House of the Dragon: Everything We Know About the Game of Thrones Prequel Series

After at least one failed attempt at spinning off another show from Game of Thrones, a new prequel series is finally in the works, called House of the Dragon. Set some 200 years before the events of GoT, this show is about the Targaryen ancestors, the royal line that came to a fiery end with The Mad King and his daughter, Daenerys, Mother of Dragons and, ultimately, quite mad herself.

GoT was notorious for going to great lengths to prevent spoilers, so we don’t know too much about the series. HBO's extremely vague description of the series is as follows: “Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.”

Wow! Thanks for that, HBO. So helpful. Still, we’re so excited to travel back to Westeros! Here’s everything we know about the show so far.

When will House of the Dragon premiere? 

The Game of Thrones prequel will premiere on Sunday, August 21, 2022. The series will air on HBO, as Game of Thrones did, but will be available to stream on HBO Max starting at the same time. HBO announced the release date on Wednesday, March 30, with a dramatic poster that featured a crackling dragon egg. 

What book is the series based on? 

Author George R.R. Martin’s 700-page novel Fire & Blood, published in 2018, covers seven generations of Targaryens, including one power struggle known as the Dance of the Dragons. Those are the chapters this series will be based on, though they might, of course, reference previous events. According to Entertainment Weekly, “It all starts, as many real-life wars did, over a question of succession.” So, 700-page summer reading, anyone?

What will the show look like?

New images alert! HBO dropped some new photos from the show along with the release date announcement on March 30, 2022.

And check out these photos, which were released on May 5, 2021.

Who’s in the cast? 

Paddy Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen. Rhys Ifans plays his Hand, Otto Hightower, and Olivia Cooke plays Otto’s daughter, Alicent Hightower. Other Targaryens include Emma D’Archy as Princess Rhaenyra, who is a “dragonrider,” according to Entertainment Weekly, which sounds awesome as hell, and Matt Smith as Prince Daemon, the king’s younger brother.

Rounding out the cast are Steve Toussaint as the adventurous Lord Corlys Velaryon and Eve Best as his wife, Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, also a dragonrider. We can already tell that Rhaenyra vs. Rhaenys is going to be very confusing! Sonoya Mizuno plays Mysaria, loyal to Prince Daemon, and Fabien Frankel is Ser Criston Cole, a commoner.

In July 2021 the show added two more guest stars to the cast: Milly Alcock as the young version of D’Arcy’s character, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Emily Carey as the young version of Cooke’s character, Alicent Hightower. You might remember Carey as Young Diana from the opening of Wonder Woman: 1984.

There’s also a convincing fan theory that Graham McTavish, who plays Dougal Mackenzie on Outlander, will be a character named Harrold Westerling.

Is there a trailer?

Yes! Your first teaser is here. Watch, below. 

This post will be updated as more information is revealed.