It was a creative choice by the showrunners, who promise that fans will get a new opening credits in episode 2.
The Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, finally premiered on Sunday, Aug. 21 after much anticipation and build-up over the new installment in the TV franchise based on George R.R. Martin’s books.
Unlike the original series, however, the first episode did not feature elaborate opening credits or a title sequence similar to the one fans grew to love during the eight seasons from executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
Instead, co-creators Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik reveal that it’s something they wanted to save for the second episode. “It was a creative choice,” the two shared with ET. “It seemed important that once the curtain went up so to speak, having a title sequence felt like an indulgence. We wanted to get on and tell the story.”
That said, the series will have its own opening moving forward -- but fans will have to wait to see what exactly that will be, and if there will be any similarities to the one that earned creative director Angus Wall, art director Robert Feng, animator Kirk Shintani and designer Hameed Shaukat a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Design.
ET, meanwhile, can confirm that Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi returned to write original music for House of the Dragon, so here’s hoping he creates another iconic opening score for the new series.
In the meantime, Condal and Sapochnik spoke to ET about what from the original series they wanted to include in their spinoff. And the two key elements were “its tone and voice,” Condal said. “I think those are the two most important things that made that show what it was.”
He added, “Those two things, I think, are the things that most orient people into that world. And those were the things we had to recreate first, if we had any hope of any success.”
House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
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