George RR Martin praises ‘dark’ and ‘visceral’ first episode of House of the Dragon

George RR Martin has seen a rough cut of House of the Dragon – and the author has given it his seal of approval.

The Game of Thrones spin-off series, which follows the Targaryen family in Westeros, is based on Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood. The story takes place 300 years before the events of GoT.

Considering the huge success of HBO’s epic fantasy drama, there are few shows as highly anticipated as House of the Dragon, but if the author’s opinion is anything to go by, then fans won’t be disappointed.

Martin wrote on his blog that he was “chuffed to read that the most anticipated new show, according to IMDB” was House of the Dragon.

He added that it was “a hell of a list to be at the top of”, citing worthy competitors such as Amazon’s forthcoming Lord of the Rings series and various Marvel shows.

The 73-year-old continued: “Also… mum’s the word now, don’t tell anyone… I’ve seen a rough cut of the first episode. And loved it.”

He went on to describe the episode, writing: “It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s visceral… just the way I like my epic fantasy.”

Martin commended executive producers Ryan J Condal and Miguel Sapochnik on “an amazing job”.

Speaking about the cast, the author wrote: “Just as with Game of Thrones, most viewers will only have heard of a few of the actors, but I think you are going to fail in love with a lot of them. (Only to have your heart broken later when… but no, that would be telling.)”

Martin has a reputation for writing shocking death scenes involving his main characters.

In October, a teaser trailer was released for House of the Dragon. The one-minute clip gave fans a first look at several of the characters from the series, including Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Olivia Cooke as Alice Hightower.