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'Game of Thrones' spinoff 'House of the Dragon' fires up release date at HBO, drops new character pics
We know what we’ll be watching when August rolls around.
The wait’s felt a little like watching for a dragon egg to hatch, but HBO’s hugely anticipated Game of Thrones prequel series finally has a release date. House of the Dragon will debut the first of its initial 10-episode season this summer, the network revealed today in a series of tweets that feature fresh new looks at members of the show’s ensemble cast in costume.
House Targaryen’s blood-soaked history comes to life at last on Aug. 21 at both HBO and HBO Max, which is all the info fans really need from the streamer’s scaly, tersely-worded tweet:
Along with the big reveal came a huge thread of tweets featuring new peeks at who’ll be along for the journey. House Targaryen is of course front and center with King Viserys (Paddy Considine), Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), and Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best).
That’s just part of the fresh House of the Dragon photo intel HBO dropped, though. In addition to Daenerys’ descendants, we also got first looks at the mysterious Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). Be sure to check out the HBO Max Twitter feed for the full character rundown.
Set hundreds of years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon is produced by original GoT creator George R.R. Martin, alongside Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik. The new character shots are the first time we’ve glimpsed the series’ lavish production look since HBO dropped a teaser for the show late last year.
These days Martin’s busy swatting away fun fan theories over whether he named some of Elden Ring’s main characters after his own initials, but back in December, he teased that House of the Dragon nails the feel of the fiction on which it’s based. “I’ve seen a rough cut of the first episode. And loved it,” he said. “It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s visceral… just the way I like my epic fantasy.”
An endorsement from Martin is more than good enough for us, which makes the final five-month wait for the series' HBO hatching an incubation period we can live with. Get set to see House Targaryen’s twisted destiny find its footing when House of the Dragon premieres Aug. 21 at HBO and HBO Max.
