George R.R. Martin's books continue to provide new Game of Thrones material for HBO, as the network is prepping another prequel series to its popular franchise: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Since Game of Thrones ended, HBO has been working to keep that world on TV. The first prequel series to make it to air was House of the Dragon, which has become quite popular among viewers over its two seasons (creating an agonizing wait for House of the Dragon season 3). A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going to be a different kind of series, with potentially a little less machinations for the Iron Throne and exploring more of Westeros.

We'll explain, as well as share other key details of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, directly below.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release date

We're still waiting on an official A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release date, but the timeline is getting a bit clearer.

It was announced at Warner Bros. Discovery's Upfront presentation on May 14 that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would arrive in winter 2026. That means we should likely expect the Game of Thrones spinoff to premiere in either January or February 2026.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is an HBO original drama, so it will be shown on the HBO cable channel as well as being available on Max (soon to once again be known as HBO Max) for US audiences.

While not confirmed, we’d expect that it’ll air on Sky Atlantic in the UK, as other Game of Thrones and HBO shows tend to do.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms cast

Leading A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as the titular knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (aka Dunk) will be Peter Claffey. This is Claffey's biggest role in his career to date, though he has appeared in Bad Sisters, Wreck and Vikings: Valhalla.

Playing Dunk's squire Egg is Dexter Sol Ansell. Ansell's most notable credit thus far in his career was playing young Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Here is the rest of the confirmed cast:

• Finn Bennett (True Detective season 4) as Aerion Targaryen
• Bertie Carvel (Dalgliesh) as Baelor Targaryen
• Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things) as Tanselle
• Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen) as Ser Lyonel Baratheon
• Sam Spruell (Fargo season 5) as Maekar Targaryen
• Edward Ashley (Masters of the Air) as Ser Steffon Fossoway
• Henry Ashton (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder) as Daeron Targaryen
• Youssef Kerkour (House of Gucci) as Steely Pate
• Daniel Monks (Kaos) as Ser Manfred Dondarrion
• Shaun Thomas (The Long Shadow) as Raymun Fossoway
• Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (The Book of Clarence) as Plummer
• Danny Webb (The Regime) as Ser Arlan of Pennytree

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms plot

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on Maritn's novella The Hedge Knight. Ira Parker is serving as the showrunner for the series. Here is the official synopsis:

"A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms trailer

An official trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms hasn't been shared yet, but footage has been included in HBO/Max coming soon videos (as mentioned the "coming in 2025" bit is no longer accurate for the show. Still, check it out right here:

We've reached the end of House of the Dragon season 2, with the eighth and final episode landing on Sunday, August 4, and it will bring a temporary halt to the story of this Game of Thrones prequel until season 3 picks it back up again.

Over seven episodes we've watched the House Targaryen dance on a knife edge towards civil war, with some shocking twists and turns (and by that we mean 'deaths'!).

With only one episode left of House of the Dragon season 2, you're going to want to watch it as soon as possible, to make sure you don't get anything spoiled to you online.

Here’s how to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 on TV and online – it airs on Sunday, August 4 in the US and on Monday, August 5 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 E8 in the US

You can watch the eighth and final episode of House of the Dragon season 2 in two ways: online or using a cable plan.

Starting with the latter, you can watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 on HBO or HBO Latino channels. Ep. 8 will be released on Sunday, August 4 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT. The episode will be repeated countless times over the next few days at varying times.

A few live TV streaming services let you purchase HBO as an add-on package if you don't have it already. The list includes Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV, with it available if you pay a little extra per month.

To stream House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 on demand, you can sign up to Max where it'll appear as soon as it airs on HBO, joining all the previous episodes.

Max costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one. There's another higher tier but it's for high-res movie streaming so it won't affect House of the Dragon.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 in the UK

There are two ways to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 in the UK, both of which start on Monday, August 5. 

Firstly, to watch it on live TV, Sky Atlantic will air the episode at 2 am... if you value your sleep ahead of the first day of the working week, it'll repeat at 9 pm that evening. 

Then to watch it on demand, the episode of House of the Dragon will be available as part of Sky TV's and Now's libraries as soon as it airs on Sky TV.

You can watch it on Sky Atlantic or Sky TV's library if you subscribe to Sky. This costs £26 per month (with the occasional free trial or discount thanks to Sky TV deals) for its basic tier.

Now costs £9.99 per month so it's a bit cheaper but doesn't offer Sky TV's live channels, so deciding between the two is as much about which other parts of the subscription you're interested in, as much as the price.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 in Australia

Sign up for Binge if you want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 ep 8: that's where the episode will be available to watch from Monday, August 5. 

You can get access to Binge or as little as $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only streams video in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge has a free trial available for brand new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 episode 8 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Five episodes into the second series of House of the Dragon and the build towards the Targaryen civil war is gathering pace. Make sure you don't miss the latest instalment as season 2 episode 6 is set to drop on Sunday, July 21. 

After an epic dragon battle in the skies above Rook's Rest, last week's episode of House of the Dragon focused on the fallout and saw plenty of manoeuvring from the leaders of the Seven Kingdoms. 

It was also quick to answer the question that was on everyone's lips after the cliffhanger ending – did King Aegon survive the beastly battle? If you missed the episode then you'll want to check out our helpful recap which will make sure you are up to speed. 

If you're all caught up then you’ll want to know how you can watch this week’s episode. 

Here’s how to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 on TV and online – it airs on Sunday, July 21 in the US and on Monday, July 22 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 E6 in the US

You can watch the sixth episode of House of the Dragon season 2 in two ways: online or using a cable plan.

Starting with the latter, you can watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 on HBO or HBO Latino channels. Ep. 6 will be released on Sunday, July 21 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT. The episode will be repeated countless times over the next few days at varying times.

A few live TV streaming services let you purchase HBO as an add-on package if you don't have it already. The list includes Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV, with it available if you pay a little extra per month.

To stream House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 on demand, you can sign up to Max where it'll appear as soon as it airs on HBO, joining all the previous episodes.

Max costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one. There's another higher tier but it's for high-res movie streaming so it won't affect House of the Dragon.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 in the UK

There are two ways to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 in the UK, both of which start on Monday, July 22. 

Firstly, to watch it on live TV, Sky Atlantic will air the episode at 2 am... if you value your sleep ahead of the first day of the working week, it'll repeat at 9 pm that evening. 

Then to watch it on demand, the episode of House of the Dragon will be available as part of Sky TV's and Now's libraries as soon as it airs on Sky TV.

You can watch it on Sky Atlantic or Sky TV's library if you subscribe to Sky. This costs £26 per month (with the occasional free trial or discount thanks to Sky TV deals) for its basic tier.

Now costs £9.99 per month so it's a bit cheaper but doesn't offer Sky TV's live channels, so deciding between the two is as much about which other parts of the subscription you're interested in, as much as the price.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 in Australia

Sign up for Binge if you want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 ep 6: that's where the episode will be available to watch from Monday, July 22. 

You can get access to Binge or as little as $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only streams video in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge has a free trial available for brand new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 episode 6 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The long wait is almost over. After an incredible fourth episode that featured one of the best battle scenes we've seen in either Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, season 2 episode 5 will land on Sunday, July 14. 

Currently the top-rated episode of House of the Dragon, last week's The Red Dragon and the Gold featured a beastly battle with a heavy human cost. The fourth episode of the second series was utterly enthralling and has left fans around the world desperate to see the fallout from the clash at Rook's Rest. 

With the Targaryen civil war finally igniting in spectacular fashion, the Game of Thrones prequel gave fans what they have been waiting for — a dragon battle in the skies. 

If you missed the episode then you'll want to check out our recap, but if you're all caught up then you’ll want to know how you can watch this week’s episode. 

