House of the Dragon Filming in Spain in October

[Ran]

8 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Do you guys think they might have a trailer debut during the Super Bowl? It would only be a minute long at most.

Spoiler

 

No, Warner and HBO Max are not running ads during the Super Bowl.

[The Dragon Demands]

News:  Filming has officially wrapped; Instagram posts from the camera crew (grips & standbys) - they took a group photo saying Fire Unit has wrapped. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZq-tN7qwsG/?utm_medium=copy_link

This follows earlier Instagram posts by the Makeup department also saying they've wrapped last week.

Fire Unit is the home base unit for England.  Blood Unit already wrapped, they're the travel unit for Spain & Portugal.

This means Season 1's filming time was 320 days, or about 11 months.

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

2 hours ago, The Dragon Demands said:

This means Season 1's filming time was 320 days, or about 11 months.

Wow I didn't realized that! Ryan Condal and Matt Smith weren't kidding when they told in podcasts a while back the filming for HOTD was massive and one (if not the) biggest they have ever been part of. Hopefully the final product is up to amount of work provided.

[The Dragon Demands]

Well filming started last week of April and ended last week of the following January....

no...no wait, I think the news channel I read this on got it wrong or included pre-production time in their count.

"Active filming" let's say lasted May, June, July, August, September, October...November, December, January...that's NINE months.

They must have been including pre-production. 

[Alysanne Donnelly]

I hope the next trailer or press release tells us what timeframe to expect for the season. It doesn't sound like they're planning on a season 2 which makes me worried about pacing.

[Ran]

38 minutes ago, Alysanne Donnelly said:

I hope the next trailer or press release tells us what timeframe to expect for the season. It doesn't sound like they're planning on a season 2 which makes me worried about pacing.

They absolutely are planning on a season 2. They say they can't expect a second season to be approved right off, maybe, but they have definitely structured the show as if it's going to run more than one season.

[Sotan]

On 2/11/2022 at 9:32 AM, Ran said:

They absolutely are planning on a season 2. They say they can't expect a second season to be approved right off, maybe, but they have definitely structured the show as if it's going to run more than one season.

I think this will be a biennial release like Westworld. Season 2 probably releases 2024.

[Sotan]

On 2/8/2022 at 1:58 PM, The Dragon Demands said:

Well filming started last week of April and ended last week of the following January....

no...no wait, I think the news channel I read this on got it wrong or included pre-production time in their count.

"Active filming" let's say lasted May, June, July, August, September, October...November, December, January...that's NINE months.

They must have been including pre-production. 

I wonder if took so long because Covid precautions changed/slowed down productions. 

[The Dragon Demands]

New interview with HBO's Casey Bloys admitted this and I totally sympathize: they just wrapped filming, and they avoided giving a premiere date due to fear of COVID shutdowns during the filming process; there'd be real financial backlash if they announced a premiere date only to have to later push it back. But Post-Production isn't affected by COVID nearly as much and should progress predictably, so he said to expect an announcement soon.

[The Dragon Demands]

@Ran BIG NEWS WORTH A FRONT PAGE POST - IMDB UPDATE REVEALS FULL WRITER SCHEDULE FOR SEASON ONE

We already had a leaked schedule of which directors were doing which episode, which was also confirmed to be accurate by this update.  Some of these writers we'd heard mention of but thought they were going to be "assistants", while some of the previously announced writers GRRM mentioned by name aren't given full credit but must have been assistants (Ti Mikkel, Wes Tooke, Claire Kiechel - I know Kiechel was there for the brainstorming parts for the series overall but had other commitments so she never intended to stay beyond season one).

Spy photos also indicate that the time skip between the younger and older versions of characters is between episodes 5 and 6, dividing the season in half, and that episode 5 will feature the wedding of Rhaenyra & Laenor seen in the trailer (we saw the "clappers" in spy photos, with the episode numbers listed).

• Episode 1 - Written by Ryan Condal, Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
• Episode 2 - Written by Ryan Condal, Directed by Greg Yaitanes
• Episode 3 - Written by Gabe Fonseca & Ryan Condal, Directed by Greg Yaitanes
• Episode 4 - Written by Ira Parker, Directed by Claire Kilner
• Episode 5 - Written by Charmaine DeGraté with revisions by Sara Hess, Directed by Claire Kilner

 

• Episode 6 - Written by Sara Hess, Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
• Episode 7 - Written by Kevin Lau, Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
• Episode 8 - Written by Eileen Shim, Directed by Geeta Patel
• Episode 9  - Written by Sara Hess, Directed by Claire Kilner
• Episode 10 - Written by Ryan Condal, Directed by Greg Yaitanes

In terms of staff diversity:

