Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, House of the Dragon showrunners hope for Rings of Power success. Given that both big budget fantasy show prequels launch around the same window, there’s been some talk of rivalry. However anyone who’s been asked this from either side waves away the suggestion.
For me, Tolkien is at one end of the fantasy genre and Martin’s Thrones world is across the other side. These are very different stories at play. House of the Dragon will be an adult show and deal with very mature themes. The Rings of Power will be accessible to older children and is designed to feel more timeless in nature.
Speaking with THR, the showrunners talked up their own hopes for The Rings of Power.
“My hope is that both series work and find a huge fanbase and that there’s a huge overlap in the fanbase,” Condal said, acknowledging he’s a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan. “I think the more big, expensive — really expensive — fantasies that work on television, the better for us fans because they’ll make more of them. I desperately want Rings of Power to work. I’m going to be there watching it the first night it’s available, I will watch all of them.”
Echoed Sapochnik, “Lord of the Rings is great IP and great material. I have no idea what they’ve done — I didn’t make it past The Hobbit 1 — but fantastic. The more the merrier really.”
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Honestly it sounds like Sapochnik isn’t even aware that The Rings of Power is legally unconnected to The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings movies. However both Sapochnik and Condal seem aware of the Tolkien mythology. Likely they are also aware just how different these properties are.
Is it great if both these shows are a huge success? If you’re a fan of fantasy then yes. Game of Thrones, The Witcher, The Wheel of Time have all been met very well, if not universally. If House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power work well for audiences then we are really going to see studios dip in to some of the other material out there on print. Let the golden age of fantasy commence I say.
Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, House of the Dragon showrunners hope for Rings of Power success. What are your hopes? Which show do you think will find the bigger audience and which will be your own favorite? Thoughts below as always.
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