Here’s how to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 on TV and online – it airs on Sunday, July 14 in the US and on Monday, July 15 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 E5 in the US

You can watch the fifth episode of House of the Dragon season 2 in two ways: online or using a cable plan.

Starting with the latter, you can watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 on HBO or HBO Latino channels. Ep. 5 will be released on Sunday, July 14 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT. The episode will be repeated countless times over the next few days at varying times.

A few live TV streaming services let you purchase HBO as an add-on package if you don't have it already. The list includes Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV, with it available if you pay a little extra per month.

To stream House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 on demand, you can sign up to Max where it'll appear as soon as it airs on HBO, joining all the previous episodes.

Max costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one. There's another higher tier but it's for high-res movie streaming so it won't affect House of the Dragon.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 in the UK

There are two ways to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 in the UK, both of which start on Monday, July 15. 

Firstly, to watch it on live TV, Sky Atlantic will air the episode at 2 am... if you value your sleep ahead of the first day of the working week, it'll repeat at 9 pm that evening. 

Then to watch it on demand, the episode of House of the Dragon will be available as part of Sky TV's and Now's libraries as soon as it airs on Sky TV.

You can watch it on Sky Atlantic or Sky TV's library if you subscribe to Sky. This costs £26 per month (with the occasional free trial or discount thanks to Sky TV deals) for its basic tier.

Now costs £9.99 per month so it's a bit cheaper but doesn't offer Sky TV's live channels, so deciding between the two is as much about which other parts of the subscription you're interested in, as much as the price.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 in Australia

Sign up for Binge if you want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 ep 5: that's where the episode will be available to watch from Monday, July 15.

You can get access to Binge or as little as $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only streams video in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge has a free trial available for brand new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon S2 episode 5 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

I've just read What to Watch's resident House of the Dragon fan's impressions on season 2 episode 4, and they're glowingly positive, so you're going to want to watch this new episode which lands on Sunday, July 7.

This newest episode of House of the Dragon season 2 is called A Dance of Dragons and I didn't read his plot recap so I don't know what's so exciting about the episode yet, but the word 'dragons' is enough to get me pumped.

House of the Dragon season 2 continues the Game of Thrones prequel's story of a Westeros at war. The Targaryen family's infighting and woes are pushing the continent towards a civil war, and each episode brings us closer to that bloody rampage.

If you’re all caught up with the Game of Thrones spin-off then you’ll want to know how you can watch this week’s episode. 

So here’s how to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 which will air on Sunday, July 7 in the US and on Monday, July 8 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 in the US

You can watch this new episode of House of the Dragon season 2 in two ways: online or using a cable plan.

Starting with the latter, you can watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 on theHBO or HBO Latino channels on Sunday, July 7 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT. The episode will be repeated countless times over the next few days at varying times.

A few live TV streaming services let you purchase HBO as an add-on package if you don't have it already. The list includes Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV, with it available if you pay a little extra per month.

To stream House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 on demand, you can sign up to Max where it'll appear as soon as it airs on HBO, joining all the previous episodes.

Max costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one. There's another higher tier but it's for high-res movie streaming so it won't affect House of the Dragon.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 in the UK

There are two ways to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 in the UK, both of which start on Monday, July 8.

Firstly, to watch it on live TV, Sky Atlantic will air the episode at 2 am... if you value your sleep ahead of the first day of the working week, it'll repeat at 9 pm that evening. 

Then to watch it on demand, the episode of House of the Dragon will be available as part of Sky TV's and Now TV's libraries as soon as it airs on Sky TV.

You can watch it on Sky Atlantic or Sky TV's library if you subscribe to Sky. This costs £26 per month (with the occasional free trial or discount thanks to Sky TV deals) for its basic tier.

Now TV costs £9.99 per month so it's a bit cheaper but doesn't offer Sky TV's live channels, so deciding between the two is as much about which other parts of the subscription you're interested in, as much as the price.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 in Australia

Sign up for Binge if you want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4: that's where the episode will be available to watch from Monday, July 8.

You can get access to Binge or as little as $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only streams video in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge has a free trial available for brand new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The newest season of House of the Dragon continues to impress fans with its warring Westeros and the decline of the bloodline of the Targaryens, and season 2 episode 3 comes out on Sunday, June 30.

This Game of Thrones spin-off continues into its 13th episode and fans are loving House of the Dragon season 2 as much as the first season and the glory days of GoT.

The show continues to show a Westeros descending into disarray and war, as the Targaryen family bickers and fights with itself and dragons continue to mess about. And after an explosive season 1 finale and lots of drama in this new season, the fate of Westeros is at risk.

If you’re all caught up with the Game of Thrones spin-off then you’ll want to know how you can watch this week’s episode. 

So here’s how to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 which will air on Sunday, June 30 in the US and on Monday, July 1 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 in the US

The newest episode of House of the Dragon season 2 will be available to watch in two different ways: via cable or online.

For cable, you can watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 on HBO or HBO Latino on Sunday, June 30 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT, with plenty of repeats on both channels over the next few days.

Several live TV streaming services offer HBO as an add-on package to their standard offerings. The list includes Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV, with it available if you pay a little extra per month.

If you don't need to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 immediately as it airs, then it'll be on demand on Max as soon as it airs on HBO / HBO Latino. That's where all past episodes are too.

You can sign up for Max for $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 in the UK

As in the US, House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 will be available to watch live as it airs, or on demand afterwards. Unlike in the US, you'll have to wait until Monday, July 1 to watch it.

You can watch the episode on TV on Sky Atlantic where it airs as early as 2 am, though it'll repeat at 9 pm if you want to see it and escape sleep deprivation.

Sky Atlantic is available to people who subscribe for Sky TV, which costs £26 per month (and sometimes less, or for free, via Sky TV deals) for its basic tier (which is all you'll need).

If you don't need to watch it live, you'll have two options to watch it on demand. First there's via Sky TV's video-on-demand library, and we've already told you how much that'll cost you. The other is Now TV, which costs £9.99 per month.

Both options will also let you stream the previous episodes of the show as well as Game of Thrones.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 in Australia

You'll need to sign up for Binge in order to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3, as that's where the episode will land on Monday, July 1. It's not airing on any TV channels.

Binge costs $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only lets you watch in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge does have a free trial for new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

This House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 recap contains spoilers. The aftermath of Prince Jaehaerys' death has far-reaching consequences in King's Landing and Dragonstone, as tempers fray and blood runs hot. Meanwhile Ser Otto Hightower clashes with his grandson, King Aegon, on the best way forward and his daughter Alicent Hightower is consumed by guilt over her actions on that fateful night... 

US viewers wanting to keep up with the epic fantasy series need to be signed up for either HBO or its streaming service Max. HBO can be added to traditional TV packages or live TV streaming services as a premium add-on channel, including YouTube TV. Or you can sign up for Max as a standalone streaming service (though also available as an add-on channel on some platforms).

In the UK, with the show airing on Sky Atlantic, a Sky TV subscription is necessary to watch House of the Dragon. Episodes are also going to be available to stream on-demand on Sky Go and NOW TV.

“Traitors and villains..” 

House of the Dragon season 1 pulled few punches, with scenes like Rhaenyra’s stillbirth scraping the bone, yet after a six year-old was beheaded in the opening episode, the second seems to be going down the same path. Mercifully, that macabre moment took place off screen.

That was of no consolation to King Aegon II, who’s understandably beside himself with grief and fury at the loss of his heir. His mother Alicent Hightower is also in agony, not least because she was carousing with Ser Cristan Cole — who should have been guarding the royal chambers — when Jaehaerys was killed.

Yet while Aegon rages, his grandfather and Hand, Ser Otto Hightower, clearly has no time for his histrionics. “You’re already seen as weak,” he tells the young King, suggesting they use Jaehaerys' death as a chance to paint Queen Rhaenyra as a monster. It’s a good plan, yet Otto may well come to regret losing his patience with Aegon. Speaking to a Targaryen King in such a way rarely produces good results.

