House of the Dragon never really worked for me.
I know. It has everything a Game of Thrones fan could supposedly ask for: dragons, political schemes, betrayals, beautiful costumes, impressive visuals and, of course, Westeros. And yet, despite all of that, I never developed the same emotional connection to it that I had with Game of Thrones.
And it made me wonder: why?
Perhaps part of the problem is that Game of Thrones asked us to invest so much in its world before we even understood how much that investment would matter.
From the beginning, Westeros felt enormous. There were countless characters, families, alliances, rivalries and histories to remember. It demanded an investment from the audience, not only in understanding the world but in becoming emotionally attached to the people living in it.
By the time we reached the end, these characters weren't simply characters anymore. We knew them. We had watched them grow, fail, betray each other, suffer, and change.
So when House of the Dragon takes us back to the same world but gives us completely different people, something feels strange.
The surnames might be familiar, but they belong to different people. The families we thought we knew are in different positions. The relationships are different. Even the meaning behind some of those names changes. The pieces on a completely different chessboard.
The Lannisters
If I could choose one family to build an entire Game of Thrones spin-off around, it would be the Lannisters.
I loved the Lannister family dynamic.
Not because they were good people—they very often weren't—but because they were fascinating together. The relationship between Tywin, Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion was one of the most interesting things about Game of Thrones.
There was love, resentment, competition, jealousy, admiration, cruelty and an almost desperate desire for approval. Every relationship between them had layers.
Tywin's (Charles Dance) relationship with his children alone could carry an entire series.
Cersei wanted her father's respect. Jaime wanted to be seen as more than a knight. Tyrion desperately wanted the acceptance he was never going to receive. And Tywin, despite everything he did for his family, seemed almost incapable of understanding how profoundly he was damaging them.
What Came First?
Imagine starting with Joanna Lannister.
What was Tywin like when she was alive? Was he already the cold, calculating man we eventually met? What was their marriage really like? What did Joanna see in him? What was their relationship with the children?
And then comes the birth of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage).
Joanna dies giving birth to him, and that event becomes one of the foundations of the Lannister family tragedy. We know how Cersei feels about it. We know how Tywin feels about Tyrion. But actually seeing that transformation happen would be something else entirely.
We even get a glimpse of just how disturbing Cersei's (Lena Headey) feelings toward her baby brother were when Oberyn tells Tyrion about meeting him as a newborn.
Oberyn (Pedro Pascal) and Elia had traveled to Casterly Rock and heard stories about the "monster" Tywin's son supposedly was. When Cersei finally showed them Tyrion, she was already treating him as something unnatural and blaming him for their mother's death.
I'd like to see that.
Not because we need another explanation of why Cersei is cruel, but because Game of Thrones was always at its best when it showed us the small moments that eventually created the people we knew.
Childhood
What kind of children were Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion?
We know the adults they became. We know the relationships they had with each other. But watching those personalities develop would be incredibly interesting.
Was Cersei always so determined to be powerful? Was Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) always more compassionate than people assumed? When did Tyrion realize that his intelligence could protect him?
And then there are those smaller stories that make these characters feel human.
One of my favorite examples is Jaime's difficulty learning to read. In the series, Tywin tells Arya (Maisie Williams) that Jaime struggled with letters and reversed them in his head. Rather than accepting that Jaime might never learn, Tywin sat with him for hours every day until he did.
Just imagine seeing that relationship when Jaime was a child. Tywin sitting with his son, forcing him to learn. Jaime getting frustrated. Tywin refusing to give up. Jaime eventually succeeding.
It would tell us more about both characters than another dramatic battle ever could.
And then there is Tyrion's relationship with Jaime. Their bond was one of the few genuinely tender relationships in that family. Seeing how it developed before the resentment and tragedy would make everything that happened later even more meaningful.
The Teenage Years
This is where things get closer to what we already saw.
Jaime becoming a knight. His incredible talent with a sword. His appointment to the Kingsguard while still incredibly young.
Cersei's obsession with Rhaegar Targaryen.
The tournament at Harrenhal.
Game of Thrones only gave us an enormous amount of history here in fragments.
At Harrenhal, fifteen-year-old Jaime was inducted into the Kingsguard, while Rhaegar's victory in the tournament and his decision to crown Lyanna Stark as queen of love and beauty became one of the events that helped set the future of Westeros on fire.
We've heard these stories.
We've seen pieces of them.
But imagine actually watching them unfold.
Imagine Cersei's feelings for Rhaegar and what they represented to her. Imagine Jaime watching all of this while his own relationship with his sister continues to develop.
When did their relationship become what it eventually became?
Was it connected to Cersei's obsession with Rhaegar? Was Jaime, in some strange way, her replacement for the man she couldn't have?
And how did their relationship evolve as they grew older and became increasingly trapped by the expectations placed upon them?
The Mad King
And then we reach the period immediately before Game of Thrones. This is where I think the series could become almost impossible to resist.
Jaime joining the Kingsguard. His relationship with Aerys, and Tywin's ambitions.
The growing instability of the Mad King. The rebellion. And, eventually, Jaime making the decision that would define how everyone saw him for years afterward.
The fall of the Targaryens, and Robert becoming king. Cersei's marriage to Robert.
We know what happened, but we don't know everything that happened.
And that is where a prequel can be powerful.
Not by giving us another story that happens to exist in Westeros, but by filling in the gaps between the stories we already know.
Give Us More of What We Already Love
I'm not saying the Lannisters are the only option.
The Starks could easily carry a prequel. There are fascinating stories surrounding the Targaryens, Baratheons, Martells and countless other families.
But personally, I would choose the Lannisters.
Because we are already emotionally invested in them.
And Game of Thrones left us with so many little pieces of information about their past. Conversations, memories, stories, relationships, and events that happened before the first episode.
We don't necessarily need another completely new corner of Westeros. Sometimes, we just want to see the stories that were already there.
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