George R.R. Martin confirms 'House of the Dragon' has completed filming, says he's 'loving' the rough cuts

Washington [US], February 19 : While we still don't have an exact premiere date for 'House of the Dragon', author George R.R. Martin has provided an update on the highly anticipated 'Game of Thrones' prequel series.
Martin announced on his personal blog that 'House of the Dragon' has wrapped production on its debut 10-episode season.
"Exciting news out of London -- I am informed that shooting has wrapped for the first season of 'House of the Dragon'," Martin wrote.
"Yes, all 10 episodes. I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I'm loving them. Of course, a lot more work needs to be done. Special effects, colour timing, score, all the post production work. But the writing, the directing, the acting all look terrific. I hope you will like them as much as I do," he added.
The series is set 300 years before the events of 'GOT' and stars Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans, reported Variety.
Earlier this week, HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys told Variety he wasn't yet ready to announce when the series might premiere.
'House of the Dragon' will air in 2022, but it remains a mystery when. Martin wrote in his blog post that he knows no details about the show's potential premiere date.
"So when will you get to see it, you ask? When will the dragons dance? I wish I could tell you," Martin wrote.
He added, "Lots of work remains to be done, as I said, and COVID makes planning difficult. This spring? Unlikely. Maybe summer? Could be. Fall? Who knows? You'll know when we do."
Martin wrote in a blog post in December 2021 that he had seen a rough cut of the pilot episode and loved it.
"It's dark, it's powerful, it's visceral... just the way I like my epic fantasy. [Executive producers] Ryan [J. Condal] and Miguel [Sapochnik] have done an amazing job, and the cast... 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 fall in love with a lot of them," the author shared at the time.
While Bloys could not tell Variety when 'House of the Dragon' might premiere, he did confirm that it's likely the show sticks around for more than just one season.
"If you're betting on whether we're going to do a second season, I think it's probably a pretty good bet," Bloys said.
"Generally speaking, we usually let something air and see how it does, but obviously, we'll make preparations ahead of time to make sure we're ahead of the game," he further said.
'House of the Dragon' adapts events chronicled in Martin's 'Fire & Blood', which tracked the history of House Targaryen's rule. Specifically, the show will focus on events leading up to and surrounding the Dance of the Dragons, which is the name the poets of Westeros gave to the bloody civil war that broke out among the Targaryens over succession of the Iron Throne.
Emma D'Arcy stars as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, a key figure in the events that will unfold in 'House of the Dragon'. Paddy Considine plays Rhaenyra's father, King Viserys; Matt Smith plays her uncle, Prince Daemon; Olivia Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, daughter to Hand of the King Sir Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans); and Steve Toussaint plays Corlys Velaryon, the famed nautical explorer known as the Sea Snake and the lord of House Velaryon.
After 'GOT' completed its eight-season run on HBO in May 2019, the network announced a straight-to-series order for its prequel 'House of the Dragon'.