The members of House Targaryen leave the doomed Valeria and travel west, where they discover a vast territory inhabited by warring kingdoms. It is impossible to talk about the House of the Dragon without looking back at Game of Thrones - the predecessor project left its mark on pop culture too much, and its shadow will fall for a very long time.
After the unpopular and plot-failing finale of the 8th season of Game of Thrones through the fault of two producers - David Benioff and Daniel Weiss, who actually put an end to the franchise, serious rehabilitation work began at HBO - the development of spin-off projects for the Song of Ice and Fire universe has been underway for several years. George Martin's agent Paul Haas said in an interview that a few years ago, George personally spoke with the directors of HBO, they were ready to extend Game of Thrones up to season 10 for a better finale, but the producers insisted on their decision on 8 seasons and a reduced number of episodes in the last seasons. In order to quickly complete work on the series and move to another competitive studio. In this project, the producer is Ryan Kendal, a big fan of the work of George Martin, who, by the way, saw the draft scripts for all the episodes and participated in the discussion of all the differences from the book source. The talented director Miguel Sapochnik, who directed the best episodes in Game of Thrones, is also involved in the work on the project. The action of the series takes place 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, at that time her family still rules the Seven Kingdoms, and their dragons, not yet extinct, fly across the sky. We are waiting for the story of the civil war between the two branches of the Targaryen house. At first, we are waiting for the young versions of the characters and the plot of the main events, and then, after a small-time jump, the adult characters and the main plot itself.
Unlike its predecessor, the House of the Dragon looks more intimate, and more local, but no less interesting from this, it will have everything for which millions fell in love with the Game of Thrones in 2011 - bright characters, interesting storylines, intricate court intrigues, the struggle for power and, of course, dragons, a lot of dragons. Millie Alcock as young Rainier is absolutely adorable. Emily Carey as a young Alicent is also very good. Young heroines are similar to their adult versions, so there are no complaints.
Emma D'Arcy plays an older Rainier and looks much better than her character in the book version. Olivia Cooke did an excellent job as the adult Alicante, and it will be interesting to watch the relationship of this duo, from their strong friendship, ending to subsequent events. Matt Smith seems perfect for the role of the wayward Daemon Targaryen. All in all, the rest of the actors do a great job in their roles. The only controversial casting point that divided the fans into two camps is the family of the Velarion house, I think this topic deserves a separate point.
Most of the action will take place in places already well known to fans - King's Landing, Red Keep, Dragonstone, but there will also be a few new locations that were not shown to us in the Game - for example, the castle of the Velarion home Driftmark, Stairs and some others. All locations are very well designed, sometimes you even have to pause to see some small details in the environment. Location shooting is not inferior to the Game of Thrones.
As for the graphics, everything is at a high level, the dragons look like they are alive, and each of them is recognizable. Specifically for the series, concepts were developed for several types of dragons that differ from Daenerys's dragons.
The soundtrack (which is beyond praise) is the responsibility of the amazing composer Ramin Javadi, who has worked on all seasons of Game of Thrones and many other projects. There will also be several altered musical compositions from the Game of Thrones.
HBO managed to rehabilitate the franchise and is confident in its success since they are releasing the House of the Dragon at the same time as a competitive fantasy project from Amazon. A lot of work done over several years by a talented team is tangible and visible on the screen: from the smallest details in the costumes of the characters to the plot and stunning picture.
If you love high-quality and well-developed series but are not an ardent fan of Game of Thrones, do not pass by the House of the Dragon - you might like it.
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