One building franchise over at HBO is the one that spells out the history of Westeros and nearby environs. The powers that be know it has been a fan favorite ever since GAME OF THRONES came on the screen. The top drama programming chief at HBO, Francesca Orsi, recently had a few things to say about the two shows still active for the network.
Orsi states that the GoT prequel HOUSE OF THE DRAGON will be coming back strong in 2026. It had a pretty low-key conclusion to Season Two but a large battle is in the offing. She says
“I’m really excited. I think you’re going to be in for a great surprise on how we start the [season] with an exciting battle.”
Those familiar with the source material know that is to be the Battle of the Gullet and we all know how big and awesome the battle scenes can be for the franchise. In one word – epic!
Many, including us, think it a smart move for the production team to place this battle at the beginning of Season Three. To try to stage a massive battle in time to get it at the end of Season Two would have been quite a rush. We are already too familiar with what happens when productions rush to get episodes completed or whole seasons for that matter, don’t we? Having adequate planning time and then filming time plotted at the beginning warrants a better cinematic experience, thus, hopefully making for the crucial battle that is the Battle of the Gullet to play out properly & effectively. It is noted as the biggest naval battle in RR Martin’s work to date and should play huge for that series when it comes back around.
Orsi went on to explain,
“You know what, it was worth the wait.I was just on set and saw all the elements and what was behind it. I’m so glad we waited because it’s going to be better than ever, and I don’t think we had the time at that point to do what it is that we’ve achieved now this season. It’s just so massive, we needed the time to build it. One of the lead producers on it [Kevin de la Noy] worked on Titanic, so all that he brought in terms of acumen of what happened on the Titanic and how that entire experience is built, he brings that expertise to it.”
That takes us to the newest title in the franchise and what the HBO programmer had to say about the upcoming A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS. Remember, that’s the Dunk and Egg fantasy novella trilogy from RR Martin. The six-episode first season is based on the first book, “The Hedge Knight.”
Francesca Orsi states, [This is] “arcing out a three-season series, which maps out the three novellas that George wrote. You’re going to be so impressed by Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell as Dunk and Egg, the two leads, the sort of brotherhood, the paternal nature between Dunk and this young man. So much so that we’re already planning on how do we build this for the three seasons in total. We’re not picking it up officially, but it’s looking very good. We’re looking at it as a holistic piece, Seasons 2 and 3, because there’s three novellas. The role of Egg only spans not even a year, so you have to roll into it season to season pretty quickly, because this little kid will grow up too quickly if we wait too long. So we’re thinking about that in terms of pickups.”
That all means to keep young Dexter Sol Ansell in play this series is going to move as fast as it can.
One surprise that the programmer dropped is that a possible fourth series is at the forefront out of all the potential series they’ve considered. We conclude with this last quote,
“We have other spinoffs that we’re working on right now, one of which — which I won’t get into — is very promising, and it is still the Targaryen line. There’s a number of other spinoffs, we can’t really guarantee what’s going to go forward, but we are very big budget on the other ones.”
Fans of the milieu should be excited. Are you?