Aegon is unwilling to have his son’s body “dragged through the streets like a dog,” in a large funeral procession, which is admirable, but principle and pragmatism are rarely the same thing in Westeros. Despite her instincts as a mother, Alicent knows her father speaks the truth, although bitterly regrets that her daughter Helaena must take part - almost as much as she regrets that when Helaena fled the scene of her son’s murder, she walked in on her and Ser Cristan. 

'You have weakened me, I can not trust you Daemon...'

The funeral procession is a fine illustration of the rampant imbalance between the sexes in Westeros. While Helaena and Alicent are forced to restrain themselves as they walk through the fire of their own grief, in the dungeons Aegon indulges his uncontrollable desire for revenge against the man who slew his son.

News of Jaehaerys’ death also causes consternation in Dragonstone, yet it’s not long before Rhaenyra realises which of her advisors was behind the depraved act. When she confronts Prince Daemon he denies that Jaehaerys was the intended target, but we all remember the dark look he gave to the rat-catcher and Rhaenyra doesn’t believe him either.

“Have you used me as a tool to grasp at your stolen inheritance?” she asks him, before hinting at the darkness he keeps “sheathed inside himself like a blade”. It’s a fine scene and one that exposes all of Daemon’s weaknesses. Duplicity is not always a failing in Westeros, as players like Littlefinger used to demonstrate, but if you’re going to be a liar you need to be an adept liar, and in truth Daemon has seldom been able to outmanoeuvre anyone by wit alone. As allies go, he’s limited.

'There is no absolution for what I’ve done'

With guilt gnawing away at him, Sir Cristan Cole seeks out Ser Arryk Cargyll and begins pouring it all over him, lashing out with accusations about the night Jaehaerys was killed, which he knows he should face. After invoking the treachery of Ser Arryk’s twin, Ser Erryk, he commands the knight to travel to Dragonstone and use their likeness to get close to Rhynaera and kill her. It’s a bold and unhinged move from Ser Cristan, who’s reaching for redemption in under a sea of pain and guilt.

Elsewhere, Prince Aemond finds a sympathetic shoulder to mull things over upon at the local brothel. As the warrior who sits astride the most deadly weapon in the whole of Westeros — Vhagar — he has a burgeoning sense of self-worth and the thought of Daemon sending assassins against him does little to douse those flames. He admits he regrets the ‘business’ with Lucerys Velaryon, but is that only because it has led to his nephew’s untimely death? 

'I wish to spill blood, not ink...'

At Dragonstone, Rhaenys and Lord Corlys discuss Prince Daemon and the wider struggle for power. "Devotion has never sat well with him," she says as they consider his predicament while he flies to Harrenhal to raise an army for Rhynaera. She’s not wrong about that and the struggle many men in Westeros feel when following the orders of a woman.

Meanwhile Rhaenyra questions Daemon's former paramour Mysaria, to gauge her worth. In a world of entitlement and rigid class structure, she’s an entrepreneurial mover who built her own house only for the Hightowers to burn it to the ground. “For too long I made it my aim to be of consequence, but now I see that was the wish of a child,” she says, knowing none of the masters she has served will ever accept her truly. But has she found something of a kindred spirit in Rhaenyra?  

At King’s Landing, Aegon has had all the rat-catchers murdered, including the gambler who snuck into the Red Keep. Ser Otto believes it’s a mistake and finally vents the full spleen of his frustration, calling his grandson an idiot. He’s played the man rather than the ball though, as the killing of a few innocent rat catchers is well within the norm in Westeros, yet the most regrettable aspect of his outburst is his dismissal as the Hand. It’s clear Ser Otto was used to a relatively easy life as the advisor to Viserys, a far more temperate and sensible King, and has struggled to adjust to life under someone more impetuous. However his failings could cost him - and the realm - dearly. 

“He was right about you,” says Ser Otto after invoking memories of Viserys, before hinting that he knows full well that his father never meant for Aegon to become King. And what will Aegon think if he discovers what his new Hand — Ser Cristan Cole — was doing on the night his son was killed? 

Ser Otto tells his daughter he will return to Old Town, yet Alicent urges him to head to High Garden to shore up the Tyrells, in the hope that he might be able to return one day. He tells her they can still prevail as long as they hold fast, yet it’s clear the guilt from the night of Jaehaerys’ death is beginning to weigh terribly upon Alicent. Otto tells her he doesn’t wish to hear of her crime, yet it could prove an invaluable tool for removing Ser Cristan, if he could manage the blow back upon his daughter. Although how long she can contain the truth is in question and if her dark secret is discovered while he's away there could be serious trouble.

'You betrayed us brother...'

Rhaenyra keeps the word of her house and allows Mysaria to go free, yet as she heads to her ship, she spies Ser Arryk heading up the cliffs towards Dragonstone. Realising what this means, she turns back and repays Rhaenyra’s mercy almost immediately by alerting Ser Erryk to his twins’ dark scheme.

Rhaenyra’s servant arrives just in time to save her and after defeating his brother in the ensuing struggle, Ser Erryk falls on his sword. It’s a sad end for both men and a terrible waste of a priceless asset for the Greens - and the Blacks. We can only presume that Erryk killed himself because he knew the Blacks had no way of knowing whether he was a loyal servant or an assassin, yet it’s a very quick end to what could have been an intriguing plot line. 

House of the Dragon season 2 continues on HBO on Sunday, June 30 in the US and on Sky Atlantic on Monday, July 1 in the UK. Each new episode will air at the same time weekly. You may already have HBO as part of your cable plan but if not, several live TV streaming services offer it as add-on packages. Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV offer it, if you pay a little more each month.

If you don't need to watch House of the Dragon season 2 live, then you can catch it on demand using the streaming service Max, which costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one.

Each episode of the new season of House of the Dragon will hit Max after it airs on HBO. The first season of the show is also all on Max for you to watch.

After a two-year wait, House of the Dragon returned with a bang last week as the warring royals of Westeros were seen reeling from the events that unfolded at the end of season 1.

Season 2 continues to focus on the fall of the Targaryen family and hints at an impending civil war between the great houses of Westeros. It’s fantasy TV at its finest so if you missed the first episode, or simply want a reminder of what happened, then check out this Season 2 Episode 1 recap. 

If you’re all caught up with the Game of Thrones spin-off then you’ll want to know how you can watch this week’s episode. 

So here’s how to watch the 72-minute Season 2 Episode 2 which will air on Sunday, June 23 in the US and on Monday, June 24 in the UK and Australia. 

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 in the US

You can watch the latest episode of the second season of House of the Dragon in two ways: streaming online or on cable.

Let's start with the latter: season 2 episode 2 will air on HBO on Sunday, June 23 at 9 pm ET/ 6pm PT, as well as on HBO Latino, and it'll repeat on both channels at multiple times over the next few days. 

You may already have HBO as part of your cable plan but if not, several live TV streaming services offer it as add-on packages. Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV offer it, if you pay a little more each month.

If you don't need to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 live, then you can catch it on demand using the streaming service Max, which costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one.

Each episode of the new season of House of the Dragon will hit Max after it airs on HBO. The whole of the show's first season is also on Max for you to watch.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 in the UK

You've got two options to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 in the UK, as both Sky TV and Now will let you stream the show. The episode will land on Monday, June 24. 

Sky Atlantic will also broadcast the episode at 2am BST on Mondays, but will repeat it at the much more reasonable hour of 9pm.

Sky TV usually costs £26 per month, and you only need the basic tier to watch House of the Dragon, nothing like Sky Cinema or Sky Sports. You can save money by signing up for long-term contracts or using our guide to Sky TV deals.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 in Australia

In order to watch season 2 episode 2 of House of the Dragon in Australia, you'll need to sign up for the streaming service Binge, which also hosts the first season of the show. Episodes drop every Monday, with this second episode airing on Monday, June 24. 

