The Game of Thrones prequel show is finally happening! Fans of Game of Thrones can rejoice heartily. In 2019, HBO formally confirmed that a new show is in making. It will revolve around the Targaryens, called House of the Dragon.
“For me right now, I think getting House of the Dragon on the air will be the number one priority,” the head of HBO Casey Bloys told Deadline. “There are no other blinking green lights or anything like that. Sometime down the road who knows [how many spin offs there will be], but there are no immediate plans. We are all focusing on House of the Dragon.”
What is the show about?
The prequel show is based on Martin’s Targaryen history book Fire and Blood. House of the Dragon takes place 300 years ago before the events that happened in Game of Thrones. The show will concentrate on the incident in Westeros history known as the Dance of the Dragons. A civil war broke out between two brothers namely Aegon II and Rhaenyra over the throne after the demise of their father Viserys I. The war will divide the entire Westeros and pit against itself, with other houses including the Starks and Lannisters allying to either party. Several houses of the Targaryen’s mighty dragons vanished and would soon go extinct, that is until Daenerys Targaryen would hatch three eggs after hundreds of years.
Do we have a premiere date for House of the Dragon?
As of now, there is no official announcement regarding the air date for the House of the Dragon. However, HBO mentioned that the upcoming show consisting of 10 episodes in total will make its debut sometime in 2022.
Filming kicked off this year and most probably we won’t see it until mid-2022. On that note, we can not say for sure considering the ongoing pandemic which is likely to interfere in production. The show abruptly halted production once in the UK following a positive test of the deadly virus among the crew.
House of the Dragon: Cast
Here are the names of the cast members who are confirmed to appear in the upcoming show.
- Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen
- Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen
- Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, “The Sea Snake”
- Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower
- Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower
- Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria
- Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen
- Eve Best as Princess Rhaenya Velaryon
- Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole
There will be many more other cast members which are yet to confirm and what characters they’ll be portraying.
House of the Dragon: Plot
Plot details are scarce at the moment but we have compiled everything we can for the upcoming prequel storyline. First, for those who haven’t read George’s latest tome, go check it out. It’s an amazing read.
If you have already read the book, the story is so vast that it wouldn’t be able to cover the whole story with just one season. However, we are assuming that maybe HBO will extend the show beyond just the first season which is set to release in 2022.
Head of the Network, Casey Bloys didn’t spill much when he officially announced the prequel.
He said, “The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories. We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George.”
Will the prequel be better than its predecessor Game of Thrones?
According to GQ’s David Levesley, it’s a hard no. He explained that the book itself was a bit of utter nonsense and “If you thought the original series was self-indulgent, you’ll be amazed what you find when Martin writes in the style of a scholar about a series of events that never happened, which begs the question why we might need to treat them with any sort of distance at all.” Having said that, would you still watch it? I mean why not!
