Los Angeles (AFP)

US television channel HBO has commissioned a parent series of the legendary "Game of Thrones", titled "House of the Dragon", announced its parent company WarnerMedia Tuesday, during the presentation of its new streaming platform, HBO Max .

Co-created by George RR Martin, the author of the books from which "Game of Thrones" is taken, and the scriptwriter Ryan Condal, "House of the Dragon" is 300 years old and tells the story of one of the clans of the medieval and fantastic series.

The release date of this prequel has not been announced, but fans can eventually watch it on HBO Max, which will be available from May 2020 in the United States for $ 14.99 per month.

Faithful to its historical choices, HBO Max will offer dozens of other big names and popular brands, from the series "Friends" to "Batman" movies, betting on quality rather than quantity, to differentiate itself from its competitors.

It has acquired the exclusive rights to the 23 seasons of the satirical animated series "South Park", which will be added to other successful comedies, such as "Big Bang Theory".

In terms of original content, the platform intends to attract a more female audience. It will include a sci-fi series directed by Ridley Scott, "Raised by Wolves".

HBO is best known for its adult series, from "Sopranos" to "Westworld", but WarnerMedia intends to rake much wider for its new platform, which will compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney +, Apple TV +, Hulu, Peacock (NBCUniversal), etc.

Children should also find their account with "Sesame Street" or "The Big Adventure Lego", for example.

The subsidiary of the telecom operator AT & T has also promised new cartoons of the series "Looney Tunes".

HBO Max will be launched with 10,000 hours of content, less than the 15,000 hours announced by the NBCUniversal channel for its platform Peacock, which will also be released in the spring of 2020.

"When we have too many options, in the end we are less satisfied with our choice, it's a paradox, but that's how the human brain works," said John Stankey, the boss of WarnerMedia. "We think the value of our proposal increases when we reduce options."

© 2019 AFP