Westeros. A continent with seven kingdoms, ruled by upper and lower houses who are united in deadly disputes by greed, loyalty, and often times treachery. That is, however, before the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror and his Targaryen sisters. HBO‘s adaptations of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon have both, to varying degrees, linked back to Aegon’s story. Aegon’s Dream, the Iron Throne, the skull of Balerion, the Black Dread beneath King’s Landing and, of course, the ruins of Harrenhal are all pointers to the conquest that united the Seven Kingdoms behind one House. HBO has yet to officially greenlight an Aegon’s Conquest series. However, the Game of Thrones prequel series is set to be in the works with writer Mattson Tomlin, attached to write the television series.
In Westerosi history, Aegon’s conquest of Westeros plays a pivotal role in how the Seven Kingdoms will ultimately come to be. With the aid of his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys, the Conqueror would mount his dragon and subdue an entire continent. This tale is captured in George R.R. Martin‘s incredibly detailed novel Fire & Blood. During a chat with Nexus Point News, writer Tomlin was quizzed on his approach to adapting this new series. Tomlin explained that the key to getting it right lies in working in close quarters with George and respecting his extremely detailed work. Tomlin‘s comments read:
“It starts with what George R.R. Martin has done. I’ve now gotten to spend quite a bit of time with him … going through ‘Fire & Blood’, highlighting passages, and asking him, What did this mean? What is this? What I think it is … Sometimes really grilling him. It’s really taking that text and treating it like it’s real history … my approach to it was [that] Fire & Blood is written like a real history and these things happened … but we don’t know everything … Also, there’s that great quote … ‘History is written by the people who won’ … so then there’s that as well.”
Given that much of Martin‘s text in Fire & Blood is written as history, Tomlin understands that he has to bring these characters out from the past and make them as relatable as possible. “For me, it’s about making sure that I respect George and I respect the text,” The Batman Part II writer said. “And then also, it still has to be a dramatic story. Those characters have to go on a journey; they have to change; they have to go from a beginning to a middle to an end. Figuring out how to do all of that with the clues that that textbook has left for me and go, okay, I’m going to interpret this very real history and try to make it a really vivid show that hopefully people love and don’t hate, doing the best I can.”
HBO Hopes To Bring More Spin-offs
How Aegon’s Conquest ends up remains to be seen, but it is certain to be a thrilling ride. From his victories in Essos, to his conquest in the Crownlands, and beyond, all the way to the defiance of Dorne. The would-be prequel series isn’t the only spin-off series in development at HBO. Despite the Jon Snow spinoff being shelved, HBO has already greenlit and is looking ahead to the premiere of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight coming next year. There is also a planned adaptation of Queen Nymeria’s exploits in the upcoming spin-off, 10,000 Ships.
Stick with Collider to find out more Game of Thrones news as soon as it is announced. You can stream Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon right now on Max.
via Collider