Warning: Contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1, episode 1. It’s true that Game of Thrones‘ ending was controversial and may leave audiences reluctant to return to Westeros, but not watching House of the Dragon because of that would be a real mistake. When Game of Thrones ended in 2019, it was to a major backlash, and one that – for most of its run – wouldn’t have been predicted. It was one of the biggest shows of all time, but its conclusion that was seen as being rushed and took many surprising and divisive story and character turns felt the full fury of the internet.
Since then, Game of Thrones‘ ending has been something of a punching bag: like Lost before it, the series finale is now held up as an example of how not to end a TV show. As ever, some of this became overly vitriolic, but there were genuine criticisms and a lot of upset, since this was the end of a story that many viewers had obsessed over for almost an entire decade.
House of the Dragon, the first of many planned Game of Thrones spinoffs, is HBO’s attempt at winning people back. That isn’t an easy task – it isn’t representative of the entire audience base, or close to it, but look at any response on social media or discussion elsewhere online, and it’s not difficult to find those saying they won’t watch the prequel because of its parent show’s ending. However, House of the Dragon may have almost 6x as many dragons as Game of Thrones did, but that doesn’t mean viewers are going to get burned again. This is its own show with its own creative team – some who worked on Game of Thrones, and many who didn’t, but all very talented – and a new batch of characters to love or hate. It’s adapting Martin’s work that a) has him more closely involved and b) has an actual ending, and based on House of the Dragon season 1, episode 1, not watching would be a big error because, well, it’s really good.
House Of The Dragon Will Remind You Why You Loved Game Of Thrones
House of the Dragon season 1, episode 1 echoes Game of Thrones worldbuilding: there is an immediate sense of place and its people, which is at once familiar (locations viewers know) and different (they don’t look exactly the same, and the characters are certainly unique). It contains the sparks of its story, but also makes clear the promise that things will get even bigger as it bursts wide open. This isn’t just a spinoff trying to be Game of Thrones 2.0, though it does have a story revolving around the Iron Throne and dragons, but instead builds upon that legacy. The hallmarks it draws on are the parts of the show most beloved, but it’s also marking its own path.
In House of the Dragon‘s season 1 premiere, there’s a great amount of familiar drama, of palace intrigue, of quiet conversations with big implications. It marries this with an impressive sense of scale – the dragons, sets, and perhaps most of all the costumes all look great – but it also suggests that this story will very much be what so many felt Game of Thrones‘ ending wasn’t. That is, true to the political machinations and character developments that make the show so fascinating to watch, with spectacle underpinning it but not overshadowing.
House of the Dragon season 1, episode 1 feels like watching a Game of Thrones season 1 or 2 episode (with a bigger budget), where not everything is perfectly formed yet but there’s enough faith it will get there, and based on its story it will only get more exciting, more dramatic, and more tragic. This is a family story at heart, a more intimate one than the show it spinoffs out of, and it deserves to be given a chance to win viewers over just like Game of Thrones did in 2011.
House of the Dragon releases new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
