After Game of Thrones wrapped in 2019 after eight years of huge success, HBO was keen to seek out the following epic fantasy drama that might tackle the mantle. HBO had by no means pursued spinoff collection earlier than, however in accordance with a brand new account on the Hollywood Reporter, it was keen to take the chance so as to create a cinematic franchise that may rival Marvel or Star Wars.

The street to creating the collection that we now know as House of the Dragon was not easy. After a large collection of pitches, HBO narrowed it down to 5 concepts that have been put into improvement. “I wanted to give ourselves every chance of success,” mentioned Casey Bloys, HBO’s chief content material officer, to THR. “You don’t want to say, ‘We’re going to replace the biggest show of all time and it’s all going to rest on one script.’”

All 5 ideas have been prequels set earlier than the occasions of Game of Thrones. Three of them have been “a script about the destruction of the ancient Targaryen empire of Valyria by Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), another was a take on the Dornish warrior queen Nymeria by Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), and yet another… was about Aegon’s conquest of Westeros and penned by Rand Ravich and Far Shariat (The Astronaut’s Wife). That script portrayed the William the Conqueror-inspired figure as a drunken lout.”

The final two have been Bloodmoon and The Dance of the Dragons. The latter was the story that George R.R. Martin himself had pitched to HBO. But Bloodmoon was HBO’s first try at recreating the success of Game of Thrones. It would “take place years before the events in Thrones, during the fabled Age of Heroes and the wintry apocalypse known as the Long Night.” And it failed, to the tune of a 30 million greenback pilot that was ultimately deemed not ok and locked in HBO’s “dungeon.” Not even Martin has seen it. Later, after some rewrites, The Dance of the Dragons grew to become House of the Dragon. Hopefully, HBO can get among the magic again.

We’ll discover out quickly: House of the Dragon premieres August 21 on HBO Max.

Want extra io9 information? Check out when to anticipate the newest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and every thing you have to find out about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.