Despite the fact that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” and Amazon’s massive “Lord of the Rings” series debuted around the exact same time, and have been airing concurrently for weeks, ” “House of the Dragon” showrunner Ryan Condall sees no rivalry between the two. In fact, the more well-formed higher fantasy in their mind the better.
“I’m a huge unattainable Tolkien fan,” Condall told TheWrap as part of our exclusive interview showcasing Condall and his work on “House of the Dragon” as part of our 2022 Innovators List .
“I read ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Silmarillion’ and ‘The Hobbit’ many times growing up, I watched Peter Jackson’s movies in the theater several times. I love all that stuff, I love high fantasy, and Clearly I want to live in a world where all these things have a place to exist, if they are good. I think there is a need for more well-made expensive science-fiction/fantasy on television that we all Want idiots.”
More on the rivalry front, Kondal doesn’t see a world in which higher ratings for one show mean lower ratings for another.
“I don’t think someone watching ‘Rings of Power’ means they’re not watching ‘House of the Dragon,’ I don’t see it that way,” he continued. “I see that one feeds into the other, and I think that more good quality genre entertainment on television will attract as much in the general public who may not be so predisposed to see it.”
Kondal, who has shepherded the acclaimed and highly-watched launch of the first season of “House of the Dragon,” explained that when its predecessor show first launched, it was a very different time.
“We have to remember that when ‘Game of Thrones’ aired, there was a lot of resistance around ‘norms’ who watched the show because they thought it was silly or goofy, but they sucked at the adult way in which George [R.R. Martin] and david [Benioff] and charity [Weiss] told the story, its surprising twists, the way it really became fantasy on his ear,” Condall explained. “George, as a huge Tolkien fan, really takes on a lot of Tolkien – those weren’t tropes when Tolkien wrote them, but they became a trope over the decades when everyone else tried to imitate Tolkien and turned them on their head and surprised people. The way, and that’s what attracted people to the show.”
Kondal says that in 2022, fantasy is far more mainstream. Just look at how proudly people promote their fandom these days.
“People are a lot more inclined now than ever to put a Targaryen flag on the back of their car in 2022 or to admit that they watch shows on watercoolers at hedge funds or whatever,” he said. Told. “It’s made fantasy mainstream and I think coming along with these good, high-quality shows makes fantasy more mainstream. And then it creates a bigger audience, that means more of these shows.” Can be created and made in an interesting way that is not just Popcorn Mass Entertainment, it is something that is interesting to say.”
Not for nothing else, but HBO’s and Amazon’s investment in these two related series has been massive, which has made “House of the Dragon” and “The Rings of Power” quality a lot better.
“As we know these shows are not cheap to make and they are dangerous ventures, because you have to invest a lot of money to find out whether it works or not,” explained Condall. “We want studios in a risk-to-risk mode, we don’t want them in a risk-averse mode, because that’s where good art comes from.”
Watch our full interview with Kondal as part of our innovators panel.
