The success of “Game of Thrones” is a double-edged sword for fans. On the one hand, it has guaranteed the development of its television universe at the highest levels, but on the other has turned its fantastic world into HBO’s premier brand, with all that that entails. Robert Greenblatt, who was president of WarnerMedia, a production company that collaborates with HBO on projects related to the work of George RR Martin, at the time of making decisions regarding “The House of the Dragon”; He said it very directly: they needed something as powerful as “The Mandalorian” and they knew “Thrones” was the only thing comparable.
Furthermore, Greenblat, in the statements collected in an extensive report by The Hollywood Reporter in which many other details are collected, he did not hide the pressure under which the aforementioned television drama developed. It is particularly interesting to note that, due to the urgency, HBO has made a decision dive into the pool working directly on an entire season of “La casa del drago”, when they came from a spectacular slip. Naomi Watts had starred in the pilot of a series tentatively titled “Bloodmoon,” which went so badly that HBO decided to bury her outright. About 35 million were spent by the chain to shoot the aforementioned first episode of a project that on several occasions has raised the doubts of Martin himself..
After that, Greenblat says, HBO had no choice but to give it all up with “House of the Dragon” because, in times of streaming war, HBO Max was already late in establishing a powerful original series that would ensure its supremacy by the time of its premiere. “I put a lot of pressure on everyone [‘La Casa del Dragón’] developed as soon as humanly possible “Greenblatt says, noting that his speech came once content manager Casey Bloys ensured this was the right direction. “We all knew Disney + launched with ‘The Mandalorian, and we didn’t have any great intellectual property ready, but at least we’d have “The Dragon House” on the way, which is important. Also, I couldn’t think of a brand more deserving of this growth. “.
Ensuring victory
HBO knew it needed to build something like Marvel or “Star Wars” on Disney +, but it wasn’t clear that “Thrones” could be successfully developed by embracing the franchise mode, so as Bloys recalls, the chain didn’t want to close its doors in a first moment. So, before getting down to business with that ‘Bloodmoon’ outburst they played loudly with, the creative team considered 15 potential prequel concepts based on Martin’s work. Finally, “La Casa del Dragone” was chosen because the house interpreted its concept as “an obvious and straightforward prequel” from “Game of Thrones”, according to Miguel Sapochnik, showrunner of the series; something good and bad at the same time. “I believe that [en un principio] they were less excited because it was like, “Well, who wants to see ‘Game of Thrones’ more?” But of course, ironically, the answer, of course, is: many people”.
Source: E Cartelera