• SEVEN different writers, on a full "writing staff" (I guess Ti Mikkel, Claire Kilner, and Wes Tooke didn't get full credits this year, maybe next year)
• THREE female writers, all women of color (two Korean, one black/Louisiana Creole)
• For that matter, Sara Hess is openly gay and married to another woman
• FOUR OUT OF TEN episodes written by women 
• FIVE OUT OF TEN episodes written by people of color
• FOUR OUT OF TEN episodes directed by women (three by Clare Kilner, one by Geeta Patel who is South Asia Indian)
• THREE EPISODES with female writer & director pairings - Game of Thrones never had this EVER, not once (episodes 5, 8, and 9)
• Episode 8 is a TRIFECTA, with a female writer, director, and cinematographer (due to the fact that Geeta Patel's cinematographer is also a woman...for that matter we never had a female director/cinematographer pairing)
• Given that there was never a director of color on Game of Thrones, episode 8 is also the first time that there's a writer/director pairing with people of color (both also women).

[The Dragon Demands]

IMDB has updated to confirm that actor Anthony Flanagan is playing Steffon Darklyn. We knew from spy photos he was playing a kingsguard because we saw him in full armor. Of course, "TV-Steffon Darklyn" might end up having elements combined with Lorent Marbrand (the theory is they won't have him killed early trying to claim a dragon, but keep the actor through the rest of the series)

[The Dragon Demands]

House of the Dragon Casting Rumors: Adult Laena Velaryon, Helaena Targaryen, Rhaenyra's Mother Queen Aemma Arryn, Young Aemond Targaryen, and more

a general casting rumor roundup all in one video

 

[The Dragon Demands]

I've heard a couple of interesting rumors, which are not confirmed, but come from reliable sources who've been accurate in the past - though even these are secondhand. Not direct sources from people on set, but people who claim they know people on set, who DID provide accurate rumors before. Also it seemed quite possible:

Basically, House of the Dragon Season One will have a couple of "worldbuilding" details in terms of props and lore from Martin's books which will be tentatively seeding other potential prequels. 

Most of this is just common sense though, they need to mention the Targaryen Conquest and so forth.

But two things caught my attention when it came to specific, very detailed props which some reports have remarked on.

Apparently, the Driftmark castle set is filled with Corlys's treasures from all his voyages, very detailed props. And it seems like they're using this to prominently set up the potential "Nine Voyages of Young Corlys" prequel pitch. Not that this is surprising, I mean he's a living character in the same show. Even "The Rogue Prince" novella makes a one off mention of Corlys gifting Daemon "the tiara of the Empress of Leng" which he then gifted to Rhaenyra, etc. Good way to work in a mention in dialogue of the names "Yi Ti", "Leng", and so forth.

What surprised me more is that there's a rumor that there's this very prominent, showcase prop in Viserys's study. None of this is confirmed. But the idea is that they want to show Viserys is a well-read scholar so he has various lorebooks open in his study....and a big showcase prop is going to be a scale model he's been building of the CITY of Old Valyria, before the Doom. Like building a ship in a bottle, but instead he's building a scale model of Valyria. And it's going to be showcased enough that it might be the focus of some worldbuilding infodump scene where Viserys is talking about Valyria to someone else, and then launches into detail about the civil wars between dragonlord factions, as a sort of launching point for a Valyria prequel. 

We'll see if this actually happens. But this isn't just dialogue it's tangible, I mean when they start putting out promo images of the sets, we'd notice things like this in the sets for Corlys and Viserys. If we get a promo photo of "Viserys's study" with a scale model of a city in it. Keep an eye out...

[The Bard of Banefort]

I would rather they went forward in time and did a show set sometime in the crazy period between Daeron I and Aegon IV. They could make a Westerosi Tudors, and it would be considerably cheaper because they’d need hardly any CGI. The First Blackfyre Rebellion would also be fun. But I guess they’re holding off on any of that until after FnB pt. 2. 

Just speculating, but if HOTD has a full run, I think viewers are going to need a break from dragons for a while. An Old Valyria show sounds fun, but I think a lot of people would conflate it with HOTD and find it excessive (especially if every character is wearing the same platinum blond wig). Maybe that’s why they’re leaning towards DnE and Nymeria (which is weird on its own, judging by how unpopular Dorne was).

I think HOTD probably will have a full run, but when you consider just how enormously expensive and time-consuming this show must be, it’ll probably need a huge audience to justify keeping it on. I’m sure it will do well, but it probably won’t be anywhere near as big as GOT.

[EggBlue]

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I would rather they went forward in time and did a show set sometime in the crazy period between Daeron I and Aegon IV. They could make a Westerosi Tudors, and it would be considerably cheaper because they’d need hardly any CGI. The First Blackfyre Rebellion would also be fun. But I guess they’re holding off on any of that until after FnB pt. 2. 

