‘House of the Dragon’: HBO Drops Fiery Dragon Footage and Character Posters for ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Series

HBO revealed a fiery “House of the Dragon” teaser trailer and nine character posters featuring the leads for the “Game of Thrones” prequel series Thursday.

Set 200 years before the events of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” the new series, premiering Aug. 21, tells the story of House Targaryen.

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Like its mother series, “House of the Dragon” has a large cast with a smaller core set of characters at the center of its story, including Paddy Considine (as King Viserys I), Emmy D’Arcy (as Princess Rhaenrya, Viserys’ first child and his heir apparent), Matt Smith (as Prince Daemon, Viserys’ younger brother), Rhys Ifans (as Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King), Olivia Cooke (as Lady Alicent Hightower, Otto’s daughter), Fabien Frankel (as Ser Criston Cole, a knight with eyes for Rhaenrya), Steve Toussaint (as Lord Corlys Velaryon a.k.a. The Sea Snake), Eve Best (as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon) and Sonoya Mizuno (as Mysaria, confidante to Daemon Targaryen).

“House of the Dragon” was created by “Game of Thrones” author George R. R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal (“Colony”), based on Martin’s novel “Fire & Blood.” Condal and director Miguel Sapochnik are executive producers and co-showrunners on the series; Martin and Vince Gerardis are executive producing as well alongside Sara Hess, Jocelyn Diaz, Ron Schmidt, Clare Kilner, Geeta V. Patel and Greg Yaitanes.

As Variety exclusively reported last month, “House of the Dragon” cost HBO under $20 million per episode to produce its 10-episode first season. For comparison, “Game of Thrones” cost HBO around $100 million per season. Its per-episode price tag began at roughly $6 million in Season 1 and rose to $15 million for the show’s eighth and final season.

See the new “House of the Dragon” teaser and character posters below.

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