'Game of Thrones' Spinoff 'House of the Dragon' Reveals First Official Look at Twitter Hashtag

The Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon has taken a huge step in its development: [...]

By Michael Hein

The Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon has taken a huge step in its development: establishing a social media presence. On Monday, the old Game of Thrones Twitter account posted the first photos from the production of House of the Dragon. It also tagged the new series' account, which promptly got verified and coined some of its go-to hashtags.

House of the Dragon is now verified on Twitter, and it has at least five distinct "hashflags" — that is, hashtags with graphic stamps to show that they are widely used. Each one comes with a small, red circular depiction of the House Targaryen banner — a three-headed dragon. The hashtags are "House of the Dragon," "HOTD," "House of the Dragon HBO," "DRACARYS" and "House Targaryen." Fans wasted no time in putting them to good use — posting fan art, memes and their favorite scenes from the show and the books.

The hashtags are a good sign that HBO and the producers intend to keep fans well-informed throughout the production process. They started with photos of the main cast sitting together for a table read on Monday, all spaces out and observing coronavirus safety measures.

The assembled cast members included Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Corlys "Sea Snake" Velaryon and Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Fans of the book will immediately recognize this cast from George R.R. Martin's latest book Fire and Blood — a fictional history book about the Targaryens' reign in Westeros.

Martin's book covers about 120 years' worth of history, but from the looks of it the show will focus in on one particular span of time near the end of the book — "the dance of the dragons." This is a civil war that splits House Targaryen and the rest of Westeros over who should assume the Iron Throne.

Without spoiling too much, the show should come with some extremely interesting tidbits even for those who have not read the books. Chief among them is the much bigger cast of dragons here. Where the original series only had Daenerys' three, in this time period there are about a dozen dragons in Westeros, and even more riders as the war goes on.

House of the Dragon also has a brand new showrunner, Ryan Condal, and the showrunners of the original series will not be involved at all. Author George R.R. Martin is an executive producer, though on his blog he promised to spend minimal time on the show while he finishes up his novels instead. House of the Dragon is expected to air on HBO sometime in 2022.

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