Can you hear that in the distance? A faint flapping of wings? If so, it’s probably because the world of Game Of Thrones is back, baby (or you’re about to be roasted by an impressively rendered dragon, but we sincerely hope it’s the former).
The first official trailer for House Of The Dragon, HBO’s Targaryen-centric prequel series, dropped today, and we have some thoughts. (That was only a teaser trailer that came out in May, in case you were thinking, “Wait, didn’t that already happen?”) We’ll be recapping the show weekly once it premieres on August 21.
But in the meantime, here are some initial takeaways from our first trip to King’s Landing since that fateful day in 2019.
1. It’s surprisingly nice to be back in Westeros
If your first reaction to the GOT prequel announcement was Huh? and then I simply do not care anymore, we can’t say we blame you. For the rest of us, though, it feels surprisingly good to be back.
While we all know that no one has a better story than Bran the Broken (sigh), it is actually quite nice to revisit this world with a completely new cast of characters that a certain show running duo won’t have a chance to get their grubby hands on. The budget is enormous (seriously, the dragons looks amazing). And the battles are as muddy as ever. We’re home.
2. Ramin Djawadi returns with a familiar trick
Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi is also back–and he’s apparently bringing a bit of Westworld with him. Reminiscent of the thematically appropriate instrumental covers he became known for in his second HBO outing, this trailer features Djawadi’s orchestra-heavy cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs.” It’s a bit of an obvious choice, as the mashup literally features beautiful women wearing furs. On that note:
3. The dialogue is very on the nose
A character says, “Knives will come out,” and the next shot is of Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) being threatened with a knife. A different character proclaims, “War is afoot” over a shot of two factions squaring off to battle.
A voiceover reminds us that “your family has dragons” over footage of a scorched field. While this does give us pause, it’s only a trailer. And George R.R. Martin praised the writers, saying that they “made good choices [and] even some improvements” to his original story. For now, we’ll just have to believe him.
4. Everyone is so blonde
So the wigs don’t look as much like bad GOT cosplay as everyone thought when the original promo shots were released. But Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) still looks like Phoebe Bridgers, as other have pointed out.