Binge costs $10 per month for its most basic plan, but this only lets you watch in SD. Standard costs $18 per month and has HD streaming, and there's also Premium at $22.

Binge does have a free trial for new customers, though you need Australian contact information to sign up.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 everywhere else

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). 

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite shows, sports or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

House of the Dragon season 2 got all the pomp and circumstance of its standing as the most anticipated summer TV show this year at its London premiere, and What to Watch correspondent Matt Higgs was in attendance on the red carpet to ask many of the cast members some questions about what fans can expect. As Aemond Targaryen himself (Ewan Mitchell) says, "all out war."

Of course that should be of little surprise seeing as it was his character's (and his dragon's) actions in killing Lucerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra's son, in the final moments of season 1 that serves as the first official casualty of the war between the Blacks (those loyal to Rhaenyra and her claim to the Iron Throne) and the Greens (those supporting Alicent and her son Aegon II as the new king).

"Season 1 saw this family's world on a knife's edge and all it was going to take was a push from either side to draw blood," said Mitchell. "Aemond drew first blood, so season 2… it's all out war."

Adding to the hype of the new season were returning cast members Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen) and Harry Collet (Jacaerys Velayron). "It's crazy," Collet said, "I can't put it into words without saying too much, but it's brilliant." Antoia managed to find some words though, claiming "Everything's bigger, everything's better, everything's times 10 this season." She also added that fans can expect "a lot of dragon riding,” including from characters they have not seen before, as well as some classic Game of Thrones chaos.

Many fans have their favorite characters in the series, but so do members of the cast. So we asked new and returning members which character that isn't their own would they like to portray? Collet opted for Daemon Targaryen (played by Matt Smith), but the most popular character for people to switch to was Aemond Targaryen picked by Antonia and new cast member Abubakar Salim (though Salim also offered a second choice, Lord Larys Strong).

Check out more from our red carpet interviews at the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere in the Instagram reel below:

House of the Dragon season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16, on HBO and Max for those in the US. It premieres on Monday, June 17, on Sky Atlantic for UK viewers. 

A key member of the House of the Dragon cast has revealed that they have wrapped filming on the new series. 

We've been eagerly awaiting news about House of the Dragon season 2 for some time. We learned that filming was underway on the second season back in April, and now one of the main stars has revealed that he's finished filming his scenes for the second series.

On Instagram, Steve Toussaint — who plays Lord Corlys Velaryon, the Lord of the Tides — posted a selection of photos to mark the end of shooting. Along with the photos, Toussaint wrote: "And that's a wrap on Steve!" 

"What a blast to work with such great people! Now it's in the hands of editors, SFX folk, and whoever else. Hope you like it when you eventually get to see it! #hotd #hotd2"

As you can see, the photos don't exactly spoil anything about the new season, as Toussaint only shared a selfie, a snap of the sunrise and a distinctly non-spoilery photo of his trailer. 

HBO has yet to confirm whether this means filming has fully come to an end, though a recent Variety article did claim that shooting had wrapped and was targeting a summer 2024 premiere. 

That report also claimed that, now the writers' strikes have come to an end, HBO would be focusing on new episodes of The White Lotus, Euphoria and The Last Of Us through 2024, rather than working on new development.

In other House of the Dragon season 2 news, one of the show's directors, Clare Kilner, recently teased just how 'jam-packed' the new series will be. "There are eight wonderful episodes with so much happening in every episode, and we have trouble, at times, bringing them down to one hour", she said. 

"Ryan's decision was to give it a good opening and a good ending, and they're jam-packed with emotional and visually exciting events."

House of the Dragon season 2 does not have an official release date just yet. You can stream the first season on Max and on NOW in the UK. If you're looking for more shows to enjoy, check out our top picks for the best fantasy TV shows you should be streaming right now.

Emilia Clarke shall forever be known as the Mother of Dragons for her portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones, but that doesn't mean she's keeping up with the rest of the Targaryen family in the prequel series House of the Dragon. 

In an interview with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival, Clarke talked about the very relatable reason she's not tuning into the prequel series. "It's too weird," she said. "I'm so happy it's happening. I'm over the moon about the awards. I just can't do it. It's so weird. It's so strange. It's kind of like someone saying, 'You want to go to this school reunion that's not your year? Want to go to that reunion?' That's how it feels. I'm avoiding it."

(It can be hard enough to go to your own school reunion, so we understand the sentiment completely!)

Though set in the same universe, House of the Dragon takes place hundreds of years before Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon spotlights the reign of the Targaryen family during their peak ruling the Iron Throne — and the events that lead to their eventual downfall. 

Given that the two shows are so different, it makes sense that Clarke might not want to jump into House of the Dragon, particularly after spending eight seasons as Daenerys. It hasn't been that long since the show ended in 2019 and Clarke deserves a break from the universe. If she wants to jump back into the new series, great, but it's totally understandable that she might not want to dive into a show that's so closely related to one she worked on for so many years. 

Since the show ended, Clarke has been spreading her wings with other projects, including her new movie The Pod Generation. Clarke was at Sundance to promote the movie at its festival world premiere in Park City, Utah. She stars with Chiwetel Ejiofor in a story about a future where babies can be conceived and raised in artificial and detachable wombs, raising important questions about the politics of motherhood and having children. 

"There's so much politics around being another, having a child, not having a child…my God!" she said. "How dare people have the audacity to have that kind of an opinion on someone's life?"

While Clarke may not, you can watch House of the Dragon season 1 right now on HBO Max in the US and Sky Go or NOW in the UK. House of the Dragon season 2 is confirmed, but may not air until 2024.

House of the Dragon star Graham McTavish has teased that the second season is heading for civil war and that House of the Dragon season 2 is going to venture beyond the likes of King's Landing and Dragonstone.

In an interview with Metro.co.uk, McTavish — who played Lord Commander, Ser Harrold Westerling under King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) — has explained how he thinks things in Westeros will progress.

"I think the way that it's going, is it's leading towards civil war", the House of the Dragon star said. "Civil War is that great thing that countries indulge in when they haven't got anybody else to go and fight, they seem to just like fighting amongst themselves just to keep their hand in, and this is no different. They've had peace for a long, long time, and suddenly they are quite literally destroying the kingdom from within and that's what makes it so interesting, so I would expect more of that — more division, more taking sides", he said.

As for how those divisions will appear on screen, Graham McTavish expects that we'll be seeing more action and more storylines playing out in parallel across the world of Westeros. 

"I think it'll ramp up in terms of the action and I think it will move out of just the locations that we've been in up until now. I think season one was a much more domestic experience whereas this one will be much more fractured, and possibly move a little more into the world that people are familiar with, with Game of Thrones, where there were multiple storylines existing at one time. But who knows? But I would imagine that’s what it would be. And more dragons! A few will have been born by the time the show comes out again. And they grow very quickly…" He added.

This interview comes after a recent chat where Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin revealed he would have liked to change the point at which House of the Dragon season 1 started from.

House of the Dragon season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max and on NOW in the UK. 

• House of the Dragon vs Rings of Power
• House of the Dragon: The Catspaw dagger prophecy explained
• House of the Dragon director on episode 8's emotional scene

House of the Dragon season 2 has arrived, taking us deeper into the war between the Blacks and the Greens.

House of the Dragon season 1 delivered everything Game of Thrones and fantasy fans could want from the show: politicking, brutal deaths, tense rivalries, and fearsome dragons. Having met our main stars and witnessed friendships being broken and scraps being fought, the stage is now properly set for a bloody conflict. 

With season 2 wrapped up, find all the info you need on House of the Dragon season 2.

How to watch House of the Dragon season 2 

House of the Dragon season 2 is not available to watch entirely on-demand. For US viewers, it is available exclusively on Max. For those in the UK, the show is streaming on Sky Go and NOW TV.

