Rabat – As the new spin-off series “House of Dragon” is set to premiere on August 22, Moroccan fans are left wondering if Morocco will again provide the iconic backdrops for the new Game of Thrones series.
The filming of the new series was understandably shrouded in mystery, as producers were keen to not reveal the story ahead of its launch this week. Early speculation on the series saw several outlets predict the return of Moroccan scenery to the series, yet very little is known about the extent to which Morocco will feature in the new Game of Thrones series.
In the past years several news and entertainment outlets confirmed that Morocco would feature in the new series. Australian entertainment outlet Escape listed Morocco as a filming location, as did reporting from GQ magazine.
The creator of the Game of Thrones series, author George R.R. Martin, said in November of 2019 that he “expected” to return to Morocco for the new series, but very little has been revealed ever since.
As millions of Game of Thrones fans prepare for the premiere of the first episode of House of Dragon on August 22, spotting Moroccan scenery could become a new past-time for Moroccan fans of the series.
The popular Game of Thrones series has featured a variety of Moroccan locations in its previous iterations.
The peaceful coastal city Essaouira featured as Astapor, one of the slave cities liberated by one of the series’ key protagonists. The ancient kasba (fortifications) of Ait-Ben-Haddou similarly became the city of “Yunkai,” where many key developments in the series transpired.
Currently, Morocco is not listed among the filming locations on the Internet Movie Database. Still, given the importance of Moroccan scenery in the previous Game of Thrones series, fans are eagerly awaiting to see whether the North African country will again be featured extensively in the new House of Dragon series, which is a prequel series, set three centuries before the original series.
