House of the Dragon originally had 22 dragons listed to be used in the series

House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel, will explore events from around 200 years before the original show’s storyline when Targaryens and their dragons were flourishing in Westeros. Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has also confirmed the presence of 17 dragons on the show, which is much more than the original series. However, it seems the number of dragons was initially supposed to be even more.

House of the Dragon initially had 22 dragons listed

Showmakers do take creative liberties to encompass an adaptation according to the budget and keep it realistic on screen, hence it is not always possible to get every element from the source right. In a recent interview with The Brunswick News, the show’s visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton revealed:

“The original series had three dragons; they were all really variations on the same design. We went into this series listing 22 different dragon characters. We only featured nine of them this season. There are probably gonna be more in Season 2.”

House of the Dragon honors George R. R. Martin’s vision

Martin previously made it clear that he liked the dragons in House of the Dragon more than the ones in Game of Thrones. Bickerton also emphasized that, saying, “Miguel and Ryan were very keen for each dragon to have its own character. Ryan had spoken a lot to [author] George R.R. Martin, and he always envisaged dragons as being much more colorful and much more ranging in design. So we try to honor that.”

Read Next: House of the Dragon Season 2 will use a different “format” from Season 1