House of the Dragon Season 3 is close enough to smell the dragonfire, but until Rhaenyra and Aegon resume their family feud from hell, fans need something meaty to devour. HBO’s Targaryen prequel will return on June 21, 2026, with an eight-episode season, and the wait feels especially long because Season 2 left Westeros ready for open war. So, what should fans watch while sharpening their Valyrian steel patience?
From Rome and Succession to The Last Kingdom and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, these shows can keep the throne room warm until House Targaryen comes roaring back.
Quick Read:
- House of the Dragon Season 3 wait feels long.
- So, fans need shows with politics, war, betrayal, and dynasty drama.
- Here are the top 10 shows to watch with similar vibes.
1. Game of Thrones
Gwendoline Christie in Game of Thrones | Credit: HBO
Let us get the obvious dragon out of the room. Game of Thrones remains the closest companion watch for House of the Dragon, because it is the main river from which this whole bloody stream flows. The HBO series is built around powerful families fighting for the Iron Throne, with kings, queens, schemers, soldiers, and broken children all caught in the same ugly game.
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Why watch it now? Because House of the Dragon becomes richer when you understand what the Targaryen name eventually becomes in Westeros. The dragons are gone by Game of Thrones, but the damage of old dynasties remains. Also, few shows have ever balanced court politics, family betrayal, war, prophecy, and dinner-table venom with such addictive early-season confidence.
2. Rome
Polly Walker in Rome (2005) | Credit: HBO
Rome is perfect for fans who love House of the Dragon’s political throat-cutting but want fewer dragons and more republic-ending ambition. Set during the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of empire, the series follows power, loyalty, class, and public violence with a wickedly human pulse.
It scratches the same itch as House of the Dragon because it understands that empires rarely fall in one clean crash. They rot, bargain, celebrate, bleed, and then pretend all of it was destiny. Fans who enjoy Otto Hightower’s calculation, Daemon’s swagger, and the slow poisoning of institutions should find plenty to chew on here.
3. The Last Kingdom
Alexander Dreymon in The Last Kingdom (2015) | Credit: Netflix
For viewers who want mud, steel, oaths, and men yelling about destiny with actual conviction, The Last Kingdom is a very strong pick. Netflix describes the series as follows: Uhtred, born Saxon and raised by Vikings, as he seeks his ancestral birthright while Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders.
It is less courtly than House of the Dragon and more boot-on-neck historical adventure, but that is exactly why it works. Uhtred’s divided identity, shifting loyalties, and stubborn claim to home feel very Westerosi. If you like characters trapped between blood, faith, land, and duty, this one earns its place.
4. Vikings
Danila Kozlovskiy and Alex Høgh Andersen in Vikings (2013) | Credit: Prime Video
Vikings is for fans who want the battlefield smoke turned up. History’s series follows Ragnar Lothbrok and the brutal world around him, with ambition stretching from Kattegat to England and beyond.
Where House of the Dragon is often about power trapped inside castles, Vikings is about power moving across seas. The show has family feuds, sacred visions, succession problems, betrayals, warrior queens, and enough axe-swinging intensity to keep impatient fantasy fans fed. It is rougher, louder, and more primal, but that is part of the meal.
5. Succession
Succession Season 4 | Photograph by Macall B. Polay/HBO
Succession is basically a modern dynastic war in tailored suits, where inheritance becomes a disease and family love arrives with poison in the glass.
The Roy family may run a media empire instead of Westeros, but the emotional machinery is familiar. A dying patriarch, children fighting for approval, alliances made over dinner, public humiliation, private cruelty, and power treated like a family heirloom nobody deserves. If you love House of the Dragon for its family psychology, not only its fantasy dressing, Succession is essential.
6. The Borgias
Jeremy Irons and François Arnaud in The Borgias (2011) | Credit: Showtime Network
The Borgias is ideal for viewers who enjoy House of the Dragon’s religious politics, family ambition, and beautiful people doing alarming things in candlelit rooms. Showtime’s series follows Rodrigo Borgia’s rise to the papacy, with Jeremy Irons starring in a story of wealth, influence, murder, and moral decay.
It has the same “family first, ethics last” flavor that makes the Targaryens so fascinating. The Borgias are not dragonlords, but they know how to make bloodline politics feel like a sacrament and a crime scene at the same time.
7. The Wheel of Time
Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, and Josha Stradowski in The Wheel of Time (2021) | Credit: Amazon MGM Studios
The Wheel of Time is the pick for fans who want prophecy, magic, ancient evil, and a wider fantasy canvas. Prime Video’s official teaser describes the story around five villagers whose lives change when Moiraine arrives and claims one of them may be tied to a prophecy that could decide the fate of the world.
It is more mystical than House of the Dragon, but it shares that heavy sense of history pressing down on young people who did not ask for it. The worldbuilding can be dense, but fantasy fans who like old powers waking up and political orders trembling will find plenty to enjoy.
8. The Witcher
The Witcher | Credit: Netflix
Netflix’s The Witcher follows Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster-hunter moving through a dangerous world where people often prove worse than beasts. The official Netflix page lists it as a fantasy series starring Liam Hemsworth, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan in its current era.
It belongs on this list because it offers monster lore, royal intrigue, war, and messy destiny. Is it as politically tight as House of the Dragon? Not always. But when it leans into the bond between Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, it finds that same painful question House of the Dragon keeps asking: how much damage can family cause while still calling itself love?
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Morfydd Clark in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) | Credit: Ross Ferguson / Prime Video
For anyone craving scale, The Rings of Power offers kingdoms, ancient evil, immortal beings, and the long shadow of future catastrophe. Prime Video’s official trailer notes that the series brings Tolkien’s Second Age to screen, thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, with kingdoms rising, alliances forming, and darkness returning to Middle-earth.
It is more mythic and less vicious than House of the Dragon, but it gives fans grand fantasy architecture. If House of the Dragon is a family argument with dragons, The Rings of Power is a centuries-long warning bell.
10. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | Credits: HBO
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is probably the most natural pick for House of the Dragon fans because it is another return to Westeros, but with a smaller, warmer, more grounded spirit. The series follows Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg around a century before Game of Thrones and decades after House of the Dragon. Britannica notes that it adapts George R. R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg tales and takes place after the Targaryen civil war but before the original series.
If House of the Dragon is royal rot, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is honor trying to survive among bigger beasts. Which one are you watching first while waiting for the dragons to return? Tell us in the comments below!
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