“House of the Dragon” is a prequel to “Game of Thrones” taking place 200 years before the events of the original series.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the series.
- House of the Dragon is an American fantasy drama television series
- It is a prequel to the television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
- Both series are based on the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin
- The prequel series was created by Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO
- It is based on portions of Fire & Blood
- Condal and Miguel Sapochnik are showrunners for House of the Dragon
- It is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones
- 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen
- The series chronicles the beginning of the end of House Targaryen
- The events leading up to and covering the Targaryen war of succession, known as the “Dance of the Dragons”.
- House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019
- Casting began in July 2020
- Principal photography started in April 2021 in the United Kingdom
- The series premiered on August 21, 2022
- Its first season will consist of ten episodes
- In November 2018, George R. R. Martin, creator of A Song of Ice and Fire, stated that a “potential spin-off series would be solidly based on material in Fire & Blood”
- By September 2019, a Game of Thrones prequel series from Martin and Ryan Condal that “tracks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen” was close to receiving a pilot order from HBO
- The following month, House of the Dragon, which is based on Martin’s book Fire & Blood, was given a straight-to-series order
- Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, who won an Emmy Award for directing the episode “Battle of the Bastards”, were selected to serve as showrunners
- Sapochnik was also hired to direct the series premiere as well as additional episodes
- The series takes place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, ultimately leading to the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons
- The project is a reworking of the rejected spin-off concept from Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman, on which HBO officially passed
- In January 2020, Casey Bloys, HBO’s President of Programming, stated that writing process had begun and guessed that the series would premiere in 2022
- In October 2020, Paddy Considine was cast as Viserys I Targaryen
- By December, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy were cast as Alicent Hightower, Daemon Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen, respectively while Danny Sapani entered negotiations to join in an unspecified role
- In February 2021, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best and Sonoya Mizuno were added to the main cast
- By April, Fabien Frankel joined the cast as Ser Criston Cole
- In May, Graham McTavish was spotted on set in full wardrobe
- Emily Carey and Milly Alcock were added to the cast in July 2021
- Principal photography on the ten-episode first season of the series began in April 2021
- The series was filmed primarily in the United Kingdom
- During the last week of April 2021, filming took place in Cornwall
- According to Production List, additionally, parts of the first season were filmed in Spain and California
- House of the Dragon was the first production to be shot at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios’ new virtual production stage
- On July 18, 2021, production paused for two days because of a positive COVID-19 case
- The Spanish publication Hoy reported that House of the Dragon would be filmed in the Province of Cáceres in western Spain between October 11–21, 2021
- From October 26–31, the series was being filmed in Portugal at the Castle of Monsanto
- In February 2022, HBO confirmed that House of the Dragon had wrapped production
- Game of Thrones linguist David J. Peterson returned to continue his work on the constructed language High Valyrian
- According to Variety, each episode of House of the Dragon cost under US$20 million
- Its parent series, Game of Thrones, cost around $100 million per season, beginning with nearly $6 million per episode in season 1 and going up to $15 million each episode at its eighth and final season
- The parent series made $285 million in profits per episode over its eight seasons
- House of the Dragon premiered on August 21, 2022
- In New Zealand, the series will be distributed by Sky’s SoHo TV channel and Neon streaming service
- In India, Disney+ Hotstar distribute the show
- In the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the series will air on Sky Atlantic
- In Canada, the series will be available on Bell Media’s Crave streaming service and its HBO linear channel
- On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 85%
- With an average rating of 8/10
- Based on 356 reviews
- On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series has received a score of 69 out of 100
- Based on 39 critic reviews
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
- The premiere of House of the Dragon is trending on Twitter
- HBO Max users noted problems with the service and the platformed crashed causing trouble to some 5.000 users
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