House of the Dragon season 2 recaps

• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1 recap: A Son For A Son
• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 recap: Rhaenyra the Cruel
• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 recap: The Burning Mill
• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 recap: The Red Dragon and the Gold
• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 recap: Regent
• House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 recap: Smallfolk

House of the Dragon season 2 plot

After House of the Dragon season 1 introduced us to the main characters and took course over many years, the table for season 2 was truly set in the final episode.

Following the death of King Viserys, his wife Alicent misconstrued his final words and believes that he wanted their son Aegon II to become king over Viserys' daughter Rhaenyra, Alicent's former friend now rival. This puts chaos into motion as each side — the Blacks, loyal to Rhaenyra, and the Greens, loyal to Alicent.

As the two sides try to secure their position by bringing other strong houses to their side, Rhaenyra's son Lucerys was sent to meet with House Baratheon. However, he was met their by his cousin, Alicent's son Aemond. When attempting to leave, Aemond taunts Lucerys as they both ride their dragon, but things get out of hand and Aemond loses control of his dragon, Vhagar, who winds up killing Lucerys. 

While the act may have been inadvertent, it will lead to a now inevitable war between the two sides for control of Westeros.

How many episodes will House of the Dragon season 2 have?

Deadline has reported that House of the Dragon season 2 will be a shorter season than the first. According to their report, we'll only be getting eight episodes in the show's sophomore season.

However, House of the Dragon season 3 has already been confirmed, so we know there is still more story to tell with this series.

House of the Dragon season 2 cast

All the major players who survived House of the Dragon's first season will be making their return. Here's a quick reminder of who is playing who and their affiliation:

• Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen (Black)
• Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen (Black)
• Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower (Green)
• Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen (Black)
• Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon (Black)
• Fabien Frankel as Cirston Cole (Green)
• Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen (Green)
• Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon II Targaryen (Green)
• Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria (TBD)
• Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower (Green)
• Harry Collett as Jacaerys Velaryon (Black)
• Bethany Antonia as Baela Targaryen (Black)
• Phoebe Campbell as Rhaena Targaryen (Black)
• Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen (Green)
• Jefferson Hall as Tyland Lannister (Green)
• Matthew Needham as Larys Strong (Green)

There are also a number of new cast members joining the show in season 2. Here is a rundown of who you need to know:

• Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull 
• Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers
• Freddie Fox as Gwayne Hightower
• Simon Russell Beale as Simon Strong, 
• Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull
• Jamie Kenna as Alfred Broome 
• Kieran Bew as Hugh
• Tom Bennett as Ulf 
• Tom Taylor as Cregan Stark 
• Vincent Regan as Rickard Thorne

House of the Dragon season 2 trailer

Yep, there's tons! The latest trailer teases all the drama soon to come our way. It features tons of dragons, battles and looks forward to the inevitable war that's on its way. And it looks like there might be some tension between Rhaenyra and Daemon; does he see her as capable of uniting the realm? Here's the trailer

On March 21, HBO released two new trailers for the series, inviting us to pick our preferred side in the war. The two trailers are themed around the Greens and Blacks, each showing what is to come for their respective factions. You can find them both below: 

Below, you can find a previous teaser for the series that set the stakes and showcased the massing military might of the two factions. 

Towards the end, Rhaenys warns that there's 'no war so bloody as a war between dragons', and the trailer proves this, erupting into brutal conflict towards the climax. 

House of the Dragon is coming to a close.

Though plenty of people felt burned by how Game of Thrones ended, HBO has plans to unload a plethora of spin-offs based on their fantasy epic. The first series to emerge from the planning stages is House of the Dragon, which surrounds the legendary conflict within House Targaryen that happened 200 years before the events of the original series.

House of the Dragon co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik (who has departed the series for season 2) has spoken about how he feels “loyal and responsible" to Game of Thrones and the responsibility that he bears.

He said in an HBO chat: "I have a great kind of desire to even be in the same room as that show because it was a game changer. George and his writing was a huge influence on me. It’s an incredible feeling to achieve my dream job. You get that great call which is the thing that every writer is hoping for, telling you, 'We’re gonna go make this thing'. And you’re happy for a few seconds… and then you realise the responsibility that’s on your shoulders."

The series has garnered rave reviews so far, in line with what Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin himself had to say of the show. At Comic-Con earlier this year, he said: "I've seen nine of the ten episodes, and it's pretty amazing, I'm really very happy." 

Here's everything you need to know about House of the Dragon...

When is the House of the Dragon season finale?

The House of the Dragon finale airs on Sunday, October 23 at 9 pm ET in the US, and on Monday, October 24 on Sky TV's Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.

This August 21 release date meant House of the Dragon premiered just 12 days before Prime Video's highly-anticipated fantasy TV series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

House of the Dragon trailer

HBO steadily built up the hype for House of the Dragon for months before the show finally arrived with a steady stream of trailers. The official trailer teased the "ugly game" of what's to come in the new fantasy series and shows us a few hints at the plot and set up the trouble that's brewing between Daemon and Rhaenyra. 

You can check them out below

What's the plot of House of the Dragon?

House of the Dragon takes place 200 years prior to the Game of Thrones storyline, with the plot being derived from George R.R. Martin's novel, Fire & Blood. The book begins with Aegon's Conquest, which established the new world order over much of Westeros and saw the foundation of the Iron Throne as the unified seat of power over the realm. From there, we follow the Targaryen dynasty as many kings and queens (both good and evil) rule over the Six Kingdoms.

This eventually leads to the vicious civil war between Aegon II and his half-sister, Princess Rhaenyra, who battle over the throne currently occupied by their father, Viserys I. As the trailers all pointed to Rhaenyra being named Viserys' heir, we expect this eventual civil war is likely the endpoint for House of the Dragon, too. 

We'll also be exploring some new parts of Westeros in the new show. One of those new worlds is Driftmark, the seat of House Velaryon and the Sea Snake which is situated in Blackwater Bay, near Dragonstone.

Now that the show is underway, we've got full summaries of what's happened so far listed below, but beware: there are spoilers ahead.

House of the Dragon episode recaps

What happened in episode one?

After a brief history lesson revealing how Viserys came to succeed King Jaehaerys after 60 years on the Iron Throne, (over his cousin, Princess Rhaenys), we jump forward nine years into Viserys' rule. 

After we're introduced to some of the major players at court, we learn that Prince Daemon Targaryen is Viserys' current heir apparent, as the King's only child is his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra.

Daemon has troubled Viserys throughout his time on the Throne, leaving him with few friends at court. He draws even more ire after we witness one of his brutal, violent raids on King's Landing as the Commander of the City Watch.

Viserys' wife, Aemma Arryn, is preparing to give birth to Viserys' latest child; the pair have suffered miscarriages and lost children after birth in the past, and Aemma tells him that she wants this to be their last child, as she can't grieve another.

Whilst Viserys is at a jousting tournament held in celebration of his second child, Aemma goes into labor. The King is summoned to her chambers as there are complications during the birth. The Grand Maester in attendance then tells him the only way to save the child is to perform a Caesaerean section. Aemma dies during the operation, and their son, Baelon, also dies shortly after his birth.

At the tournament, Daemon proves an early favorite, though he is unseated by Ser Criston Cole, a lowborn Dornish man who subsequently defeats Daemon in hand-to-hand combat. 

The small council calls an emergency meeting about Viserys' succession just days after Queen Aemma and Baelon's funeral. At the meeting, tensions rise as the members debate whether Daemon is a suitable heir, before Viserys storms out in a rage.

Word gets back to Viserys that Daemon had mocked Baelon's death, calling him the "heir for a day". In response, Viserys tells him he intends to name Rhaenyra as his heir, and orders Daemon to return to his wife in Runestone. 

Before she is sworn in in front of the lords of the other Great Houses, Viserys apologies to Rhaenyra for wasting all these years chasing a son when she already had the makings of being a good queen. 

