of GoT, the show chronicles the rise of the Targaryens and their power in Westeros. It’s based on George R R Martin’s 2018 novel Fire and Blood and set to star Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith and Rhys Ifans (check out their character bios here).

Despite his closeness to the project, the Westeros creator has turned to his ‘Not a blog’ blog to enthuse about the upcoming project. Responding to a Movieweb piece placing the show as their most anticipated of 2022, he said:

“That’s a hell of a list to be at the top of, too.   Amazon’s new Tolkien series?   Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN?  Marvel shows?   STAR WARS shows? Good company.”

He goes to praise the project, despite his closeness to it:

“I am anticipating HOUSE OF THE DRAGON pretty eagerly myself, for what it’s worth.   Okay, I am hardly objective.   And I know a lot of what you will be seeing.  (I, um, wrote the book).   Also … mum’s the word now, don’t tell anyone… I’ve seen a rough cut of the first episode.   And loved it.   It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s visceral… just the way I like my epic fantasy.

Ryan and Miguel have done an amazing job, and the cast… just as with GAME OF THRONES, most viewers will only have heard of a few of the actors, but I think you are going to fall in love with a lot of them.   (Only to have your heart broken later when… but no, that would be telling).

I think the Targaryens are in very good hands.

Anticipate away.   I do not think you will be disappointed.”

“Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did.”

Sky dropped a minute-long trailer in October, giving us a hint of what’s to come. It featured a very cool voice over from Matt Smith, who plays Prince Daemon Targaryen:

House of the Dragon comes to HBO in 2022, and to Sky Atlantic in the UK.

There’s no suggestion of dates so far but trust us – you’ll be hearing about this one well before it lands!