House of the Dragon Posters Reveal Best Look At 9 GoT Prequel Characters

New House of the Dragon posters reveal the best look yet at nine characters from the show. The upcoming series premiering on August 21 on HBO is a prequel to Game of Thrones and thus, one of the most highly-anticipated shows of the year. The parent series ended its wildly successful run in May 2019, and the prequel was ordered straight to series shortly after that. Created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal, House of the Dragon is based on the Song of Ice and Fire author’s own 2018 novel, Fire & Blood, which tells the history of House Targaryen.

Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the prequel will primarily focus on the fall of the Targaryen House by chronicling the events leading up to the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, as well as the ensuing bloodbath itself. House of the Dragon will also introduce audiences to a ton of new characters. The show’s ensemble cast includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans.

Now, House of the Dragon has debuted a handful of posters revealing the best look at the main characters from the prequel show. They include Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Cooke as Lady Alicent Hightower, Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Mizuno as Mysaria, and Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower. Check out the new character posters below:

While many of these characters have been glimpsed before in trailers and other marketing materials, this is undoubtedly the best look yet, especially for some more minor characters like Ser Criston Cole and Mysaria. With so many new characters, House of the Dragon faces a similar challenge as another anticipated fantasy prequel series, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Both shows feature large casts of entirely new characters who are mostly unknown to audiences, and convincing them to embark on a journey with so many unfamiliar faces will be no small feat.

Audiences will also be burdened with learning all these new characters’ names, nicknames, relations, and titles. For instance, during this period in Westeros, Viserys is King and Otto is his hand. Lord Corlys Velaryon is also known as the Sea Snake, while Rhaenys is sometimes referred to as The Queen Who Never Was. It certainly helps that House of the Dragon won’t be short on spectacle, as Martin himself has promised plenty of dragons and action. But if the prequel has any chance of matching Game of Thrones’ success, it will have to do so with strong human characters and conflicts.