‘House of Dragon’ Season 1 Release Date, Cast, Spoilers, and More

Based on the George R.R. Martin 2018 novel Fire & Blood, HBO’s House of Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel series in development for television and HBO Max, looks to take viewers back to Westeros over two years since the original series wrapped—and hundreds of years before the events depicted.

With Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss off on their $250 million Netflix deal—another adaptation, this time sci-fi—House of Dragon will feature a new duo of showrunners: Ryan Condal (Colony, Hercules) and Miguel Sapochnik. The latter’s name fans will recognize from many Game of Thrones directing credits. Sapochnik was the director Benioff and Weiss often brought on board for the series’ major battle episodes, including “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Long Night.” His attachment to the series should mean good things.

It’s unclear if/how author George R.R. Martin is involved. His novel faced poor reviews upon release with some critics finding the narrative dry and “homework”-like. The series adaptation will likely include plenty of well-paced conflict, however, with Sapochnik at the helm.

Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (A Targaryen History) (A Song of Ice and Fire)

Some other good signs—some literal music to our ears—include Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones, Westworld) who will return to Westeros as composer.

Here’s everything else about House of Dragon we know so far.

When is House of Dragon coming out?

No word yet from HBO, though production of the series is set to begin officially this spring. The first season of Game of Thrones premiered in April 2011. The filming for that season took place throughout the previous summer and fall, so it is possible HBO may release season one of House of Dragon in the spring of 2022. Fingers crossed.

Jim Spellman

Who’s in the cast?

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Earlier this month, HBO announced many of the names joining the Westeros fray, including Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One), and Paddy Considine (The Outsider). Considine will play King Viserys Targaryen. Smith will play Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.

Also announced in the cast is Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina, Devs) as Mysaria, a sort of ally to Prince Daemon. In terms of badass levels, we expect Mysaria to be the Arya Stark of House of Dragon.

What is House of Dragon about?

The series logline reads:

“Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, the series will tell the story of House Targaryen (a.k.a. the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and take place 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.”

It’s unclear how much of Martin’s Fire & Blood will ground the series—how faithful the team will stick to the over 700-page source material. Given the casting choices, we’re likely to pick up the Targaryen family history somewhere in the middle with a crisis of succession.