While HBO has always had quality TV content, the popularity of Game of Thrones was on another level entirely. The show was water cooler content, one that was devoured by countless fans throughout its original run. Said fans were thrilled when they returned to Westeros in House of the Dragon, which is a prequel set many years before the events of the series. And the HOTD’s VFX supervisor recalled one thing they learned from George R.R. Martin about the dragons he created.
While Dany had three dragons in Game of Thrones, the new series has way more of the winged creatures. Various members of the Targaryen and Velaryon houses have dragons, and smart money says they’re going to be battling in the air as the show’s run continues on. Visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton recently spoke to Deadline about the process of creating the titular dragons, and how Martin influenced that work. In his words:
We owed it to the audience to make sure we reference the visual legacy from Game of Thrones, both in design and quality. It was always George R. R. Martin’s intention that the dragons were diverse and colorful, so the primary design goal at the start of pre-production was to create the distinct characters.
Points were made. Since there are so many dragons floating around Westeros in the Game of Thrones prequel, the VFX team got to give each one a unique design. This not only differentiated the winged creatures, but also helped the audience keep track of which one was which. And the results were pretty spectacular.
Game of Thrones had epic visual effects added in post-production, and House of the Dragon followed suit. The budget for HOTD is wild, and VFX are a notoriously expensive part of filmmaking. But the team seemingly had the resources to make dragons exist, including going back to George R.R. Martin’s books, as well as the original show.
Season 1 of House of the Dragon was a fun return to form after the controversial final season of Game of Thrones. The season spanned years, and starred two different casts to show the passing of time. But now that all the set up has happened, it seems like anything could happen in Season 2. Especially after the horrifying death of Luke in the HOTD Season 1 finale. We saw the first dragon battle, and it’s likely not going to be the last before the Greens and Reds end their conflict.
While the wait between season for anything GOT is always long, fans will be pleased to know that House of the Dragon didn’t shut down Season 2’s production in relation to the ongoing strikes. And smart money says the VFX team is already hard at work.
House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones are both streaming on Max. Be sure to check out the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch.