- "Fire reigns"
- ―Tagline
House of the Dragon: Season 1[1] is the first season of House of the Dragon. It consists of ten episodes. It premiered with "The Heirs of the Dragon" on August 21, 2022 on HBO and HBO Max, and concluded with "The Black Queen" on October 23, 2022. It is based on Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin.
Premise[]
Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, this epic series tells the story of House Targaryen.[1]
Overview[]
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Season 1 begins approximately 200 years before the War of the Five Kings, and 100 years after Aegon's Conquest united the Seven Kingdoms. House Targaryen has reigned as the rulers of Westeros for five generations, and the number of dragons they possess has increased to more than ever before. At the end of the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, grandson of Aegon the Conqueror, a succession dispute arises between two of his grandchildren, which is resolved when the lords of Westeros assembled at the Great Council at Harrenhal select Viserys I Targaryen to be the royal heir ahead of his cousin Rhaenys - even though she had a superior claim, and largely due to her gender. The story begins a few years later when old King Jaehaerys passes away and King Viserys I ascends the Iron Throne. Outwardly, the realm has enjoyed a golden age of peace and prosperity for seventy years, and the Targaryen dynasty is at the height of its power. Yet factions are starting to form within Viserys's court that threaten the stability of his reign.
Rhaenys and her husband Corlys Velaryon, the wealthiest man in Westeros, remain at the royal court despite being passed over. House Velaryon have long served as admirals of the royal fleet and still wield much strength at sea, and there are still some in the realm who at the Great Council wanted Rhaenys to be queen instead of Viserys. Meanwhile, Viserys's Hand of the King Otto Hightower seeks to expand his own family's power and influence over the royal court from within. As the rulers of Oldtown, the realm's second largest city, House Hightower wields a great deal of control over the leadership of the Faith of the Seven. Complicating matters is that while Viserys was named heir ahead of Rhaenys due to male preference, Viserys himself has yet to produce a male heir of his own. His only living child when he ascended the throne was his daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen - but according to the principle of male inheritance that put Viserys on the throne ahead of the Velaryons, his nearest male heir is his younger brother Daemon Targaryen, a dangerous and unpredictable rogue.
The peace of the realm is set on a knife's edge when not long into Viserys's reign, his wife Aemma Arryn dies in childbirth to a stillborn son. To avoid the risk of his brother making a play for the throne, Viserys controversially goes against the very inheritance principle that crowned him king, by officially naming his daughter Rhaenyra as the new royal heir. Both the Velaryons and Hightowers subsequently scramble to compete for Viserys's favor, trying to convince him to remarry to a daughter from one of their families: either Rhaenys's daughter Laena Velaryon or Otto's precocious daughter Alicent Hightower. Moving in between these competing factions, Viserys's brother Daemon pursues his own path to power.
Episodes[]
| Episode | Image | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1[16] | 
|
"The Heirs of the Dragon"[16] | August 21, 2022[3] |
| 2[17] | 
|
"The Rogue Prince"[17] | August 28, 2022[3] |
| 3[18] | 
|
"Second of His Name"[18] | September 4, 2022[3] |
| 4[19] | 
|
"King of the Narrow Sea"[19] | September 11, 2022[3] |
| 5[20] | 
|
"We Light the Way"[20] | September 18, 2022[3] |
| 6[21] | 
|
"The Princess and the Queen"[21] | September 25, 2022[3] |
| 7[22] | 
|
"Driftmark"[22] | October 2, 2022[3] |
| 8[23] | 
|
"The Lord of the Tides"[23] | October 9, 2022[3] |
| 9[24] | 
|
"The Green Council"[24] | October 16, 2022[3] |
| 10[25] | 
|
"The Black Queen"[25] | October 23, 2022[3] |
Cast[]
- Main page: House of the Dragon: Season 1/Cast
Starring[]
- Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen (9 episodes)
- Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen (9 episodes)
- Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower (4 episodes)
- Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen (5 episodes)
- and Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower (9 episodes)
- Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon (6 episodes)
- Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen (7 episodes)
- Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria (5 episodes)
- Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole (9 episodes)
- Milly Alcock as Young Rhaenyra Targaryen (5 episodes)
- Emily Carey as Young Alicent Hightower (5 episodes)
- Graham McTavish as Harrold Westerling (9 episodes)
- Matthew Needham as Larys Strong (5 episodes)
- Jefferson Hall as Tyland Lannister / Jason Lannister (6 episodes)
- Harry Collett as Jacaerys Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen (3 episodes)
- Bethany Antonia as Baela Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Phoebe Campbell as Rhaena Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen (2 episodes)
Co-starring[]
- Bill Paterson as Lyman Beesbury (7 episodes)
- Gavin Spokes as Lyonel Strong (6 episodes)
- Kurt Egyiawan as Orwyle (5 episodes)
- Luke Tittensor as Arryk Cargyll (5 episodes)
- Ryan Corr as Harwin Strong (4 episodes)
- David Horovitch as Mellos (4 episodes)
- Wil Johnson as Vaemond Velaryon (4 episodes)
- Elliott Tittensor as Erryk Cargyll (4 episodes)
- Phil Daniels as Gerardys (3 episodes)
- Anthony Flanagan as Steffon Darklyn (3 episodes)
- Paul Kennedy as Jasper Wylde (3 episodes)
- Steffan Rhodri as Hobert Hightower (3 episodes)
- Jordon Stevens as Elinda Massey (3 episodes)
- Evie Allen as Young Helaena Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Leo Ashton as Young Aemond Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Nova Foueillis-Mosé as Child Laena Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Elliot Grihault as Lucerys Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Leo Hart as Young Jacaerys Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Julian Lewis Jones as Boremund Baratheon (2 episodes)
- John Macmillan as Laenor Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Solly McLeod as Joffrey Lonmouth (2 episodes)
- Theo Nate as Young Laenor Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Eva Ossei-Gerning as Young Rhaena Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Harvey Sadler as Young Lucerys Velaryon (2 episodes)
- Daniel Scott-Smith as Craghas Drahar (2 episodes)
- Shani Smethurst as Young Baela Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Ty Tennant as Young Aegon Targaryen (2 episodes)
- Max Wrottesley as Lorent Marbrand (2 episodes)
- Nanna Blondell as Laena Velaryon ("The Princess and the Queen")
- Sian Brooke as Aemma Arryn ("The Heirs of the Dragon")
- Matthew Carver as Child Laenor Velaryon ("The Heirs of the Dragon")
- Garry Cooper as Ryam Redwyne ("The Heirs of the Dragon")
- Roger Evans as Borros Baratheon ("The Black Queen")
- Rachel Redford as Rhea Royce ("We Light the Way")
- Savannah Steyn as Young Laena Velaryon ("We Light the Way")
Crew[]
Producers[]
- Ryan Condal: co-creator, showrunner, executive producer
- George R.R. Martin: co-creator, executive producer
- Miguel Sapochnik: showrunner, executive producer
- Vince Gerardis: executive producer
- Sara Hess: executive producer
- Ron Schmidt: executive producer
- Jocelyn Diaz: executive producer
- Ira Parker: co-executive producer
- Greg Yaitanes: co-executive producer
- David Hancock: co-executive producer
- Charmaine DeGraté: co-executive producer
- Karen Wacker: producer
- Angus More Gordon: producer
- Alexis Raben: producer
- Kevin Lau: producer
- Richard Sharkey: consulting producer
- Pam Fitzgerald: co-producer
- Hannah Godwin: co-producer
- Eileen Shim: co-producer
- Toby Ford: co-producer
- Tim Porter: co-producer
- Íde O'Rourke: associate producer
- Megan Ott: associate producer
- Nikeah Forde: VFX producer
- Gabe Fonseca: supervising producer
Writers[]
George R.R. Martin explained in a blog post on February 20, 2022, how the series was developed from conception to assigning specific scripts for the first season. In the early production phase, Martin himself collaborated with Ryan Condal on a pilot script for the first episode, but when the Long Night prequel pilot was suddenly rejected in October 2019, HBO greenlit a full first season for House of the Dragon - skipping the pilot stage entirely, surprising even Condal. In the early "brainstorming" stages outlining the series as a whole beyond the first season, Condal and Martin had a "mini writers room" with screenwriters Claire Kiechel, Wes Tooke, and Ti Mikkel. All three did contribute to ideas for the series as a whole, but Kiechel and Tooke departed for other projects before the writing process on specific Season 1 scripts began (thus they were not part of the "writers' room" roundtable meetings in Season 1). Ti Mikkel, however, is a writing assistant to Martin, and remained as part of the writers' room meetings for Season 1 itself (though she is not credited with writing a specific episode, Martin mentions her alongside the others as part of the Season 1 writing staff).
