House of the Dragon needs to avoid wasting its best feature. While it can’t undo most of the mistakes made by its predecessor, the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series gives HBO an opportunity to redeem itself in the eyes of fans and prove that they are capable of handling the franchise. With that kind of weight on its shoulders, House of the Dragon needs to perform well above expectations, which is certainly achievable so long as the series capitalizes on what will hopefully prove to be its greatest asset: dragons.
House of the Dragon takes place roughly 170 years before the events of Game of Thrones, focusing predominantly on House Targaryen during the beginning of the noble family’s fall from power. Drawing reference from George R.R Martin’s Targaryen history text Fire and Blood as well as novellas The Princess and the Queen and The Rogue Prince, the series will focus on the 2-year civil war known as The Dance of Dragons. Following the death of King Viserys I, the Queen and the Small Council conspire against his final wishes, appointing his eldest son Prince Aegon II to the throne rather than his chosen successor, Princess Rhaenyra, provoking a calamitous battle for succession between the two half-siblings that would envelop the continent. Martin is an executive producer on the series, with recurring Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik as showrunner.
With heavy themes of politics and betrayal, the exciting House of the Dragon opens itself up to the possibility of repeating some of the pitfalls of Game of Thrones. The HBO series teased dragon action early on but did not deliver much of the sort for over half of its run, and when the dragons were eventually given screen time, it was often underwhelming or difficult to see. Although House of the Dragon centers around Targaryen conflict, the decision to include “dragon” in the show’s title certainly suggests the creatures’ involvement in the story, so to be stingy with dragons as Game of Thrones was would be a mistake. Dragons were certainly more abundant during the time in which the prequel is set, but how many dragons the prequel has is less important than how the show chooses to utilize them.
Martin has confirmed that there will be approximately 17 dragons in House of the Dragon, speaking excitedly about the opportunity to see a higher volume of the creatures in action. But in his excitement, Martin illustrated a desire for the series that has been something of a concern in the past. “…hopefully, they’ll each have their own personalities, they’ll be instantly recognizable when you see them, the colors and all of that, because the dragons do have personalities in the books, and it’ll be great to see that come alive.” Dragons play a major role in The Dance of Dragons conflict on which the spinoff is based, with each dragon’s personality being in some way relevant to that of their rider, so developing the dragons as full-fledged characters in the story rather than as tertiary set pieces is integral to the show’s success. While the three dragons in Game of Thrones were distinguishable by their color, their individual personalities were never given much focus. The original series also elected to similarly alter the Stark’s six direwolves for the sake of time, robbing them of their individual traits and significance, and with nearly three times as many dragons to develop, House of the Dragon runs the risk of making Game of Thrones’ mistake even worse.
With the future of the franchise effectively on its shoulders, it is imperative that the prequel remain more faithful to the source material than its predecessor, and developing the relationship between Targaryens and their dragons is arguably the most significant aspect of doing as such. While it is unlikely all 17 dragons will make an appearance in the first season, so long as the spinoff makes good on the promise of exciting dragon action that Game of Thrones largely failed to deliver, House of the Dragon has the potential to revitalize the franchise and usher in a new era of A Song of Ice and Fire content.