“What Amazon is trying to do is what many of these companies are trying to do – which is develop the next big franchise that they can then spin off into films and merchandising and games and really create a flywheel effect. Money is no object for Amazon, but prestige and intellectual property are, says Julia Alexander, the director of strategy at Parrot Analytics. Who will be the victor? Do we have room for both? Or, in fact, either? And who has the most to lose?
In what appears to be a deliberate head-to-head, the 10-part House of the Dragon will debut on 21 August, two weeks before the eight-part The Rings of Power launches, which means the two series will reach their respective climaxes the same week. At the other is House of the Dragon, HBO’s lavish, long-awaited prequel to George RR Martin’s hugely successful fantasy saga. Rather than good v evil or elves v orcs, a clash of eye-wateringly expensive streaming series is on the cards, the likes of which we have never seen before.Īt one end of the field is Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon’s lavish, long-awaited prequel to JRR Tolkien’s hugely successful fantasy saga. High fantasy thrives on tales of epic battle, but this autumn a different kind of showdown is taking shape. He said there would be “new characters” arriving in the new novel, and teased that not all the characters that survived on screen would do so.‘W e thought the war, at last, was ended,” says Morfydd Clark’s elf queen Galadriel in the trailer for Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series, but she really ought to know better. The author previously revealed that The Winds Of Winter would be “quite different” from the HBO television show.
“When you hand your kids over you always hope they will be treated well. “You’re always nervous at the beginning because these books, these characters are like my kids,” he said. Martin said he had already seen nine of the 10 episodes of House Of The Dragon and had been impressed by the show. “It’s just before the bloom comes off the rose.”Īll the dragons roar as one.The #HOTD trailer has arrived. “This series begins at the absolute pinnacle of the Targaryen dynasty, they have the most dragons they’ll ever have,” he said. “Who knows maybe I can yet become a severed head?” he said.Įxecutive producer Ryan Condal told fans they could expect “fire and blood and dragons” from the new series. The writer revealed that he was supposed to appear as a severed head in the original Game Of Thrones series, before studio executives realised it would be too costly. “If this show is still going, who knows maybe I’ll show up.” “You may not know there’s this book I’m writing – it’s a little late, I’m not doing anything until I finish and deliver that,” he added, which drew laughs and cheers from the audience. “For the last couple of years since Covid it I haven’t really left my house. Martin joined the series’ British stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke and Paddy Considine (Richard Shotwell/AP) It is based on Martin’s Fire & Blood novel, which is set 200 years before the events of Game Of Thrones.Ī new trailer, released the day before the start of Comic-Con, shows the colossal CGI beasts breathing fire and wreaking havoc as war is declared.įans were shown the trailer again in the famous Hall H venue on Saturday at the top of the panel.Īsked by a fan if he would ever appear in the series or others like it, Martin said: “I don’t know. The 10-part series features Smith and D’Arcy as members of the feuding Targaryen family, and is due for release on August 21. Martin joined the series’ British stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke and Paddy Considine to discuss the Game Of Thrones spin-off at San Diego Comic-Con. The world famous author said he would like to portray a “severed head” if HBO’s upcoming show The House Of The Dragon was still filming when he had finished writing. George RR Martin has not ruled out the possibility of making a cameo appearance in the world of Westeros in future, but said he was still focused on finishing his highly anticipated novel The Winds Of Winter.