Game of Thrones superfans rejoice: eagerly anticipated series The House of the Dragon will finally be airing on our screens on 22 August.
Described as a prequel to the internationally famous Game of Thrones TV series, the show is based on George RR Martin’s book Fire and Blood and is set 200 years before the events in the first series.
In this, House Targaryen will be taking centre stage, with actors Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Emma D’arcy and Steve Toussaint starring.
The series will aim to tell the story of the rise and fall of Daenerys’ house, as they battle it out in the grisly civil war known as the Dance of Dragons.
Though it exists in the same universe as Game of Thrones, the showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik have been keen to stress that the new show will be an entirely different beast to its Emmy award-winning predecessor.
“We were very respectful of what the original show is,” Sapochnik told The Hollywood Reporter.
“It wasn’t broken, so we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. House of the Dragon has its own tone that will evolve and emerge over the course of the show. But first, it’s very important to pay respects and homage to the original series, which was pretty groundbreaking. We’re standing on the shoulders of that show and we’re only here because of that show.”
“Hopefully, fans will enjoy it for the thing that it is. We’ll be lucky if we ever come close to what the original show was, so we’re just putting our heads down and getting on with it and hoping what we come up with is worthy of having a Game of Thrones title.”
Last year, fans were given their first glimpse of the show, with pictures of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) showing off their bright blonde hair on a beach.
The ten-episode series will be airing on Sky Atlantic at the same time as the US premiere, meaning UK fans will be able to watch the show almost in real-time.
