Tower of the Hand

It's official: House of the Dragon will make its long-awaited debut on August 21 on HBO Max. The prequel to Game of Thrones focuses on House Targaryen's rise to power centuries before we witnessed the family line end with Daenerys Targaryen. Based on George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood novel, the new show was developed for HBO by Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, and stars Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, and Matt Smith.

TV Tattle notes that the premiere date pits House of the Dragon squarely against another fantasy heavyweight: the Lord of the Rings TV show from Amazon Prime. A former Amazon executive concludes the scheduling is "a pretty clear sign HBO Max is very confident" about House of the Dragon. After watching a rough cut of the first episode, GRRM similarly expressed confidence in it: "It's dark, it's powerful, it's visceral... just the way I like my epic fantasy."

Martin may have also hinted at the new show's premiere data when he recently announced The Rise of the Dragon (a new illustrated adaptation of Fire & Blood, co-written by Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson). That book is set to come out on October 21, two days before House of the Dragon's first season is scheduled to end. You can pre-order The Rise of the Dragon here (Amazon affiliate link).

March Madness 2022 Open Thread. It's that time of year again! We now know which college basketball teams have made the big tournament and it's up to us to predict which team will be the last one standing. If you're interested in filling out a bracket and squaring off against fellow Tower of the Hand members, please join us in the 7th Scorchiebeanie Memorial Bracket Clash. There's no money involved -- just bragging rights. Everyone is invited to participate; leave a comment here and we'll send you a proper invitation if you haven't already received one. Remember that brackets must be finalized before Thursday, noon ET.

Consider this the official thread for this year's NCAA Tournament. Feel free to discuss your brackets, the games, and all things March Madness here.

GRRM gives progress update on TWOW, HBO spinoffs. George R. R. Martin has given us his first progress update in what seems like a long while. First thing's first:

Obviously it's disappointing to hear that progress on TWOW was slower in 2021 than 2020 and more so that there are no indications that the sixth book in the series will be coming any time soon. GRRM adds that he's also worked on the second volume of the Fire & Blood history book (which he might call "Blood & Fire"); an illustrated version of the first volume; and a previously unannounced "Who's Who in Westeros" book.

GRRM has much more to say about the state of the Game of Thrones spinoffs, on the other hand. House of the Dragon has wrapped filming and will be the first show that we get eyes on. He confirms that plenty of other shows remain in development for HBO Max and that he is working alongside various writers on every one. Bruno Heller is currently writing the pilot about Corlys Velaryon, tentatively called "The Sea Snake." Amanda Segel has delivered a few drafts of "Ten Thousand Ships," which focuses on the legendary Nymeria. Steve Conrad is helming a potential Dunk & Egg show, which might be called "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" or "The Hedge Knight." And there's at least one animated project in the works, too. The first one will be about Yi Ti, under the working title "The Golden Empire," and things there are moving very fast.

Read the whole blog post for all the details on every project GRRM seems to be working on, in and outside of Westeros.

House of the Dragon Teaser Trailer. HBO Max has shared the first official teaser trailer for House of the Dragon:

Based on this one-minute video, House of the Dragon looks like it's going to be a lot like Game of Thrones, though the prequel seems to be promising a lot more dragons. Look for House of the Dragon to debut in 2022 on HBO Max.

Via the official Twitter account, HBO today unveiled three stills that give us our first look at the House of the Dragon cast in action.

First up is Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith as her husband-uncle Daemon Targaryen:

9 Voyages, 10,000 Ships, and 1 Flea Bottom. We've got some new spinoff announcements, courtesy of Deadline:

Bracket Madness 2021. It's Selection Sunday! After a year off, one of the most popular tournaments in sports officially returns tonight with the announcements of which NCAA teams have made the cut. Then it's up to us to pick our favorites to win (and maybe regret the upsets we knew we should have picked). If you're interested in filling out a bracket and squaring off against fellow Tower of the Hand members, please join us in the 6th Scorchiebeanie Memorial Bracket Clash.

Everyone is invited to participate. There's no money involved -- just bragging rights. If you'd like to join, send an email to [email protected] with your email address and your TotH username, and our league commissioner pharout will email you an invite. Brackets must be completed before the opening tip-off of the first game later this week. If you have any other questions or problems, feel free to leave a comment here.

Consider this the official thread for this year's NCAA Tournament. Feel free to discuss your brackets, the games, and all things March Madness here.

After Dark, Talent Shows. Tower of the Hand "After Dark" invites you to mingle with other members and chat about all things off topic. Here's a two-part ice breaker for you all: 1) Name a talent that you had to show off (or an act that you had to perform) when growing up. 2) Name a new skill that you've developed in the past year.