In his blog post, Martin listed that the Season 1 writers' room consisted of eight people: "Ryan Condal, Sara Hess, Gabe Fonseca, Ira Parker, Ti Mikkel, Charmaine DeGrate, Kevin Lau, and Eileen Shim". He also said that some of them have moved on to other unrelated projects and will not be returning for Season 2, though others do expect to return for a potential second season. Martin himself was also unable to contribute a specific full script to Season 1 due to his other writing commitments. Martin did confirm, however, that "I did co-create the series with Ryan and help give it its shape, and he and I have been in constant contact ever since". This is in contrast with the Long Night prequel series, which Martin later said HBO's (former) leadership picked and which he admitted he was barely involved with.[26]
Specific writing credits for Season 1 are:
- Ryan Condal: episodes 1, 2, 3, and 10
- Gabe Fonseca: episode 3
- Ira Parker: episode 4
- Charmaine DeGraté: episode 5
- Sara Hess: episodes 6 and 9
- Kevin Lau: episode 7
- Eileen Shim: episode 8
Directors[]
- Miguel Sapochnik: episodes 1, 6, and 7
- Greg Yaitanes: episodes 2, 3, and 10
- Clare Kilner: episodes 4, 5, and 9
- Geeta Vasant Patel: episode 8
Cinematographers[]
Each cinematographer (director of photography) is paired with a specific director's filming unit:
- Fabian Wagner (with Miguel Sapochnik)
- Pepe Avila del Pino (with Greg Yaitanes)
- Alejandro Martínez (with Clare Kilner)
- Catherine Goldschmidt (with Geeta Vasant Patel)
Staff[]
- Jim Clay: production designer
- Tim Porter editor
- Kate Rhodes James: casting director
- Ramin Djawadi: composer
- Angus Bickerton: visual effects supervisor
- Jany Temime: costume designer
- Ti Mikkel: consultant
Production[]
Filming on Season 1 began in late March 2021 and concluded in mid-February 2022.
The season had two filming units, named "Fire" and "Blood" after Fire & Blood, the prequel anthology book that the series is based on. Game of Thrones began with two major filming units: one designated as the "home unit" filming in the British Isles and another the "travel unit" which filmed in Mediterranean countries (plus Iceland at times). The travel unit had to face the difficulties of transport and on-location shoots, thus to balance the workload, most of the large battle scenes were filmed by the home unit. For House of the Dragon, "Fire unit" is the new home unit filming in England, while "Blood unit" is the travel unit that filmed in Spain and Portugal.
While there were two main units, they technically had four by the end of filming because two sub-units split off: the "VFX Unit" and the "Volume Unit" (for the Virtual Production Stage, which is called "The Volume").[27]
On-location filming first began in Cornwall, England, at the Driftmark set at St Michael's Mount, a castle on a tidal island. Filming in Cornwall wrapped around mid-May. Exterior filming then resumed in early September, in the Peak District of northern England, after which extensive filming resumed in Cornwall,. Production then shifted to Spain and Portugal from the beginning of October through early November.
