According to Martin, the first Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, will get a release date soon. Also, for those who are wondering, Martin knows that fans are waiting for The Winds of Winter. House of the Dragon will explore the unseen history of the Targaryens before their rise and fall in Westeros. The upcoming HBO series will open during the reign of Paddy Considine’s King Viserys I and lead up to the Targaryen civil war, otherwise known as the Dance of the Dragons. Other plot details regarding House of the Dragon remain under wraps but it will reportedly be based on the second half of the first volume of the Fire & Blood novel. Given the potential for success, we wouldn’t be surprised if House of the Dragon ends up adopting material from the still-unreleased and unwritten second volume of Fire & Blood. However, with George R.R. Martin involved, we’re hoping that the story doesn’t divide fans as much as Game of Thrones did in later seasons when it ran out of material to adapt. House of the Dragon officially started production last April with its first teaser trailer dropping in October. HBO’s gone radio silent on House of the Dragon since then, which hasn’t exactly sat well with fans. The good news is that George R.R. Martin appears very willing to share small updates about House of the Dragon, suggesting that he already knows when the series will premiere and is just waiting for HBO to either clear him or for them to make the announcement. Save for Season 7, which dropped in July, HBO aired the first episodes of each season of Game of Thrones in late March or early April. Unless HBO stealth drops House of the Dragon in the next few weeks, which is highly unlikely, we shouldn’t expect House of the Dragon to arrive anytime soon. However, with Game of Thrones’ final season airing on April 13 (14 in some countries), HBO could announce House of the Dragon’s release date by then.
