A little more than three years have gone by since the heavily criticised final season of the fantasy series Game of Thrones aired. This final season rushed certain storylines and character developments and therefore left many fans with a bitter aftertaste after what was otherwise one of the most successful and beloved series of the decade. However, not willing to give up on the immense success Game of Thrones once was, HBO has launched House of the Dragon, a prequel that takes place 200 years before the events in the original series. The entire first season of House of the Dragon is now available at HBO Max and Streamz and makes for a delightful return to Westeros and the battle for the Iron Throne. House of the Dragon is burdened with the task to make fans forget the disappointment they felt regarding the final season of Game of Thrones, while at the same time ensuring that the legacy of this pop cultural phenomenon is kept alive, a task in which it succeeds with flying colours.
Intriguing characters and unbearable tension
House of the Dragon depicts the beginning of the end for House Targaryen, of which Daenerys Targaryen is the most famous descendant in Game of Thrones. In the time period in which House of the Dragon is set, the Targaryens rule over The Seven Kingdoms and are best known for their platinum hair, incestuous relationships and, of course, their dragons. The series opens with King Viserys (Paddy Considine) naming his first-born daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock/Emma D’Arcy), his heir, to the dislike of many noblemen who “would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne”. It is the start of much internal hostility amongst the Targaryens and will eventually lead to a civil war of succession, the so-called “Dance of the Dragons”.
The cocktail of devious, vengeful characters, the secrets they know about each other and the battle for the Iron Throne is bound to explode eventually and it is most thrilling to watch when it does.
Although the impressive CGI almost makes you want to check whether no real dragons were harmed while filming, it is mostly the scenes where it is just the entire family together in one room that are the most entertaining to watch; these are the scenes in which the series climaxes. The internal family drama regarding the succession of the throne makes for a relatively simple, but nevertheless strong storyline. This cocktail of devious, vengeful characters, the secrets they know about each other and the battle for the Iron Throne is bound to explode eventually and it is most thrilling to watch when it does. It is precisely because the characters are so well- developed and followed over many years that you are able to enjoy the unbearable tension between them that is unmistakably there but may never surface.
Dizzying cast changes
As the first season of House of the Dragon covers approximately 20 years in only ten episodes, there are quite some time jumps in the show. This means that the characters grow up and age rather fast, which is why some characters are portrayed by multiple actors. This makes it quite challenging to keep up with who is who, especially when taking into account that over the course of the show, numerous characters are introduced, all of them having very similar names. While the number of characters in House of the Dragon is still significantly smaller than in Game of Thrones, these cast changes certainly do not make it any easier to keep track of all the characters and what they look like in every new episode. Nevertheless, it is very interesting to see how characters and their relationships with each other evolve throughout the years.
Of the main cast, the two female leads, Emily Carey and Milly Alcock, who respectively play Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen are replaced halfway through the season by older actresses Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy. The actor swap for Alicent was brilliantly executed as Cooke is almost the exact older equivalent of Carey, both in the way they look and in the way they portray their character. The change of Rhaenyra, however, fell somewhat flat as D’Arcy misses some of the fierceness and playfulness with which Alcock played this character. Because of this it almost feels as if in episode 6 we are introduced to a whole new character instead of an older and more mature version of the character we know. It is also bothering that the recasting was not applied consistently, for only the female leads are replaced, whereas the male main characters are played by the same actors throughout the entire season. In addition to the social debate this might spark as to why only women are shown to be noticeably ageing on screen, it is also a shame that after 5 episodes of getting used to a certain dynamic between actors, this dynamic is lost when one actor is replaced. Adapting to a whole new dynamic already halfway through the season is vexing and takes some of the pace out of the season.
In the meantime, House of the Dragon has already been renewed for a second season and no doubt more seasons will follow. Going back to the basics with a simple but strong storyline was a good and well-liked move after the bombastic and rushed final season of Game of Thrones. Though House of the Dragon makes less of a mark on the cultural scene than its predecessor did, this does not matter for the millions of fans who enjoy the return to the world of Westeros. Rightly so, for the series offers entertainment at a remarkably high level and will hopefully continue to do so for a long time.