Before there was Game of Thrones or Avatar, there was Dragonriders of Pern, the celebrated, Hugo and Nebula award-winning, enduring fantasy series about a group of human colonists on a far-off planet who genetically engineer dragons to destroy deadly spores that fall from space.

Since 1967, the Dragonriders of Pern series has spawned over 20 novels and, now after a six-year hiatus, the series is getting rebooted with Dragon's Code, a new novel by Gigi McCaffrey, daughter of series creator Anne McCaffrey, who died in 2011.

In advance of the book's arrival on October 2, McCaffrey gave her very first interview to SYFY WIRE. Speaking from her home in Ireland, McCaffrey spilled about where the book falls in the series canon, how the story was inspired by her own life, and the status of a potential Dragonriders movie.

Set the scene in Dragon's Code for readers.

It takes place about a third to halfway through the White Dragon after our hero Piemur has spent several years on the southern continent. He's finding himself as a young man and he's finding his feet on a new continent where he's never been before and doing things he's never done before.

Why make Piemur, who appears in White Dragon, the hero of this story?

I grew up with him. I always thought he had more of a story to tell and my mother never had the opportunity or the time to follow his story further. What happens after his voice breaks? But to be honest I thought Piemur was a bit of a git when I was a young girl.

But you see him as more heroic now?

Completely heroic. He had his dream taken from him. His whole life was about singing. I could relate to it. I was besotted with horses as a teenager. I spent my time in school with the aim of getting only enough of it so I could get my training as a riding instructor. That was all I wanted. Through no fault of anyone, I had that dream yanked away from me. It was completely horrendous. I was just trying to find something to fill that void and there was nothing. I completely understood how it must've felt for Piemur — what it felt like not to sing or not to sing the way he used to sing.

The book's promotional material teasing the possibility of dragon vs. dragon has gotten a lot of attention from fans. What can you say about that?

That was an idea that my mother introduced, so I wasn't going to far out of the fan box, certainly not for my first time around. It was rooted in what happens in the White Dragon. I'm not going to say more. I don't want to give anything away. Dragons vs. dragons are a bit of a tease, isn't it? (Laughs).

Credit: Penguin Random House

The Dragonriders of Pern series has lasted for more than 50 years and includes more than 20 books. How do you explain the enduring appeal?

A very long time ago, someone asked my mom, "Why dragons?" She said, "What would it be like if you were never ever alone ever again? What would it be like if you had a sentient relationship that was completely unconditional? That you had a bond with another creature that nothing bar death could break it? They loved you warts and all." I just thought that's cool. I think that's part of the appeal of the dragons: Their bond with their humans is irrevocable. They are these sage wise noble gorgeous creatures that everyone wants. Its so silly but I get so excited thinking about them because they're such great creatures.

My mother thought of them in terms of the comfort and companionship she got from her cat and that fabulous feeling you get when you were on a horse's back and all the cogs slipped into place and you were completely in tune with the horse and he was in tune with you. The other thing that makes it enduring — I know it riled a few people — but mom didn't want religion or war on Pern. She'd grown up as a young girl in World War II and she had a terrible experience with the Catholic Church. She decided straight out no war and no religion. The fact that those two elements don't appear on Perm was attractive to many people. It certainly is to me.

Will there ever be a Dragonriders of Pern film or TV series?

Over the years we've had a lot of people interested in putting Pern on the screen. I'd love to see dragons on the big screen but all those cogs haven't fallen into place yet. We've gotten so close in the past. Even with CGI as developed as it is, it would be a really big budget. At the end of the day, I know when Hollywood has been involved they've had this problem with dragons.

With shows like Game of Thrones, do you think Hollywood's attitude toward genre and especially dragons has changed?

We've had loads of interest in recent years. "Watch this space," I suppose is what I can say. I don't know what's going to happen but I hope that the cogs fall in place and the universe gives us a Pern in a fantastic series or on the big screen or through some streaming service. I think the time is right. My God, I'm completely a Game of Thrones fan. It dove us mad in this house. We couldn't handle watching just one episode. A friend gave us the first four series in a box set and we stayed up all night watching.