The House of the Dragon team wishes nothing but success for their most direct competitor. Next month, the Game of Thrones spinoff will make its debut on HBO and HBO Max with its premiere on Aug. 21. Just days later, this will be followed by the premiere of another high-budget fantasy series from an established franchise, as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on Prime Video on Sept. 2.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, House of the Dragon showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik addressed the competing shows. Condal, who's a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, said he's rooting for The Rings of Power and will be there to watch the premiere the day it's available. As Condal explains, he feels that both shows succeeding will be great for the genre overall.

“My hope is that both series work and find a huge fanbase and that there’s a huge overlap in the fanbase. 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.”

Sapochnik seemed to echo these sentiments by suggesting that the more fantasy shows that are on television, the better off fans will be.

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.”

Related: House of the Dragon vs. The Rings of Power: Pros and Cons

House of the Dragon Delves Into Targaryen History

House of the Dragon Matt Smith
HBO

The two House of the Dragon showrunners also spoke about stepping into the series. Condal explained how he was immediately sold on the idea of the spinoff when he heard it from George R.R. Martin, as there's a lot of untapped story potential in the history of the Targaryens. He teased that it will still feel very much like Game of Thrones while adding something that's "very different" at the same time.

“As soon as George pitched this to me, all the gears clicked into place. Telling the story of the Targaryens at the height of their power made tons of sense coming off the original show because we get to know Daenerys very well, we get to know the myth and legend of her family but we don’t know much about the Targaryens as they actually existed. It’s an intimate story; it’s a bit of a Greek tragedy about the house divided, a house that tears itself apart over a succession. Very Game of Thrones but very different from the original.”

You can watch House of the Dragon when the Game of Thrones spinoff series premieres its 10-episode first season on Aug. 21, 2022. You can also check out The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power when that show hits Prime Video on Sept. 2, 2022.