On-location filming wrapped in early November, and filming overall was intended to wrap by mid-December 2022. However, the spike of the COVID Omicron variant that winter delayed the final wrap for about three months. As director Greg Yaitanes put it, from December onward they kept thinking that they were "only two weeks away" from the final wrap, but then production would be shut down from another crewmember testing positive for COVID, then they'd start up again for a few days only to have to stop for another positive case, dragging on like this into mid-February. Yaitanes said this was all the more annoying because filming was almost finished by mid-December, including all the exterior scenes, but there were still a small number of nonetheless vital interior scenes which they couldn't simply leave unfilmed.[28]
Originally, Miguel Sapochnik was actually supposed to film the first and second episodes as a back-to-back block, while Greg Yaitanes was going to direct episodes 3, 7, and 10. Yaitanes particularly wanted to work on episode 7 because it was his favorite script. A scheduling difficulty arose with one of their exterior filming locations, however, which meant that episode 2 had to be filmed immediately - but Miguel Sapochnik was filming a different episode at the same time. Yaitanes therefore had to step in and direct episode 2, and due to time constraints had to swap back directing duties on episode 7 to Sapochnik. They weren't sure at first if Sapochnik or Yaitanes would direct episode 10, but Yaitanes felt that getting to do the season finale somewhat made up for missing episode 7, which was the one he had wanted to do the most. Yaitanes said that Sapochnik already had a very clear vision in place for what he wanted from episode 2, and he tried to follow that closely.[29]
Home video[]
House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season was released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 20, 2022. Bonus features include:
- Welcome to Westeros (Exclusive to 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD)
- Returning to the Seven Kingdoms (Exclusive to 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD)
- A New Reign
- Returning to Westeros
- Before the Dance: An Illustrated History with George R.R. Martin
- Height of an Empire
- Noble Houses
- Familiar Places
- Introducing the Characters[30]
Most of these features were already released for free on HBO's official YouTube channel, or through HBO Max. No new episode commentaries are included, though the cast & crew did take part in an official podcast series released through YouTube which interviewed them after each new episode in Season 1.
In the books[]
The season is adapted from Fire & Blood, the history of House Targaryen. It adapts the chapters "Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession" and "The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens."
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trailers[]
Behind the scenes[]
Comic-Con Panel[]
Jason Concepcion[]
Times Square 3D Billboard[]
Cast and crew[]
Inside the Craft[]
Compilations[]
Recap[]
Images[]
Concept art[]
Costumes and props[]
Behind the scenes[]
Posters[]
Sigils[]
Logos[]
Character posters[]
Advertising[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 House of the Dragon: Season 1. HBO. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 House of the Dragon. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (HBO). The Futon Critic. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ↑ House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season (2022).
- ↑ Amazon.com: House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray/Digital) : Kevin Lau, Vince Gerardis, Sara Hess, Alexis Raben, Jocelyn Diaz, Karen Wacker, Ron Schmidt, George R.R. Martin, Miguel Sapochnik, Ryan Condal, Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Be
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 1: "The Heirs of the Dragon" (2022).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 6: "The Princess and the Queen" (2022).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 3: "Second of His Name" (2022).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 8: "The Lord of the Tides" (2022).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 4: "King of the Narrow Sea" (2022).
- ↑ House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 5: "We Light the Way" (2022).
- ↑ House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 7: "Driftmark" (2022).
- ↑ House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 2: "The Rogue Prince" (2022).
- ↑ poplarparry93 on Instagram: "Thats a wrap for Grips and Standbys on House of the Dragon, Fire Unit, Season One. March 26th - Today!"
- ↑ https://winteriscoming.net/2022/03/14/house-of-the-dragon-not-close-done-hbo-game-of-thrones/
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Heirs of the Dragon. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Rogue Prince. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Second of His Name. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 King of the Narrow Sea. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 We Light the Way. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 The Princess and the Queen. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Driftmark. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 The Lord of the Tides. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 The Green Council. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 The Black Queen. HBO. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin, Not A Blog, February 20, 2022
- ↑ Dune Pod, May 9, 2022
- ↑ Dune Pod, May 9, 2022
- ↑ Dune Pod, May 9, 2022
- ↑ House of the Dragon Season 1 Blu-Ray Release Date and Special Features Revealed, IGN.com
Notes[]
- ↑ The Great Council at Harrenhal was held in 101 AC according to "The Heirs of the Dragon."
- ↑ House of the Dragon starts in the year 112 AC according to the reference book Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty.
- ↑ "The Black Queen" picks up shortly after "The Green Council," which takes place in 132 AC.
External links[]
| Television series |
Game of Thrones (Season 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8) · House of the Dragon (Season 1 · 2 · 3 · 4) · A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Season 1 · 2 · 3) | ||||||||
| Pitches |
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| Concepts |
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| Source material |
A Song of Ice and Fire · Dunk & Egg novellas · The World of Ice & Fire · Fire & Blood | ||||||||