Everything We Know About the ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Series, ‘House of the Dragon’

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 300 years before the events of GoT, this show is about the Targaryen ancestors, a.k.a 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. Still, we’re so excited to travel back to Westeros! Here’s everything we know about the show so far:

What book is this based on? Author George RR 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?

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, 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.

When will House of the Dragon premiere? 2022. On HBO Max, according to the show’s Twitter account, though we wouldn’t be surprised if they aired it on regular HBO, as well.

This post will be updated as more information is revealed.