Madrid, Europe Brief News – Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon has revealed its release date.
The highly-anticipated prequel to the record-breaking fantasy series will premiere on HBO in the US on 21 August.
Sky also confirmed that the series will air in the UK a day later on 22 August.
House of the Dragon has been created by George RR Martin and Ryan J Condal. It will show how House Targaryen became embroiled in civil war in the years before the Game of Thrones.
The series will be based on one of Martin’s spin-off novels, Fire and Blood.
Ten-episode prequel series
Set two centuries before the events of “Game of Thrones,” the ten-episode prequel series will depict how the House of Targaryen fell into a bitter and brutal civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons — presaging the beginning of the end of the ruling family of Westeros.
Much like the original series, “House of the Dragon” boasts a sprawling cast, with a smaller core set of characters including Paddy Considine (as King Viserys I), Emmy D’Arcy (as Princess Rhaenrya, Viserys’ first child and his heir apparent), Matt Smith (as Prince Daemon, Viserys’ younger brother), Rhys Ifans (as Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King), Olivia Cooke (as Lady Alicent Hightower, Otto’s daughter) and Fabien Frankel (as Ser Criston Cole, a knight with eyes for Rhaenrya).
The show will also costar Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Ryan Corr, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Graham McTavish, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson and Gavin Spokes.
The premiere date means “House of the Dragon” has a bit of a head start on the year’s other massive fantasy series that serves as a prequel to a widely popular and acclaimed original adaptation: “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Amazon Prime Video announced in August 2021 that “The Rings of Power” will debut on the streamer on Sept. 2.
In February, Martin announced on his personal blog that shooting on Season 1 of “House of the Dragon” had wrapped. “I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I’m loving them,” Martin wrote. “Of course, a lot more work needs to be done. Special effects, color timing, score, all the post production work. But the writing, the directing, the acting all look terrific. I hope you will like them as much as I do.”
