HBO has released official photos of the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. While set photos had previously leaked, the new collection of images is the first official look at some of the main characters of the much-awaited series. Based on George R. R. Martin's book Fire and Blood, House of the Dragon will tell the story of House Targaryen and will be set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
The series of images released by HBO offers a glimpse at some of the characters in all their glory, including Emma D'Arcy’s Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower, Rhys Ifans’ Otto Hightower, and Steve Toussaint’s Lord Corlys Velaryon.
The character descriptions were also revealed along with the images, placing D’Arcy’s Princess Rhaenyra as the first-born child of King Viserys Targaryen I, the dragon rider. Smith’s Prince Daemon, who "possesses the true blood of the dragon,” will be the king's younger brother and heir to the throne. In the official images released by HBO, both characters have a striking resemblance to their descendants seen in Game of Thrones, including Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen.
Toussaint’s Lord Corlys, a famed nautical adventurer, will be the head of House Velaryon, which will be the bloodline majorly featured in the series apart from House Targaryen. Ifans’ Otto will be serving King Viserys, the ruler of Westeros in that timeline, as the Hand of the King. Cooke’s Alicent is Otto’s daughter, who will seemingly possess “courtly grace and a keen political acumen.” The show also stars Paddy Considine as King Viserys, along with Fabien Frankel, Eve Best, and Sonoya Mizuno in leading roles.
Filming on House of the Dragon is currently underway, with HBO confirming the production’s commencement in April. The series is expected to premiere in 2022, with the first season consisting of 10 episodes. Apart from House of the Dragon, HBO is working on multiple other adaptations of Game of Thrones, which include three more prequel shows and even a stage production of the extremely popular show.
Even though fans were disappointed with the way the extremely popular series ended, it seems like HBO has a lot in store to take those fans back to the world of Westeros. While the divisive Game of Thrones finale may have left many fans preferring to leave the TV world behind them and wait for Martin to finally conclude his series of A Song of Ice and Fire books, perhaps the spin-off can redeem the franchise.
House of the Dragon is expected to debut in 2022.
Source: House of the Dragon/Twitter