Just speculating, but if HOTD has a full run, I think viewers are going to need a break from dragons for a while. An Old Valyria show sounds fun, but I think a lot of people would conflate it with HOTD and find it excessive (especially if every character is wearing the same platinum blond wig). Maybe that’s why they’re leaning towards DnE and Nymeria (which is weird on its own, judging by how unpopular Dorne was).

I think HOTD probably will have a full run, but when you consider just how enormously expensive and time-consuming this show must be, it’ll probably need a huge audience to justify keeping it on. I’m sure it will do well, but it probably won’t be anywhere near as big as GOT.

dragons seem to sell better..

I desperately hope they won't go after anything other than pre-Blackfyre Targaryen era(tuder-westeros in Aegon IV's court's a good idea) .. aside from fear of F&B's spoils, I think they'll gonna ruin the more magical parts of the books (Long Night , Great Empire of Dawn ,etc) and when it comes to Nymeria's story in Dorne.. well, we've already seen how Dorne was depicted in GoT... 

[The Bard of Banefort]

It's probably buried in this thread somewhere, but does anyone know what the budget for season one is? I imagine it must be enormous. Like I said before, I think it probably will do well, but if season one somehow doesn't pull in a huge audience, then the plug will probably get pulled, considering how much money HBO would be losing. 

[Jaenara Belarys]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:38 PM, The Bard of Banefort said:

(especially if every character is wearing the same platinum blond wig). Maybe that’s why they’re leaning towards DnE and Nymeria (which is weird on its own, judging by how unpopular Dorne was).

I think that the reason people disliked Dorne is because the people just seem like a, from your words, I believe "GRRM's fantasy land of hot babes" (which I cannot protest against) and cardboard cut-outs. Which was exacerbated by the two Doofus', who would love an opportunity for BOOBS. Plus, the storyline was dreadful and had dialogue such as "you need a bad *****." 

I'd personally prefer Valyria and D&E, but it's probably too expensive for CGI. 

[The Bard of Banefort]

I wonder if they’re going to change the Blacks and the Greens to the Reds and the Greens. Calling them the Blacks might be a bit awkward now. 

[Jaenara Belarys]

12 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I wonder if they’re going to change the Blacks and the Greens to the Reds and the Greens. Calling them the Blacks might be a bit awkward now. 

Traffic lights are racist, now, so I wouldn't be surprised. 

What am I supposed to expect besides pandering? 

[The Dragon Demands]

@Ran Intriguing...periodically, HBO has to register new sigils for copyright, and copyrights are (eventually) listed in public databases. Sometimes they're just renewing old sigils, but they recently on December 9, 2021 they filed for two new batches:

Link 1 and Link 2

The copyright filing gives no text description but I'm putting them in this list as a reminder:

• Bar Emmon - blue swordfish on fretty silver on white (silver latticework on a white background)
• Caron - black nightingales on yellow
• Corbray  - three black ravens each holding a red heart, on white 
• Mooton - a red salmon on a white field within a gold tressure, on another white field
• Mudd - a golden crown studded with emeralds, on a red-brown field
• Rowan - a golden tree on silver
• Staunton - two black wings on a white bar, set on a checkered field of black and gray
• Strong - vertical blue, red, and green lines on a white background (for the forks of the Trident River)
• Targaryen - three headed red dragon on black
• Tarly - red huntsman on green

Most of these haven't appeared in live-action before. 

Most of the heraldry in Game of Thrones was designed in one big burst in Season 1, knowing they'd use it later, and at least put in the background of war camps or particularly at the tournament scene (tourneys are a great way to show off heraldry designs in advance, and we know there will once again be a big tournament scene in HotD Season 1). Caron was in the Season 1 tourney. We saw Tarly sigils in the teaser trailer, so just renewing it. "Targaryen" might just be a renewal or include variant designs, unclear. (we MIGHT have seen a bit of the Corbray sigil at the tournament in the teaser trailer, but if so it as hard to say)

But new ones we never had in live action are Bar Emmon, Corbray, Mooton, Mudd, Rowan, Staunton, and Strong. We already saw the simple Strong design in spy photos.

The darndest thing is that House Mudd died out centuries ago. Maybe it appears in an on-screen book?

Meanwhile, they conspicuously didn't file for several other designs we've seen in spy photos, particularly Velaryon or Celtigar (and presumably Hightower sigil will appear).  We've also seen blurry spy photos of what MIGHT have been Staunton and Westerling banners stacked in a cart.

Why is only this copyright filing appearing now?

Sometimes they register heraldry which, while it does "appear" on screen (and we love it) it a relatively minor design (again, case in point, House Caron "appeared" in Season 1 but it didn't indicate story details). 

House Mooton, of course, hosted the Tournay at Maidenpool to mark Viserys I's coronation...but all the banners in the teaser made it seem like it's being hosted by the Tarlys?