‘Game of Thrones’ is back in prequel form ‘House of the Dragon’ with an all-new cast showing up Wednesday to launch the show at a Los Angeles premiere.
The new showrunners, who replaced David Benioff and DB Weiss, are Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.
“There is more wealth, there has been half a century of peace and really what is important about this is that it is a story about a house divided. It is about a single house that is torn from the inside,” said Condal.
The show opens with King Viserys Targaryen played by Paddy Considine deliberating over who should be his next heir: his brother Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) or his daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).
However, a third challenger to the throne arises. Olivia Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, Princess Rhaenyra’s lifelong friend, who marries the king after his wife dies in childbirth.
Cooke said that she enjoyed the tense scenes between her and D’Arcy that appear in the trailer. “It’s a lot of fun for me because acting alongside Emma is like coming face to face with (boxer) Mike Tyson. I love them so much and… on screen, we seem to hate each other, but I absolutely adore them.”
For D’Arcy, this is his biggest role to date, and he’s setting himself up for sudden fame.
“I am very excited that the program has an audience. I can’t speak to what that does for me on a day-to-day basis, but I’m really excited to see what people do with it,” D’Arcy said.
Rhys Ifans, who plays Alicent’s father Ser Otto Hightower and is also the Hand of the King, said he feels positive about the show’s future.
“Everyone’s performances are exquisite and now it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing if it resonates with the many millions of fans and new audiences.”
‘House of the Dragon’ begins airing on HBO on August 21.
Related: House of the Dragon: Targaryen civil war and more in the GoT prequel