He reveals the prophetic dream that Aegon had about the Great Winter — known as "A Song of Ice and Fire"— and swears that a Targaryen must be sitting on the Throne to defeat the great evil when it arrives. Then, she is led out, and Viserys names her his heir, whilst Daemon flies away with Mystaria on the back of Caraxes.

What happened in episode two?

Six months on from the events of episode one, the Triarchy are proving to be a bigger nuisance to Lord Corlys Velaryon’s fleet, but King Viserys still refuses to send help as he doesn't want to start a war with the Free Cities. Viserys also faces the conundrum of what to do about Daemon, who's been squatting in Dragonstone. Rhaenyra is dismissed from the small council meeting and tasked with selecting a new Kingsguard, and opts for Ser Criston Cole.

Viserys (who is being compelled to take a new wife) confides in Alicent that he wishes to close the gap between him and Rhaenyra. Later, Corlys collars the king and tells him he thinks their enemies are eyeing up King’s Landing. To cement the bond between House Velaryon and House Targaryen, he suggests Viserys marry his daughter, Laena.

An emergency small council is convened after it’s revealed that Daemon has stolen a dragon egg; he’s also left a note inviting his brother to a wedding. Daemon says he intends to take Mysaria as his second wife (who is pregnant), and the egg—which is the same one that sat beside Viserys son, Baelon—is to sit in the cradle with his child, according to Old Valyrian customs. 

Viserys is furious and wishes to go to Dragonstone, but Otto Hightower placates him and offers to go in his stead as a show of force. Before any blood is shed, Rhaenyra arrives on her dragon to confront Daemon and talk him down. He’d actually lied about Mysaria’s pregnancy and marriage and returns the egg.

After a heart-to-heart with Rhaenyra, Viserys summons the small council to reveal he’s taking a new wife, though he snubs Corlys and announces he intends to marry Rhaenyra’s best friend, Alicent Hightower. Corlys storms out of the meeting and seeks out Daemon to ask for his support in taking the Stepstones islands back from The Crabfeeder, suggesting this could be a prime opportunity for him to demonstrate his worth as a potential ruler.  

What happened in episode three? 

Two years on, Alicent and Viserys have had a son together: Aegon II, and the lords and ladies are the realm have gathered for a Royal Hunt for his second name-day. Relations between Rhaenyra and her father and best friend-turned-queen, Alicent, have grown frosty, and she is unwilling to participate.

Jason Lannister seeks to marry Rhaenyra, though she rebuffs him; after confronting her father about it, she rides off into the King's Wood, closely pursued by Ser Criston Cole. 

Viserys grows increasingly frustrated by suggestions of suitors to marry Rhaenyra. Jason Lannister tells him many of the lords expect he will name Aegon his new heir, something which he makes clear is not the case. 

Rhaenyra and Criston bond during their time away and are attacked by a wild boar, though they return the following day unharmed after the hunt is deemed a success. Back at King's Landing, Otto speaks to Alicent to use her influence as Queen to urge Viserys to "see reason" and name their son as his new heir, though she seems unwilling.

Over in the Stepstones, Lord Corlys and Daemon's fight against The Crabfeeder is not going well, and Viserys had, up till now, ignored any requests for assistance. However, after chatting with Alicent, he sent word saying that soldiers and ships would be arriving for the war effort. 

Daemon receives this message unfavorably and sets off on his own to confront the Crabfeeder's soldiers head-on on the beaches. He gets wounded in the process, but when The Crabfeeder's men surround him, the Velaryon forces Including Laenor Velaryon and his dragon, Seasmoke) storm the beaches, leaving Daemon to rush off and kill the Crabfeeder himself.

What happened in episode four?

Rhaenyra is approached by a range of potential suitors, but finds them all lacking. Daemon makes his return from the Stepstones, having been named King of the Narrow Sea for his defeat of the Crabfeeder and Viserys embraces him.

Daemon invites Rhaenyra out with him on a trip to the shadier parts of King’s Landing during the middle of the night where they take in a pantomime and then he takes her to a brothel together. They kiss, but Daemon abandons her before things progress any further.

Upon her return to King’s Landing, Rhaenrya invites Criston Cole to share her bed. The following morning, Otto Hightower tells Viserys that Rhaenyra had been spotted together with her uncle in the pleasure house, a report which Alicent overhears and frets about.

She confronts Rhaenyra, who lies about the encounter and says that Alicent should not question her virtue whilst Daemon is brought before a furious Viserys. Daemon says he should wed Rhaenyra to him to “restore the House of the Dragon to its proper glory”, but Viserys instead demands Daemon return to the Vale. 

When he speaks to his daughter, Viserys threatens to strip her of her title and name Aegon II as his heir, though she says she will wed Laenor Velaryon and unite their two houses to strengthen her own claim, whilst also accusing Otto of being desperate to see his own grandson on the Iron Throne. Viserys then strips Otto of his position as the Hand of the King.

What happened in episode five?

In The Vale, Daemon confronts his wife, Rhea Royce; she is thrown from her horse, and he kills her. Alicent sees her father off, and he warns that she must prepare Aegon to rule, foreseeing Viserys’ death. 

Viserys and company travel to Driftmark, where they are not greeted by Lord Corlys, much to their frustration. To repair their relationship, he has traveled to offer the proposal of a marriage between Laenor and Rhaenyra, prompting Corlys to question how succession would be handled immediately.

Both Laenor and Rhaenyra have their own secret partners: Joffrey Lonmouth, and Criston Cole. Criston asks whether Rhaenyra would consider running away and marrying him instead. She rejects this, but suggests that they could keep up their relationship in secret. Criston is furious and storms off.

Criston is summoned by Alicent, who wishes to question him about what happened between Rhaenyra and Daemon. Criston misunderstands and confesses that he has been sleeping with Rhaenyra, contravening his vow of chastity, leaving Alicent feeling betrayed that her close friend had lied to her.

Wedding celebrations begin and everyone is in high spirits, though the mood shifts as Alicent arrives late, sporting a lush green gown, the same color that the Hightowers display when they call their bannermen to war. 

Gerald Royce challenges Daemon over his daughter’s death, though Daemon refutes this and explains that he plans to petition for everything owed to him as they had no heirs. Laenor’s lover taunts a guilty Criston over his affair with Rhaenyra, prompting him to brutally attack and kill Joffrey in front of everyone. Later, whilst Laenor and Rhaenyra say their wedding vows, Criston prepares to take his own life, but Alicent stops him.

What happened in episode six?

Years down the line, Rhaenyra is seen giving birth to her third son. Alicent demands to see the baby at once, and taunts Laenor over the child’s parentage, and it’s pretty clear that both Rhaenyra and Alicent’s children hate each other.  

Despite rumblings of infidelity, Viserys refuses to accept that the children are not Laenor’s. Daemon and his wife Laena Velaryon have children of their own, and have been offered permanent residence in Pentos, away from court drama. Laena wishes to return home, but Daemon refuses.

It becomes clear that Commander Harwin Strong is really the father of Rhaenyra’s children, though Criston (who has been training Alicent’s sons in swordplay) is still wounded by Rhaenyra’s rejection, and he bears a grudge against her family. He provokes Harwin into a brawl (which Criston loses), leading to Harwin’s expulsion from the City Watch.

Rhaenyra confronts Laenor about the rumors surrounding their children. Though they had agreed to keep seeing their respective partners after their marriage, these rumors could lead to their exile from court. Laenor wishes to escape everything and go out to sea, but she commands him to stay at her side. 

Lyonel Strong offers to resign as the new Hand of the King over his son’s outburst at Criston earlier. Viserys refuses this, but grants him leave to return his son to Harrenhal. Unbeknownst to them, Larys Strong sent agents to set their home on fire, and both Lyonel and Harwin are killed in the blaze. Larys approaches Alicent and tells her he believes she will reward him “when the time is right”.

