'Game of Thrones' Prequel 'House of the Dragon' Gets 2022 Premiere Date

By Michael Hein

The old powers are waking in Westeros. On Wednesday, HBO announced the premiere date for House of the Dragon. The Game of Thrones prequel will premiere on Sunday, Aug. 21 2022 on HBO and HBO Max.

HBO has been promising that House of the Dragon will premiere in 2022 for some time now, but they did not have a solid premiere date until this week. Fans have been going crazy trying to predict when and how the announcement would be made, but in the end it came without much pomp and circumstance. The official House of the Dragon social media accounts simply posted a graphic with the date at the top in the font fans have come to know and love since Game of Thrones premiered in 2011.

The date was posted without much commentary or new details from HBO. It was accompanied by a new poster that showed a dragon egg surrounded by flames, with cracks forming between some of the scales. The similarities between this egg and the dragon eggs in Game of Thrones Season 1 are another indication that the show will borrow a lot of visual elements from its predecessor while finding other ways to blaze its own path.

HBO's new announcement confirms that House of the Dragon Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes airing week to week on HBO and that it will be available on HBO Max as it airs. This was a relief to some fans since the new poster shows the HBO Max logo, not the usual HBO logo. It also reiterates that the show is "set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones," indicating that it starts a bit earlier in the continuity than many book-readers had previously speculated.

Game of Thrones was based on George R.R. Martin's unfinished novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, but House of the Dragon has a different unique source material. It is based on his latest book, Fire & Blood, which is a fictional history book about House Targaryen written from the perspective of a maester in Westeros. It covers about 130 years' worth of history with history and employs narrative techniques like the unreliable narrator, which leaves plenty of mysteries for the show to explore while still giving the series a completed story to work with, unlike its predecessor.

House of the Dragon stars Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Olivia Cooke as Lady Alicent Hightower, with Milly Alcock and Emily Carey playing younger versions of each character respectively. It also stars Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Rhys Ifans as Lord Otto Hightower and many others. The show was adapted for TV by showrunner Ryan J. Condal with emphatic blessings from Martin.

Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max and Fire & Blood is available now in print, digital and audiobook formats wherever books are sold. House of the Dragon premieres on Sunday, Aug. 21 2022 on HBO and HBO Max.

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