Game of Thrones may have ended over two years ago, but we all knew HBO wasn’t letting go of the franchise just yet. The first spin-off, House of the Dragon is due to arrive next year, and the very first trailer has just been released by HBO Max.
The series follows House Targaryen at their height, almost a century after the family conquered Westeros and 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. But these times are far from peaceful, and as ever the Iron Throne is at the route of that conflict.
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The trailer is narrated by Prince Daemon Targaryen, played by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith, younger brother to King Viserys (Paddy Considine), and future husband to Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), Viserys’ daughter and heir to the Iron Throne.
The trailer doesn’t reveal a great deal about the series, aside from giving us flashing images of different characters set to appear. However it’s pretty clear that dragons are set to play a prominent role in the series.
In fact, George RR Martin confirmed to The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast that there are “like 17 of them” during this time period. Them being dragons, of course, though none of them could really compete with Balerion, the Black Dread, whose skull we see in this trailer.
We even get to see a more faithful adaptation of the Iron Throne itself. While not as terrifying and monstrous as what George RR Martin envisioned, it’s noticeably closer to the books than the one we know from Game of Thrones.
Anyone who read George RR Martin’s ‘Fire and Blood’, on which this series is based, will also know that the political games and machinations from Game of Thrones are likely to play a huge role in House of the Dragon. Because HBO no doubt wants people to recognise elements that made Game of Thrones’ early seasons so popular.
House of the Dragon will debut on HBO sometime next year, though we don’t know exactly when. But here’s hoping we don’t have long to wait, and that the series can reinvigorate peoples’ love for Westeros. Because right now it seems like the only people who want this show to happen are HBO executives.
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