Game of Thrones prequel predictions warning

After The iron Throne changed the face of television, this prequel, set roughly 200 years earlier, will seek to recapture everything that made Obtained such global success, while avoiding the final season slump that divided fans.

The release of a new trailer this week has rightly got fans excited – and wondering: what is it all about?

Well, if you’ve read author and creator George RR Martin’s 2018 “historical fantasy” fire and blood, you will already have a good idea. However, as Obtained shown, it is not because it is on the page that it will end up on the screen.

The producers have kept things very cautious, but we can make educated guesses about what’s to come.

The release date is set for Monday, August 22 in Australia on frenzy and foxtel (it’s screening the evening of August 21 in the US, so will land at the same time here, our mid-morning).

It’s almost certainly going to focus on a vicious civil war between the Targaryens that has divided Westeros and resulted in much bloodshed, backstabbing, and dragon flames.

We know there will be a lot of blonde wigs with all these Targaryens, although the dragons probably won’t start burning stuff until the end of season one and we may not see Stark until season two. .

Paddy Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen, who is good, kind and wise. That means it’s about as likely to last until the end as the single cupcake at a fat kid’s birthday party.

There are three powerful factions jockeying for the throne.

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The first is his younger brother Daemon, played by Matt Smith (Dr Who). He’s a fearsome warrior and rider of dragons, but the real power struggle will actually be between two women – Viserys’ daughter and heiress, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and his new wife Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

Alicent is the daughter of King’s Hand Otto (Rhys Ifans) so obviously he’s going to be on her side.

The casting of young Rhaenyra and Alicent suggests that we’ll see the two as friends when they’re young, creating some extra drama when they go at each other’s throats. Or maybe they were enemies as children, adding extra spice to their conflict as adults?

As Westeros there will be betrayals, backstabbing and lots of rumpy-pumpy, probably including some incestuous stuff because obviously the Targaryens didn’t go crazy just because they were blonde.

Of course, the drama won’t end with the fabulously bloody Civil War, as Lannisters and Starks join in the fun to help keep the peace…or keep the kingdom apart, anyway.

Many locations we know from GoT are going to be back in action for HoTD, obviously including King’s Landing.

With a supposed budget of almost $20 million for each episode, it’s going to look good. The showrunners are Ryan J Condal and Miguel Sapochnik. Sapochnik was responsible for such jaw-dropping GoT episodes as Hardhome and Battle Of The Bastards, so that’s a big plus for any fans who were worried about whether there would be a hangover from the final season of GoT.

Sapochnik also addressed this with The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “Hopefully this will be considered as something else. But he will have to earn this – it won’t happen overnight. Hopefully fans will appreciate it for what it is. We’ll be lucky if we ever get close to what the original series was, so we put our heads down and carry on and hope what we come up with is worthy of having a Game of Thrones title.”

Of course, the last word should go to George RR Martin, who awaits fans (increasingly with anticipation) for his long-awaited next GoT novel, Winter winds.

“I saw rough cuts of a few more episodes of House Of The Dragon, and was just as pleased as I was with previous episodes. Ryan and Miguel and their cast and crew do a great job. ‘among you who like complex, conflicted and gray characters (like me) will like this series. There will be a lot of dragons and battles, of course, but the backbone of the story is human conflict, love and hate, character drama rather than action/adventure, he said.

Obtained fans will of course say, “That’s great George, such a relief.” And then most of them will add, “Now stop watching HoTD and write!”

TRAIL(ER) OF BLOOD … AND TIPS

The last Dragon House The trailer, released on Friday, delivered a tantalizing series of hints at what’s to come – along with some fiery explosions of dragon fire.

Unsurprisingly, the action centered around the two women who will fight for the throne: Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

Interestingly, we also saw a bit of their younger selves – played by Australian Milly Alcock and Englishwoman Emily Carey respectively – as well as a warning that nobles don’t want a wife on the iron Throne.

This creates the possibility that there are two storylines, on two timelines, with the two young women possibly coming together to stop Rhaenyra’s uncle Daemon (Matt Smith) from taking over.

It could possibly take place simultaneously, told in flashback or through a few of the earlier episodes.

Then, once that’s settled, we’ll see their older versions battling for the throne, with an earlier friendship adding further emotion.

Since one of the scenes shows Daemon and Rhaenyra clutching blood-soaked hands and smiling, it looks like they’re making a deal. I would say kissing and makeup, but that means something different for the incestuous Targaryens.

We also see Daemon appear to hand over a dragon egg to Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King. Or is Otto trying to stop him from stealing one, given that we’ll later see a guilty-looking demon being surprised by a fire-breathing dragon in a crypt? Additionally, a box with something valuable is delivered, which looks a bit like the box of dragon eggs Daenerys received in Game Of Thrones.

This is perhaps the most intriguing scene, among the obvious battles and flying dragons.

We also have a funeral, which I suspect is for King Viserys (Paddy Considine).

The most dramatic – albeit brief – scene shows Alicent running at Rhaenyra with a dagger. But is this the end of their fight for the throne, or the beginning?

We will know more on August 22.

House Of The Dragon will premiere in Australia on August 22 and, like all previous Game of Thrones episodes, will be available to stream on BINGE and watch on Foxtel.

Fire And Blood by George RR Martin is in all good bookstores, published by HarperCollins