Aurora Starchild
House of the Dragon, the highly anticipated prequel to Game of Thrones, has arrived. August 22 was the big day and so far, it does not disappoint. Here is everything you need to know about the new epic series.
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1 House of the Dragon is still based off George R. R. Martin’s novels.
House of the Dragon was adapted from George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, which is a part of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
2 The storyline takes place about 200 years before the Game of Thrones storyline begins.
It tells the story of the House of Targaryen — aka, Daenerys’ ancestors.
3 A great civil war takes place.
That war is called the Dance of the Dragons.
4 There are ten episodes in Season 1.
But they’re only being released one at a time, so you can’t binge yet.
5 There are nine dragons in the first season of the new prequel.
If you remember that Daenerys had three dragons which she mothered from their egg state, imagine those but way more of them. Each dragon is supposed to have its own unique personality, too.
Per director and show co-runner Miguel Sapochnik’s interview with Empire: “One of them’s got a [bad] leg. Another one’s much more like an eagle, because she’s kind of neurotic. And another one’s like a curmudgeonly old granny.”
Miguel Sapochnik via Empire
6 House of the Dragon will feature non-linear timelines.
At one point, it skips forward ten years, and there is supposed to be a lot of time jumping throughout the series.
7 There will be a lot more sex scenes in the prequel than in Game of Thrones.
However, while GOT’s sex scenes infamously included gratuitous and non-consensual sex, House of the Dragon is toning it down.
8 The Iron Throne has been revamped to look more like what George R. R. Martin originally intended.
It’s supposed to be crafted from 1,000 swords. Now, it actually looks like it was.
9 The effects are supposed to be incredible.
This is thanks to a hefty budget which was not available in the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones.
10 The series is going to feature all new actors.
Because it is set almost 200 years before Game of Thrones, do not expect to see icons like Emilia Clarke or Jon Snow. Starring roles will be played by Emma D’Arcy, Milly Alcock (older and younger Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, respectively), Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Emily Carey, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, and Sonoya Mizuno.
11 Fans love House of the Dragon so far.
It’s garnered over 15,000 reviews in less than 24 hours on IMDB and scores a whopping 9.0, which is practically unheard of. In fact, the most comparable series would be Game of Thrones, which scores at 9.2 with about 2 million reviews.
