What started as a rumour has been officially confirmed.
HBO is going to produce a Game of Thrones prequel series about the dragon family known as the Targaryens.
Writing on Twitter, the network juggernaut said: "House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel is coming to @HBO.
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"The series is co-created by @GRRMSpeaking and Ryan Condal. Miguel Sapochnik will partner with Condal as showrunner and will direct the pilot and additional episodes. Condal will be writing the series."
Mr Sapochnik was the director who brought 'Battle of the Bastards', 'Hardhome' and 'The Long Night' - some of GoT's biggest and best episodes across the eight seasons.
"The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories," says Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming. "We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George."
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Author behind the original series, George R. R. Martin, has already released a book detailing the history of the Targaryens called Fire and Blood, meaning HBO has plenty of source material to work with.
Fire and Blood begins with Aegon the Conqueror, who also was the ruler that created the Iron Throne that everyone in Westeros was so bloody keen to have.
The book goes into detail on how the dragon family held off repeated attempts to take the throne as well as from within their own ranks. A civil war known, known as the Dance of the Dragons, nearly destroyed their family and could have prevented Dany from ever being born.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the prequel series has been given 10 episodes for the first season.
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It comes off the back of HBO dropping a prequel series starring Naomi Watts, according to Variety.
The series was due to be set thousands of years before the events of the original series.
HBO executives watched a pilot over the summer but were reportedly not impressed with it, according to TV Line. Producer Jane Goldman was then asked to return to editing and make a host of changes, however, the end result still failed to impress, according to the website.
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A synopsis for the canned prequel reads: "The series chronicles the world's descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history and the true origin of the White Walkers, to the mysteries of the East and the Starks of legend... it's not the story we think we know."
The series was co-created by Goldman and George R.R. Martin, who wrote the original A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which the TV series was based.
Featured Image Credit: HBOTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film
