Westeros is back to say it’s sorry and “we should get back together,” reminding us why we left our love for Game of Thrones behind. Based on Martin’s 2018 textbook Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon will follow the Targaryen dynasty during a civil war known as the “Dance of Dragons,” 200 years before Drogon thought it’d be pretty cool and symbolic to burn the Iron Throne. The series’ first season will consist of ten episodes, and premiere sometime next year. It will star Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Milly Alcock, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Constantine, and Sonoya Mizuno. Check out its teaser below:
Cover Photo: HBO
The Good News
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are not involved with House of Dragon. They’re too busy making Netflix shows that no one will watch. The show is co-created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal with Miguel Sapochnik—who directed pretty much every action-oriented episode of Game of Thrones, from “The Watchers on the Wall” to “The Battle of the Bastards.”
The North Remembers
House of Dragon‘s teaser can’t help but remind us how intensely we hated Game of Thrones’ final season. By abandoning the “prince that was promised,” giving us a not-so-long (and dimly lit) night, putting Bran “The Broken” on the Iron Throne, and having Daenerys Targaryen commit a confusing amount of genocide, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss negated all those long nights we spent theorizing on Reddit. The thought of how Dany “forgot about the Iron Fleet” has forever damaged our faith in competent narratives. The subreddit is now dark and full of terrors.
At least we still ‘The Lord of the Rings’…and all its other knock offs
Deferring to Samwise Gamgee himself, a new day did come and the sun did shine out the clearer. We moved on as an array of fantasy shows attempted to capitalize on our pain by filling that Game of Thrones void. But now the Iron Throne is back and it’s made up of a thousand melted swords—a seemingly more faithful adaptation of the chair described in A Song of Ice and Fire. House of Dragon looks to be a more authentic representation of Westeros than Game of Thrones. However, without the looming threat of White Walkers and a frozen apocalypse, it might be hard to care.
Damnit George!
We’re compelled to curse House of Dragon and other upcoming spinoffs like the Tales of Dunk and Egg for distracting the 73-year-old author from finishing Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring—stories “set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire” aren’t as cool as A Song of Ice and Fire itself. Or, at least they shouldn’t be. Look what happened when they tried to make The Hobbit trilogy as epic as The Lord of the Rings.
Swear You Won’t Hurt Us Again
HBO was always going to return to Westeros, adapting every book George R.R. Martin has actually finished. In House of Dragon’s teaser, Matt Smith says “dragons made us kings.” It would seem the series will ride on the backs of its seventeen dragons, putting to shame Game of Thrones’ measly three. Maybe that, some politics, a Stark tease or two, Valyrian steel, and blonde hair will be enough. Why is this Mandatory? Because if it sucks, we’ll have even more to bitch about. And that feels good.
Will We Watch ‘House of Dragon?’
“[Does] a mind [need] books like a sword needs a whetstone?”
– Tyrion Lannister before he trusted Cersei and turned Varys into a dictator when the latter helped him escape King’s Landing back in season 4. Twat.
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