Westeros

A press release touting all the new programs and films coming to HBO Max in August had a very interesting announcement:

We think this may be the first original series to get the 4K HDR treatment straight out of the gate on HBO/HBO Max.

As promised, we’ve put together a gallery of over thirty images from across the brand new trailer, images selected because we’ve some relevant details about what’s shown, or just because we wanted to highlight something. You can see the slideshow of images below! Note that almost all links go to the Wiki of Ice and Fire, which contain spoilers if you’re not familiar with Fire and Blood.

Hot on the heels of EW‘s exclusive, the Hollywood Reporter has published a two-part extravaganza from Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon chronicler James Hibberd (Part 1, Part 2 digging further into both the origins of House of the Dragon, its story and production, and the future of the show as well as other shows in the Game of Thrones universe.

Prince Daemon trying out his brothers chair.

The last few days have been jam-packed with House of the Dragon information, all of it leading to the big panel a San Diego Comic-Con, and the August 21st premiere of the show beyond that. The latest? A video from HBO giving us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the show in production, with brief comments from show runners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, and creator George R.R. Martin:

But what really kicked it of was Entertainment Weekly and its exclusive article from Nick Romano, who visited the sit and spoke extensively with the cast and crew of the show. Since that initial release, EW has been releasing more articles and photos on a daily basis, again leading up to the big SDCC premiere.

HBO has announced which members of the House of the Dragon cast and crew will be present for the panel at Main Hall H during San Diego Comic-Con... and have now unveiled their plans for both an at-event special interactive experience for attendees and the release of an Augmented Reality game called House of the Dragon:DracARys (see what they did there?) for Android and iOs devices. See below for more information!

As the Warner Bros Shop announces “The Day of the Dragon”, HBO gets on board by releasing a brand new poster featuring the young Rhaenyra Targaryen in full regalia with a dragon looms behind her, and a few other licensed products start to make their way out of the gate—including two beers from Danish craft brewer Mikkeller, a set of wines from Vintage Wine Estates, and another set of wines from Australia’s Treasury Vintage Wines.

Rhaenyra Targaryen with a dragon looming over her.

Today sounds like an exciting day for eager House of the Dragon followers, as the Warner Bros. Shop names today, June 22nd, the “Day of the Dragon” and has dropped a large collection of House of the Dragon merchandise on the new shop, including a limited edition bomber jacket that looks very smart, as well as a few bits-and-bobs from Game of Thrones (including Sansa’s crown!)

Below you’ll see the limited edition bomber jacket, and click through to the full article for the press release from Warner Bros. as well as a slideshow gallery featuring a number of the new items that can be ordered or pre-ordered!

Jalic Blades, who among other things produce the Valyrian Steel line of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones replicas, has just announced that tomorrow they will launch preorders for a replica of Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conqueror and many of his heirs. It is a limited edition stainless steel sword, and that some time after they will also produce an even more limited Damascus steel version of the sword.

UPDATE: The even-more-limited Damascus edition is now available for pre-order as well.

The official House of the Dragon twitter account woke up today with a few tweets and new character posters (more on those below)... but all that led up to the release of an official teaser trailer:

It’s a pretty epic trailer (if, concerningly, rather dark and desaturated) featuring all the chief characters, a Red Keep in the midst of renovation or expansion, Kingsguard, gold cloaks, violence, the Great Council at Harrenhal… and of course, dragons. Besides the new trailer, HBO also released a number of brand new character posters featuring key characters, which you can find below.

A new report from Variety shares a piece of information from an anonymous “production insider”: the 10 episode first season of House of the Dragon managed an average per episode budget somewhat under $20 million. This is cited as a great achievement given rising production costs and the greater number of dragons that will need to be CGed in the series. Variety reports:

[T]he production insider says HBO is now so adept at these world-building series through years of not just GoT, but also producing Westworld”and His Dark Materials, that the team can make a high-quality series as efficiently and effectively as possible.

By way of comparison, the final season of Game of Thrones cost somewhere in the vicinity of $15 million an episode.

A dragon egg on the verge of hatching accompanies the announcement from HBO that House of the Dragon will premiere on August 21st of this year. Along with the poster, HBO has also sent out eight new images featuring a variety of characters from the series, that you can see below.

With a ten episode run, that means it’ll end on October 23rd… just two days prior to the release of The Rise of the Dragon. Interesting timing, that… For more on this informational art book that very much ties in to the events covered by House of the Dragon, see here.

A brand new calendar has been announced for 2023: the World of Fire and Blood 2023 Calendar, a departure as it focuses on characters and events first described in The World of Ice and Fire and expanded on in Fire and Blood. Another departure: where previous calendars were single-artist affairs, this one will feature multiple artists, including prior calendar artists Marc Simonetti and Magali Villeneuve, as well as artists new to the calendars such as Chase Stone and René Aigner

Aegon the Conqueror and Balerion destroy Harrenhal, by Marc Simonetti. (This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.)

Random House has revealed their publishing plans for the summer, and fans have noticed that July seems particularly stacked with House of the Dragon tie-ins using Fire and Blood as the focal material.

First, Random House revealed that on July 12th they will publish tie-in editions of Fire and Blood that will feature a cover using photography from House of the Dragon. Second, Random House announced that the 2023 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar, to release on July 19, will be based entirely on Fire and Blood. And, in a departure from the previous calendars, this will feature an array of artists rather than just one. No word yet as to who has contributed.

Fans may notice these July dates, and speculation has run that the dating relates to the as-yet-unannounced premiere of House of the Dragon.

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A sit-down with various media outlets has provided some fresh information from Casey Bloys, HBO’s and HBO Max’s chief content officer, regarding the future of the Game of Thrones franchise, from the release date of House of the Dragon to the status of a number of projects in development. While there’s nothing really concrete, the one thing Bloys committed to is that House of the Dragon is definitely airing this year, but that the conversation has only just now started thanks to the show officially wrapping.

We’ll provide a brief bullet point of the main information that came out of the interview with Bloys:

A new book released today, James Andrew Miller’s Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, is a massive 1,000 page tome that looks at the rise of HBO as the destination for prestige television from the past and all the way to the present. In the course of it, of course, the book can’t but help touch on Game of Thrones. While it covers ground already revealed in past interviews and books (such as James Hibberd’s Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon), there’s a few new details… particularly from a voice fans have not heard before, George R.R. Martin’s long-time entertainment agent, Paul Haas, concerning the final season and its relation to GRRM’s plans for A Song of Ice and Fire.

[Note: This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links.]

George R.R. Martin in the Eyrie on the set of Game of Thrones.