HBO releases first look Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith and more in ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel ‘House of the Dragon’

HBO has released the first official images from the upcoming drama series, House of the Dragon. Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, which is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.  House of the Dragon recently began production and will debut on HBO and be available to stream on HBO Max in 2022.

Miguel Sapochnik serves as Co-Showrunner/Director of Pilot and Additional Episodes/Executive Producer with Ryan Condal as Co-Creator/Co-Showrunner/Executive Producer/Writer.

The cast includes:

Emma D’Arcy as “Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen”: The king’s first-born child, she is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider.  Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything… but she was not born a man.
 
Matt Smith as “Prince Daemon Targaryen”: The younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne.  A peerless warrior and a dragonrider, Daemon possesses the true blood of the dragon.  But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…
 
Steve Toussaint as “Lord Corlys Velaryon” (“The Sea Snake”): Lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen.  As “The Sea Snake,” the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros, Lord Corlys built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world.
 
Olivia Cooke as “Alicent Hightower”: The daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.
 
Rhys Ifans as “Otto Hightower”: The Hand of the King, Ser Otto loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king’s brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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