Everything You Need To Know About The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Spinoff ‘House Of The Dragon’ On HBO

The final, controversial episode of Game Of Thrones aired on May 19th, 2019 on HBO in a world that looks very different from the world we live in now.

A year later, many of the world’s economies would grind to a halt as restaurants and schools and businesses shutdown in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic. Work on shows like House Of The Dragon, the prequel spinoff to Game Of Thrones, would grind to a halt or, at the very least, slow to a crawl.

But the wait is now finally over. The House Of The Dragon premiere is slated to air on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday, August 21st at 9pm ET. I will be recapping/reviewing the show weekly and each review will post directly after the episode finishes, so be sure to follow me on this blog and on Twitter and Facebook so we can talk about it!

So what is House of the Dragon and why should fans—including disenchanted fans upset with how Game Of Thrones ended—be excited about this new show? Read on for everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and why I, for one, think everyone should be genuinely hyped for what’s to come.

(I have seen the premiere—my hype is not for nothing).

Speaking of hype, author George R.R. Martin writes of the show:

“I’ve seen all ten episodes now (albeit in rough cuts), and I love what I’ve seen. Ryan and Miguel and their amazing cast and crew have done some magnificent work. Hot D is all I hoped it would be; dark, powerful, visceral, disturbing, stunning to look at, peopled with complex and very human characters brought to life by some truly amazing actors.”

House Of The Dragon Story, Influences & Timeline

George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire series is loosely based on the War of the Roses, a time in English history where two powerful Houses vied for control of the throne of England left empty at the end of the long Plantagenet dynasty’s reign.

The Plantagenets, a line of kings that began with Henry II, were Martin’s inspiration for the Targaryen dynasty. Aegon the Conqueror is a rough allegory for William the Conqueror of Normandy, whose invasion and domination of England vastly changed that island’s social, political and linguistic landscape.

Try listening to someone speak Old English and you’ll quickly realize it sounds nothing like the language we call English today. The Targaryens are a blend of the early Norman conquerors and the Plantagenet dynasty that grew out of that conquest and ruled over England and large swaths of France for hundreds of years.

When looking at the Plantagenet line and trying to compare it to the Targaryen’s of Martin’s fiction, and specifically the story of House Of The Dragon, it’s not always a perfect match. For instance, the show begins at the end of the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, a man who ruled for decades in peace and prosperity over Westeros, but whose reign ended without a son as an heir. Unlike many similar uncertain successions, the transfer of power to his grandson, Viserys I Targaryen, was peaceful.

Viserys (who is a stark opposite to his namesake in Game Of Thrones) also ruled over a peaceful kingdom, and as we discover in House Of The Dragon, struggled to produce a male heir, setting up the conflict known as The Dance Of Dragons, a civil war that broke out after his death between rival factions vying for the Iron Throne.

This is reminiscent of the history of Henry I, whose male heir died in the tragic sinking of the White Ship, leaving the succession uncertain. This period in English history was known as the Anarchy, and saw civil war break out between supporters of Henry’s nephew Stephen of Blois and his daughter, Empress Matilda.

In House of the Dragon, which has been likened to HBO’s other hit show, Succession, the question of succession between Viserys’s daughter, Rhaenyra, and her half-brother, Aegon, takes center stage.

All of this, of course, is outlined on numerous Wikis and in Martin’s fictional historical tome Fire & Blood, though that book details 300 years of Targaryen history and this show—or at least this season of this show—only deals with a small part of it.

What this means is that unlike the epic scope of Game Of Thrones, House of the Dragon will focus more on the dealings of court and the backstabbing and treachery and politics of a vast and powerful dynasty in crisis. To me, this is far more interesting than prophecies and White Walkers and Faceless Men. This is the ‘game of thrones’ that Cersei warns Eddard of early on in the main show: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”

House of the Dragon also takes place in a time when dragons were still plentiful, though not numbering in the thousands as they were in Valyria, or as large as the dragons of antiquity. Nevertheless, instead of just three, we can expect to see as many as twenty of the grand, winged beasts, most of whom fly around with Targaryen dragon-riders (a neat advantage over the grounded Plantagenets and Normans).

The story of House of the Dragon takes place approximately 200 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, though it will span a greater time period than the far more truncated Game Of Thrones (which was originally planned to include much larger time-jumps in Martin’s original outline).

House Of The Dragon Cast Of Characters

As with Game of Thrones, expect a massive and disorienting cast of lords and ladies, kings and queens, knights and ne’er-do-wells. I am working on a character guide as well, so I’ll go over the main characters more briefly here and link back to that when I’m done.

The primary players, at least at the beginning of House Of The Dragon, are:

King Viserys I (Paddy Considine)

Viserys I, unlike the elder brother of Daenerys, is a kind and compassionate king whose greatest flaw may be his desire to avoid conflict at all costs. He is good-natured, easy-going and complacent, a peace-time king through and through.

Deep down he is a good man, and there’s not a lick of the insanity that infects so many of his House. He is married to Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke). The two have struggled to produce a male heir. Their daughter, Rhaenyra, is fifteen.

Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith)

The hot-headed younger brother of Viserys, Daemon is the heir apparent to the throne so long as no male heir is born. In Westeros, like in most Medieval kingdoms, succession passes to male heirs most of the time, and a female heir—even the only child of a king—is deeply frowned upon.

Daemon is also the commander of the Gold Cloaks, the city guard of King’s Landing, among whom he commands a fierce, almost fanatical, loyalty. He’s a rogue and a force to be reckoned with, independent and sure of himself in ways that his elder brother is not. He’s also very dangerous.

