Time Network News A few days ago, HBO's original drama "Dragon Family" ended. This series has hot ratings and good reputation, continuing the high popularity of "Game of Thrones", and also surpassing "The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power" broadcast at the same time, becoming the most topical American drama work recently. The capacity of ten episodes of the first season of "Dragon Family" may make some fans feel a little unfinished, so let's take a look at the story behind the scenes, which seems to be equally exciting.
01. On October 30, 2019, HBO announced that the Game of Thrones prequel "Game of Thrones: Long Night" starring Naomi Watts was canceled. A few hours later, HBO officially announced a direct booking for "Dragon Family." The latter skipped the pilot episode and got a full season pre-order directly.
02. Bob Greenblatt, former president of Warner Media, once disclosed in the book the reason for skipping the pilot episode and directly booking "Dragon Family" for the entire season - the "Game of Thrones: Long Night" pilot episode starring Naomi Watts cost HBO $30 million, but the project was cut. Bob Greenblatt doesn't think the company can afford to spend $30 million and then not book for the season.
03. "Game of Thrones" series and other two producers and screenwriters David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were invited to participate in the production of "Dragon Family", but the two declined the invitation, and the two are currently working on the Netflix version of the "Three-Body Problem" series.
04. "Dragon Family" has a total budget of about 200 million US dollars, and the production cost of a single episode is about 20 million US dollars.
05. The story of "Dragon Family" takes place 172 years before the birth of "Mother of Dragons" Daenerys Targaryen.
06. The king in "Family of Dragons" is Viserys Targaryen I, and Daenerys Targaryen's brother in "Game of Thrones" is called Viserys Targaryen III.
07. Princess Rhaenyra's name Rhaenyra means "knowing the picture, contentment and constant happiness", and the real character of the character does not seem to be very consistent.
08. The Iron Throne in "Dragon Family" is very different from the Iron Throne in "Game of Thrones", the former is closer to the original. In order to produce the Iron Throne described in the book, the prop team borrowed a lot of prop swords from the series "The Witcher" and the movie "Warcraft". Finally, there are about 2,500 swords in and around the Iron Throne in the play, including many real swords.
09. George S. R· R. Martin predicts that according to the current rhythm of the episodes of "Dragon Family", it will take about four full seasons and 10 episodes per season to tell the story of "Blood Dragon Dance" from beginning to end.
10. Paddy Consdyne, the actor who played King Viserys Targaryen in "Family of Dragons", was one of the first confirmed starring actors. Previously, Paddy has been a golden supporting actor, having starred in works such as "Spy 3" and "Blood Detective".
11. George S. R· R. Martin said of Paddy Consdyne's Viserys I, "His king is stronger, more tragic, and fuller than my character, and I can't wait to go back and rewrite this 'history.'" For this episode (episode eight), Paddy deserves an Emmy, and if he doesn't win, it's unreasonable."
12. In "The Dragon Family", the Valerian family characters are played by black actors, which has caused controversy. Steve Tussent, a black actor who plays Colis Valerian "The Sea Serpent", once said in an interview that this kind of topic is as controversial as the appearance of black actors in ancient dramas, and many people base their view of history on films made in the 60s and 70s of the last century, which are completely different from the facts. Blacks did not appear in the 60s and 70s of the last century, blacks have historically been the rulers of the country, but for some reason it seems difficult to accept. They like to watch dragons flying, they like people with silver hair and purple eyes, but a rich black man? That's too much.
13. Oville Cook, who plays the adult Queen Alison in the play, is the most famous of several heroines, she has starred in works such as "Ready Player One", "Me and Earl and the Checkmate Girl".
14. Ovilla Cook initially auditioned for the role of Princess Rhaenyra, but ended up with the role of Rhaenyra's best friend and rival Queen Alison.
15. Actor Matt Smith, who plays Damon Targaryen in the play, is the most famous of several male leads. He played the eleventh doctor in the British drama "Doctor Who", and also starred in works such as "Morbius: Doctor Night" and "Night of Horror in Soho".
16. Actor Emily Carey, who played the teenage Queen Alison in the play, played 12-year-old Wonder Woman in the DC superhero movie "Wonder Woman".
17. Actress Millie Alcock, who played the teenager Princess Rhaenyra in the play, was 21 years old when she filmed the play, but the character she played was only 14 years old.
18. George S. R· R. Martin has revealed that the "Dragon Family" spin-off series "Sea Serpent" is in development, and the plot will focus on the young Corlis, based on his great nine voyages. Corith Valerian was an excellent sailor in his youth, sailing to the far north of Westeros on the Ice Wolf, blocked by huge icebergs and frozen continents, and then piloting the Sea Serpent on nine great sailing adventures, from which his nickname "Sea Serpent" was derived.
19. According to statistics, "Dragon Family" surpassed "Game of Thrones" in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and Taiwan of China, becoming the most watched HBO original series outside North America.
20. "Dragon Family" screenwriter Ryan Condall confirmed that filming of the second season will begin in early 2023. Whether the second season will air next year has yet to be determined.