During a problematic birth, Laena stumbles out to her dragon Vhagar and commands her to burn her alive. Rhaenyra tells Laenor they will be leaving the Red Keep behind and returning to Dragonstone.

What happened in episode seven?

The two houses meet again at Laena Velaryon’s funeral. Rhaenys suggests to Corlys that they should disinherit Rhaenyra’s children in favor of Laena’s two daughters, but Corlys refuses.

In the middle of the night, Aemond Targaryen lays claim to Laena’s dragon, Vhagar, prompting a fight between him Rhaenyra and Laena’s children in which Aemond loses an eye and blasts the Queen’s children as illegitimate.

The families are called together to discuss the matter. Viserys demands to know where the rumors about Rhaenyra’s sons have come from, labels them treason, and demands the matter be settled. Alicent, though, demands Criston bring her Lucerys’s eye in compensation, though he is stopped. 

Furious, Alicent rushes at Rhaenyra and slashes her with a dagger in front of everyone. Otto has been reinstalled as Hand of the King, and he tells Alicent he is pleased to see her resolve and promises they will “win” the brewing conflict. Larys seeks her out again, and offers his services to her to get revenge. She declines but is thankful for his loyalty.

Laenor confesses he’s failed Rhaenyra, but vows to support her properly. Rhaenyra seeks out Daemon, after the pair spent the night together, and asks him to marry her. Daemon notes this could only happen if Laenor were dead, so the pair brew a plan to secure Laenor his freedom to flee with his lover, Ser Qarl and fake his death, leaving Corlys and Rhaenys with no surviving children. 

What happened in episode eight? 

Six years on from the last episode, we find Lord Corlys afflicted with blood fever after being wounded at sea, with Rhaenys sitting on the Driftwood Throne in his absence. Corlys’ brother Vaemond believes he is now Corlys' rightful heir instead of Lucerys, who stands to inherit Driftmark as his older brother is in line for the Iron Throne. 

At a small council meeting, Alicent (who leads in place of an ailing Viserys) agrees to hear petitions from all parties about the matter. Daemon and Rhaenyra return to King’s Landing, and they beg Viserys to back Lucerys as Lord Corlys's successor if he dies, and they introduce their new sons to him.

Rhaenyra seeks out Rhaenys to beg her to back Lucerys's claim and offers to betrothe her sons to Rhaenys’ granddaughters. Otto Hightower takes the Iron Throne and begins hearing the petitions, though the ceremony is interrupted by the dramatic arrival of Viserys.

The king struggles to the Iron Throne and asks Rhaenys what Corlys’s wishes were. She announces support for Rhaenyra’s son and their marriage proposals. Incensed, Vaemond flies into a rage about breaking traditions, though Daemon kills him.

The two families share a banquet, though the peace is soon disturbed by a sarcastic toast to Rhaenyra’s sons by Aemond Targaryen. Rhaenyra says she will see her sons home but will come back to King’s Landing soon after.

In his final moments, Viserys relives Aegon the Conqueror’s prophetic dream of “the Prince that was promised” who is set to unite the Seven Kingdoms against a looming threat (which Thrones fans know to be the Night King). Alicent interprets Viserys’ words to mean their son Aegon. 

What happened in episode nine?

News filters around the Red Keep of Viserys’ passing, and Alicent tells Otto about his perceived desire to see Aegon II crowned as his successor. Otto reveals this at a small council meeting, where it becomes clear that members of the council had been plotting against Rhaenyra and Daemon all along.

Otto sends Sers Arryk and Erryk of the Kingsguard to search King’s Landing for Aegon; Alicent sends Ser Criston Cole on a similar mission, though Aemond insists on coming along with him. Whilst on the hunt, Aemond confides in Criston that he believes he should be the one to take throne, not his brother. 

Alicent seeks out Rhaenys and asks if she will back Aegon II’s claim. Meanwhile, Otto Hightower forces the senior members of various Houses to swear loyalty to Aegon; those who do not bend the knee are led away and, in one instance, killed.

The knights’ search sees them crossing paths with the “White Worm”—aka Mysaria—who offers to reveal where Aegon is hiding in exchange for some off-the-record assistance shutting down a fighting pit. Criston and Aemond overhear this exchange, and they follow the two knights and step in to recover Aegon themselves.

Aegon confesses that he has no wish to rule and believes himself to be unsuited to bearing the crown, though Alicent is determined to have him installed. She tells Otto that she is not willing to have Rhaenyra killed, as the small council wishes, but will instead send terms of negotiation to her about surrendering her claim to the Seven Kingdoms. 

Ser Erryk does not believe what’s transpired is fair, and he tries to free Rhaenys from the capital, though the pair are separated in the crowds on their way to Aegon’s coronation (which is also Viserys’ funeral).

At the ceremony, Aegon is crowned, and clearly enjoys stepping into the limelight. His moment in the sun is brutally cut short as Rhaenys crashes up through the floor on the back of her dragon, Meleys. The pair bare down on Alicent and the rest of her allies, before flying off and leaving King’s Landing behind. 

Who worked on the series?

The series’ showrunners are Ryan Condal (Colony) and Miguel Sapochnick. Fans might recognize the latter as the director of some of Game of Thrones' most iconic episodes such as "Hardhome" and “Battle of the Bastards." 

He even won the Emmy for Best Drama Series as an executive producer. Outside of the expected increase in dragon-based violence, many are speculating that this show is going to be the most true-to-form of the planned GoT spin-offs. 

At Comic-Con, George R.R. Martin revealed his confidence in the new series. "It's pretty exciting", he said, "You're always nervous at the beginning because these books, these characters are like my kids, and when you give your kid to someone for adoption, you wonder how they will be treated...I think Ryan has done a good job of adapting the books. Well, so far."

Clare Kilner (The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, The Wedding Date) and Geeta V. Patel (Meet the Patels, The Witcher) will also direct the series. Greg Yaitanes (Banshee, House) is serving as a director and co-executive producer.

Game of Thrones and Westworld composer Ramin Djawadi  returned to provide the score.

House of the Dragon cast

The House of the Dragon cast is stacked with incredible talent. Here’s what HBO has to say about the cast: 

King Viserys Targaryen will be played by Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz, Peaky Blinders), the successor of the Old King. He’s said to be a warm, kind, and decent man who only wants to continue the legacy of his grandfather. Place your bets now on how many people mistake that kindness as weakness.

Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel, The Sound of Metal) stars as Alicent Hightower. She’s the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and was raised in the Red Keep (the castle on Aegon's Hill in King's Landing), close to the king and his innermost circle. Alicent possesses she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.

Emma D’Arcy (Truth Seekers) is Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s first-born child. She is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Rhaenyra is almost everything a royal family could want in an heir... except she's not a man.

Emily Carey (Casualty) and Milly Alcock (Upright) will portray younger versions of Alicent and Rhaenyra, respectively. 

Likely the biggest fan favorite is the Doctor himself, Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) who will play Prince Daemon Targaryen, the younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne. Daemon is a dragonrider with the true blood of the dragon, but as King Jaehaerys once said, “madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.” 

Steve Toussaint (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Judge Dredd, and Shooting Dogs) joins as Lord Corlys Velaryon aka “The Sea Snake.” The lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline. “The Sea Snake,” is the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros. He built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters. 

Princess Rhaenys Velaryon will be played by Eve Best (Nurse Jackie, The Honourable Woman) Rhaenys is a dragonrider and wife to Lord Corlys Velaryon, and was known as "The Queen Who Never Was" after she was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council as they favored her cousin, Viserys.

Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Berlin Station) stars as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, a loyal steward to both the king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king's brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.

