Westeros

Back in 2018, it was announced that George R.R. Martin‘s novella-turned-short-YA-novel, “The Ice Dragon”, had been optioned by the Warner Animation Group (now known as Warner Bros. Pictures Animation) as a possible feature film. Since then, occasional updates from GRRM have revealed it has stayed in development all that time, with his most recent update last year indicating that author David Anthony Durham—a writer of historical and fantasy fiction, and also a contributor to Wild Cards—was working on the script.

However, in the last year or two, the animation division of WB has been going through a similar belt-tightening as other divisions of what is now Warner Brothers Discovery. When the news came three weeks ago that a completed animated feature, Coyote vs. ACME, from WB Pictures Animation was cancelled, it made us revisit the Starling Inc. site of GRRM’s media production partner Vince Gerardis, as The Ice Dragon had been listed there for years. It was, at that time, still listed as an Upcoming project.

But it seems that’s no longer the case, a change that seems to have happened no later than November 25th.

At a press event, HBO’s Casey Bloys unveiled a first-look trailer at the second season of House of the Dragon, according to Variety. While details of the trailer are embargoed, we’re guessing that it’ll air within the month, and perhaps within days.

Bloys also indicated something that seems to confirm our speculation when a casting call went out in the UK: Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is “will begin shooting next spring, pending the end of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.” That caveat is a curious detail there, which suggests that they plan for at least one significant role going to a North American actor… or maybe they’re just wanting to leave open the possibility? But I’m guessing the former, they have their sights on someone.

Will those fan-casting Oscar Isaac as Baelor Breakspear be getting their wish? We’ll have to wait and see!