Following Sunday night’s premiere of “Game of Thrones” prequel spinoff “House of the Dragon,” HBO has released a new trailer teasing the adventures to come in the weeks ahead, which include ample amounts of fire and blood.
The new series, which takes place roughly 200 years before “Game of Thrones,” invites audiences into an era of relative peace and prosperity in Westeros under the rule of the Targaryen dynasty. But in a complex struggle for succession that would embarrass even the Roy family, bloodlines will be tested as various Targaryens all vie for the Iron Throne while the fate of the realm hangs in the balance.
“Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did,” the fiery Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) says in the trailer.
Daemon is upset that his brother, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), named his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) as heir to the Iron Throne in the pilot, establishing “House of the Dragon’s” overarching central conflict. Rhaenyra is now positioned to be Westeros’ first female ruler, though as previously jilted would-be Queen Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) tells her in the trailer, “Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.”
Blood may be thicker than water and friendship may be as strong as Valyrian steel, but power has always been the most corrosive force in HBO’s epic fantasy world. Rhaenyra will have no shortage of enemies to combat if the new trailer is to be believed, including Daemon and childhood friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
“Our houses are bound by a common cause,” Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), husband of Rhaenys and a master of the sea, says in the trailer. “Perhaps, but there will be blood,” Daemon answers.
“House of the Dragon” looks to deliver the same blockbuster thrills of its predecessor (with more dragons and blonde wigs!) with a similar emphasis on the political jockeying and shifting loyalties of the realm’s most powerful families. And if you listen closely in this new trailer, you may hear a reference to a “Prince who was promised” prophecy…
“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays on HBO.
