Breaking Down the Official ‘House of The Dragon’ Trailer

Sharpen your Valyrian steel swords, the ‘House of the Dragon’ trailer has landed!

Set one-hundred seventy years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series covers the decline of House Targaryen; the events leading up to and covering the Targaryen civil war, known as the “Dance of the Dragons.”

The Dance of Dragons was one of the many wars over inheritance, this one focusing on the claim of King Viserys I Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine)’s firstborn from his first marriage—Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Emma D’arcy), and all the struggles she will go through if she seeks to be the first woman to sit on the Iron Throne. Obviously, this evokes Daenerys’ struggles in Game of Thrones as she fought long and hard and suffered greatly in her quest to return home and sit upon her ancestral throne.

For background on the House of Targaryen and all the incestuous, back-stabbing family dynamics leading up to the war, here’s a timeline video to help keep all of the white haired Targaryens straight: 

And if you want all the potential spoilers that this series may hold, here’s the Game of Thrones cast telling the full story of the Dance of Dragons and all the fire and blood that comes with it:

This will be the first Game of Thrones content released since the end of the series. It premieres August 21 on HBO Max and will have 10 episodes in the first season.

Obviously, some fans are worried about getting burned again after the infamous flop that was the final season. But the fact that we already know how this series will end does lend a stronger structure to this. It already seems like they’re taking more inspiration from the books, adding more spikes around the iron throne to better simulate how treacherous it is to stand close, much less sit on it.

HBO seems to be banking on this series being a success, having created a ‘House of the Dragon’ app: https://uqr.to/19k3o

George R. R. Martin is also involved in the show, as is much of the production team on Game of Thrones (but notably not David Benioff and D. B. Weiss). Hopefully it will learn from the mistakes of the past (future?) and not recreate them.

For more easter eggs from the behind-the-scenes teaser, watch here:

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Kimberly Terasaki

Kimberly Terasaki is a contributing writer for The Mary Sue. She has been writing articles for them since 2018, going on 5 years of working with this amazing team. Her interests include Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Horror, intersectional feminism, and fanfiction; some are interests she has held for decades, while others are more recent hobbies. She liked Ahsoka Tano before it was cool, will fight you about Rey being a “Mary Sue,” and is a Kamala Khan stan.