'House of the Dragon' Reviews: Here's What Critics Are Saying

Table Of Content

• Episodes
• Comparisons with The Rings of Power
• ‘Nowhere Special’ Director Uberto Pasolini On James Norton's Star Turn In Father-Son Drama - Specialty Box Office
• House of the Dragon’s first season shows how good it hurts when you see everything coming
• House of the Dragon - 1x03 "Second of his Name" - Post Episode Discussion
• Quiz: Which House of the Dragon Character Are You?

Be sure to check back throughout the season as new information is revealed. Over the course of the series viewers could see up to 17 different dragons. As they are introduced, be sure to visit the Official Dragon Index for a quick look at which dragon is which. Posting fan content made by others must link to the original creator or artist's gallery or place of submission. This does not apply to screenshots/frames/stills of the show, trailers, or other official media. Another 12 markets open next week including Belgium and Holland, with Japan being the final market to open on June 7th.

Episodes

House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019, with casting beginning in July 2020 and principal photography starting in April 2021 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on August 21, 2022, with the first season consisting of ten episodes. Sapochnik departed as showrunner after the first season, leaving Condal to serve as the sole showrunner for the second season. The second season is set to premiere on June 16, 2024, consisting of 8 episodes. Yet thanks to the odd nature of its source material — George R.R. Martin’s supplemental text Fire & Blood, which is more of a fictional history book than a novel proper — House of the Dragon’s first season was able to relish in the pleasures of what makes good television.

Comparisons with The Rings of Power

It’s a show that was free to include all the bombast of dragons and was bold enough to have its biggest moments happen at bedsides and dinner parties, where a misunderstanding or failure to communicate is more devastating than any amount of dragonfire. It’s a show that, despite its stumbles, knows that while endings are memorable, it’s the episodes before them that make them hurt. The “Dance of the Dragons” is the civil war that ensued between the Targaryens. Thrones fans may recall when young Shireen Baratheon and Ser Davos briefly discuss the battle as she reads a history book about it. If you want to see how that part of Targaryen history unfolds, you’ll have to keep an eye on House of the Dragon. Game of Thrones is based on Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, but House of the Dragon is based on his “history” book, Fire & Blood.

‘Nowhere Special’ Director Uberto Pasolini On James Norton's Star Turn In Father-Son Drama - Specialty Box Office

Laena’s funeral provides her uncle with a chance to launch a veiled barb at Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) over the parentage of her sons. Rhaenyra’s secret marriage to her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith) serves to inflate her reputation as a ruthless power player, and Ser Laenor’s duel with his lover Qarl (Arty Froushan) provides cover for their bittersweet escape from the bloody power games of the royal court. Everywhere we turn, the rituals and ceremonies that bind the people of Westeros into a society are being subverted by personal agendas. We finish with Daemon once again widowed – it’s becoming a habit – and Rhaenyra leaving King’s Landing for her ancestral fortress on Dragonstone, abandoning the court and its machinations to her rival. Almost certainly, but Rhaenyra’s desire to get away from the endless attacks on herself and her children is understandable. A rat running along Viserys’ mantlepiece and his empty sleeve are not the only signs that his power is decaying, and something is going to have to give way soon.

House of the Dragon’s first season shows how good it hurts when you see everything coming

All of the Dragons Coming to 'House of the Dragon' Season 2 and Beyond - Business Insider

All of the Dragons Coming to 'House of the Dragon' Season 2 and Beyond.

Posted: Sun, 13 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The penalty laid out in the bill for violating the legislation is $5,000 multiplied by the number of U.S.-based users, meaning ByteDance would have to cut a hefty check of around $850 billion. If a marketplace like the App Store kept hosting the app, Apple would incur a $500 fine for each U.S. user. The show has a variety of storytelling avenues to explore regarding Jace’s time in Winterfell.

House of the Dragon - 1x06 "The Princess and the Queen" - Post Episode Discussion

Complete chart of who should inherit after the death of King Viserys Targaryen? - Winter is Coming

Complete chart of who should inherit after the death of King Viserys Targaryen?.

Posted: Thu, 07 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

From that period, House of the Dragon brings us back nearly 200 years to the time in Westerosi history when House Targaryen was at the height of its power. The series begins with the reign of King Viserys I, the fifth Targaryen ruler, the question of his succession, and the events that unfold after he names his daughter, Rhaenyra, heir — a title a woman had never assumed. This is a place for news and discussions relating to HBO's "Game of Thrones" prequel TV series "House of the Dragon" and George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" companion novel, "Fire & Blood." TikTok intends to fight the bill by filing a legal challenge, according to a company statement.

House of the Dragon - 1x03 "Second of his Name" - Post Episode Discussion

The series is from author George R.R. Martin (based on his book Fire & Blood) and co-creators and showrunners Ryan Condal (Colony) and Miguel Sapochnik (Finch). The review embargo was lifted Friday for the Game of Thrones prequel, and its initial notices are largely positive, with critics calling the fantasy drama “a magical miracle” and a worthy successor to the original series, which became the most Emmy-winning drama of all time. Yet, there are also several mixed reviews, and at least one outright negative take that declared the prequel has “uniformly dull” characters. House of the Dragon is a prequel TV series to Game of Thrones based on parts of A Song of Ice and Fire companion novel Fire & Blood.

When Prince Aemond returns victorious from mounting Vhagar, Rhaenyra’s sons and Daemon’s daughters waylay him in the dungeons of Driftmark. The scene is lit and shot like something out of Neil Marshall’s The Descent, torchlight flickering over the faces of the young heirs to the Targaryen dynasty as their childish squabble rapidly turns bloody, fists and feet giving way to rocks and knives. It’s enough to make Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) plea for a return to the family’s status quo seem almost comically out of touch, a referee trying to stop World War II with a whistle.

Episodes20

Notably, this is a longer time frame than the March bill that passed the House, which gave ByteDance six months — putting the deadline before the upcoming election. This latest push to force ByteDance’s divestiture comes just one month after the U.S. A separate bill, the RESTRICT Act, was proposed last year in a move to ban or restrict TikTok, but it never gained enough support to move past a congressional hearing. The series stars Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders) as King Viserys Targaryen, Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy (Wanderlust) as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Prince Daemon Targaryen. Larys defines “helping” Alicent as finding some condemned men, having their tongues cut out (while he watches with interest), and sending them to murder his brother and father, Lord Lyonel. The office of Hand now lies open for Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) to return.

“You are the challenge, Aegon, simply by living and breathing.” She has accepted her father’s worldview completely now; the struggle with Rhaenyra is an existential one. What becomes clear – and it’s one of the many advantages of casting these Black actors as the Velaryons – is that none of Rhaenyra’s children come from Laenor, and that she has in fact been having an affair with Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). Alicent obviously knows about it, but no one will make the accusation publicly for fear of treason – and Viserys (Paddy Considine) is willfully blind to the whole thing. He encourages his sons and grandsons to play together, blithely certain that he can bind them as allies so that they all support Rhaenyra’s rule. It’s interesting to see, however, that the previously mild Alicent is now sure enough in her own power to rather acerbically challenge his cozy worldview.

Set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series tells the story of an internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power. From a distance, this made the show look regressive, like a creative retreat for nervous producers and showrunners concerned with jeopardizing their big-budget cash cow — and in a lot of ways, that read is correct. It is at times oddly self-referential, with writing more in conversation with the show’s own status as a Game of Thrones spinoff than it is as its own discrete story. Despite the passage of the bill, TikTok won’t be immediately banned, and the app will remain accessible to U.S. users.