Daemon rides the dragon Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm, a giant red dragon as fierce as his rider.

Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy / Milly Alcock)

The only child of Viserys, Rhaenyra chafes in her restricted role as a woman at court. She is intelligent and kind and as brave as her uncle, though young and inexperienced (at least at first). As with several other characters in House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra is played by a younger and older actor, indicating that a great deal of time will pass during the events of this show.

Rhaenyra rides the dragon Syrax, a golden female dragon that is nearly as large as Caraxes, though not quite as warlike.

Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke / Emily Carey)

The daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, Alicent is best friends with Princess Rhaenyra. She is also an incredibly important character in this show for reasons I would rather not go into for fear of spoilers.

Suffice to say, her role in the events of the ‘Dance of Dragons’ is crucial.

Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans)

The Hand of the King and father to Alicent, Otto Hightower is a politician through and through. Beyond his uptight and rather dour nature, he shares virtually nothing in common with Eddard Stark, who was a statesmen and ruler but never had a head for politics.

Otto, on the other hand, can play the game of thrones with the best of them, and his position as at the righthand side of the king makes him one of the most powerful men in the Seven Kingdoms. There is no love lost between the Hand and Daemon Targaryen, neither of whom trusts the other.

Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best)

When King Jaehaerys I could not decide who should succeed him between his grandson, Viserys and his granddaughter, Rhaenys. Rhaenys was the daughter of Jaehaerys’s eldest son, Aemon, whereas Viserys was son of Baelon, the younger son.

Despite having many children and possible male heirs, none lived long enough to claim the Iron Throne. Despite strong support in court for Rhaenys and her son, she was passed over in favor of Viserys. Rhaenys is a powerful figure at court despite being ‘The Queen Who Never Was’ and is married to the wealthiest man in the land, Corlys Velaryon the Master of Ship on the Small Council.

Rhaenys is a dragon rider. She rides Meleys, also known as the Red Queen.

Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint)

The Velaryon House rules over Driftmark and pays allegiance to Dragonstone. Like the Targaryens, the Velaryons are of Valyrian descent, and often have white hair and purple eyes like their Targaryen cousins. Lord Corlys is the wealthiest man in Westeros and husband to Rhaenys and father to her children. He’s also extremely ambitious, though his ambition is often rooted in sensibility and pragmatism.

A master seafarer, Corlys is Lord of the Tides and one of the most powerful and influential men in the realm.

House Of The Dragon Showrunners

One of the reasons I’m so upbeat about House of the Dragon is the fact that I have a lot of faith in the showrunners. While obviously an epic fantasy drama involves hundreds (or thousands) of people working on every aspect, from costume design to special effects, the showrunners set the tone, shape the story and help guide the writing and directing.

Ryan J. Condal

Ryan J. Condal was “hand-picked” by creator George R.R. Martin as co-showrunner of House Of The Dragon. After the two met in Santa Fe, NM (where Martin lives) a friendship blossomed. A few years later, Martin met up with Condal and asked him if he’d be interested in producing the spinoff.

Martin was working hard to get HBO to turn his Targaryen epic into a series at the time, and was running into some obstacles. “George was frustrated because this was the story he really wanted to tell,” Condal told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I wasn’t ready to give up on it,” Martin said. “And I liked Ryan’s writing and he really knew my world well — which was a big thing.”

Condal previously worked on the show Colony and was a huge fan of Game Of Thrones.

Miguel Sapochnik

Condal’s co-showrunner was reluctant to return to Westeros. Miguel Sapochnik was a director on Game Of Thrones for some of its best, and most elaborate, episodes including a few epic battle scenes. Episodes like “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter” were widely praised and well-received and Sapochnik brought home awards and a reputation as a talented director. He also knew what made Game Of Thrones tick. He just didn’t want anything to do with it anymore.

“Miguel said, ‘I’m never doing Thrones again,’” Condal told THR. But since he was friends with Condal, he agreed to help out and soon enough he was showrunning. While Condal wrote scripts, Sapochnik focused on directing (he’s in the director’s chair on the premiere as well as episodes 6 and 7).

These are both experienced TV producers with writing and directing credits who are deeply familiar with the world Martin created. Whereas Game Of Thrones was brought to life by showrunners who had never worked on anything remotely as epic, or as showrunners at all, along with an IP untested outside of Martin’s novels, Condal and Sapochnik bring a wealth of experience along with an established fantasy universe to the table. Indeed, HBO had so much faith in the show and its producers that they ordered it straight to series without a pilot.

House Of The Dragon Trailer

Here’s the official trailer for House of the Dragon:

House Of The Dragon 3D Billboard

This fun 3D billboard is currently wowing passersby in Times Square:

House Of The Dragon Episodes

The first season of House Of The Dragon is comprised of 10 episodes, all set to run for about an hour each though run-times haven’t been officially announced for the entire season.

The first episode, Heirs of the Dragon, airs on Sunday, August 21st at 9pm ET and each subsequent episode will air weekly until the finale on October 23rd.

Be sure to tune into this blog—and follow me on Twitter or Facebook—for all my House of the Dragon reviews, explainers and whatever other bits of news, ephemera or discussions we might have about the show. I’ll also be making some House of the Dragon video content on my YouTube channel if you’d like to subscribe.

I’m very excited to return to Westeros. I reviewed most of the seasons of Game Of Thrones, right up to the bitter (and disappointing) end. You can find links to all my reviews for that show right here.