Fans of Alex Garland’s Ex Machina and Annihilation will be thrilled to know Sonoya Mizuno has been cast as Mysaria. Her character came to Westeros with nothing, sold more times than she can recall. Instead of wilting, but instead, she rose to become the most trusted — and most unlikely — ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the original heir to the throne. 

British theater actor Fabien Frankel (The Serpent, Last Christmas) has been cast as Ser Criston Cole. Of Dornish descent, Ser Criston is the common-born son of the steward to the Lord of Blackhaven. Criston has no claim to land or titles; all he has to his name is his honor and his preternatural skill with a sword. This tells us we shouldn’t sleep on the potential of him becoming a major player. 

Where can I watch House of the Dragon?

As we've mentioned, House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on the same day, so you'll need an HBO account whether it be through your cable provider or HBO Max. 

UK audiences are able to watch the series on Sky TV on Sky Atlantic or stream it on NOW.

Will there be a House of the Dragon season 2?

House of the Dragon season 2 is officially a go. HBO announced that the Game of Thrones prequel series would be getting a second season just days after the premiere episode, though the timeline for House of the Dragon season 2 is still TBD.

As we mentioned, co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik has decided to step down from the show. Ryan Condal will continue to serve as the sole showrunner. Fellow Thrones veteran, Alan Taylor, will be stepping in as an executive producer and as a director for multiple episodes in season 2 (via THR).

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House of the Dragon's eighth episode featured a touching moment between two of the series' most prominent characters — and we've now learned that it wasn't even planned.

*spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon *

"The Lord of the Tides" featured a pivotal scene in which an ailing King Viserys (Paddy Considine) made a surprise appearance at a meeting where Vaemond Velaryon was petitioning to be named the true heir to Driftmark instead of Rhaenyra's son, Lucerys, if Lord Corlys fails to make a recovery from his injuries.

Viserys struggles to make it to the Iron Throne and initially rejects the assistance of his guards. During the walk, the crown slips from Viserys' head; in a shocking turn of events, his estranged brother Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) picked the crown back up and crowned him once again. Unlike before, Viserys accepts his help to the throne, signaling that there's still a bond between them despite everything that's happened in the show so far. 

Whilst speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Geeta Patel — who directed episode 8 — revealed that this exchange between the two stars was just a happy accident that occurred whilst filming, one that just so happened to help tell the story of Viserys and Daemon's changing relationship.

In the interview, Geeta said: "When we were shooting that — I think the rehearsal again, the first day — the crown fell off Paddy's [Considine] head and Matt picked it up and we just kept going. We didn't stop. There was a discovery there of this moment."

"I was so thankful that accident happened, that the crown fell off because it proved to be, at least for me, quite a heavy moment and quite a turning point for a storyline that had started in the pilot: Hey, I want your crown and by the end here I'm gonna put the crown back on your head and I'm gonna help you to your throne", she added.

House of the Dragon continues on Sunday, October 16 at 9 pm on HBO and HBO Max in the US, and on Monday, October 17 at 9 pm on Sky TV on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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NOTE: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon

Throughout the first season of House of the Dragon, one of the main sources of drama in the show is Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). Members of King Viserys' (Paddy Considine) court do not believe he is suitable to serve as Viserys' heir apparent for many reasons, including his violent tendencies as the Commander of the City Watch.

Another reason is his reluctance to spend time with his wife. But who is Prince Daemon's wife? And who will play her in House of the Dragon? Here's what we know so far.

Who is Daemon Targaryen's wife?

Prince Daemon's estranged wife is Lady Rhea Royce. She's also known as Lady Rhea of the Vale and resides at Runestone, House Royce's castle in the Vale of Arryn. 

Their marriage was meant to strengthen the bonds between House Targaryen and House Royce, but the pair quickly developed a dislike for one another and, as such, do not spend much time together. 

During a small council meeting in the opening episode, the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), mentions that Daemon has not been home to his wife for some time. Daemon responds by calling Rhea a "bronze b***h" and claims that she's bound to be happier with him staying in King's Landing.

Despite being challenged for his comments, Daemon continues to insult Rhea during the meeting and even offers her up to Otto as his own wife to help "warm his bed," mocking the fact that Otto's wife had passed away recently. 

In episode 2, Daemon causes Viserys and the rest of court headaches when he claims that he is taking Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) as a second wife, though the planned marriage is all a setup by Daemon; Mysaria wasn't even let in on the scheme.

Episode 4 takes place years after the first few episodes, but Daemon's feelings for Lady Rhea Royce have not softened. When referring to the prospect of children with her, he calls her inhospitable. Daemon also makes another move to add a new wife, suggesting to King Viserys that he be allowed to marry Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), his niece, as a second wife. Though gross (to audiences and King Viserys alike), marriage between such close relations was a tradition of House Targaryen in the fantasy world's lore. Daemon is denied this request for Rhaenyra.

Then in episode 5, Daemon returns to the Vale and for the first time we meet Lady Rhea in person. However, we only get to know her for a short time, as Daemon startles her horse, who rears and then lands on Lady Rhea, killing her.

Who is playing Rhea Royce?

Playing Lady Rhea Royce is Shadow and Bone star Rachel Redford. Redford played Fruszi in the Netflix fantasy series and is also known for appearances in The Riot Club and Gap Year. 

New episodes of House of the Dragon air weekly on HBO on Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT in the US and on Mondays on Sky at 9 pm UK. Previous episodes are available to stream on HBO Max, Sky TV and NOW. 

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 *This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of House of the Dragon*

As it turns out, Daemon Targaryen isn’t the only threat to the stability of Westeros, as the second episode of House of the Dragon introduced us to one of our looming bad guys: The Crabfeeder. 

This ruthless new threat was namechecked in the first episode, but we got our first glimpse at him (and what he does to his victims) in episode 2. As if Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) didn't pose enough of a threat to the stability of the Targaryen dynasty, now they've got to contend with this mysterious new figure.

Who is The Crabfeeder? And who plays him in the Game of Thrones prequel? Read on to get the lowdown on the newest House of the Dragon baddie. 

Who is The Crabfeeder?

Craghas “Crabfeeder” Drahar is first mentioned by name by Lord Corlys Velaryon in a small council meeting in the season premiere. Craghas is a Prince-Admiral from Myr (one of the Free Cities), and he's seized the Stepstones— a series of islands that lie between Westeros and Essos— with his army, the Triarchy, which is an alliance that has been formed amongst several of the Free Cities.

Why's he called the Crabfeeder? Well, that's because his enemies meet a rather gruesome fate. Instead of killing them, Craghas has taken to restraining and leaving his foes on the beaches, where they're eaten by the hordes of crabs.

Lord Corlys worries that the Triarchy are growing in power, though his calls for support go unanswered by King Viserys. Even though they're removing the threat of piracy on the Narrow Sea, seizing the Stepstones means the Triarchy are expanding their territory. At present, they sit in an uneasy alliance with Westeros, one that is being stretched even further by the high tolls he's enforcing on Westeros' ships.

By episode 2, (set six months later), we learned Corlys' fears had come true, as The Sea Snake revealed one of the ships attacked by Craghas’ crew was flying his own banner, yet Viserys still refused to send aid as he does not want to go to war with the Free Cities.

The Crabfeeder looks like he'll play a bigger role in the third episode. With Viserys still refusing to combat the rising threat (and after he snubbed his daughter in favor of marrying Alicent Hightower), Lord Corlys stormed off to seek out Daemon Targaryen's help at the end of episode 2, and the pair can be seen in the preview for episode 3 taking the fight right to Craghas together in what looks set to be an epic battle scene.

Who plays The Crabfeeder?

British actor Daniel Scott-Smith plays Craghas Drahar in the Game of Thrones prequel. 

Aside from appearing on stage also showed up in Men in Black: International, and is due to appear in the upcoming UK Prime Video original, Jungle. 

House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO and on Mondays at 9 pm on Sky Atlantic in the UK. You can catch up with the season so far on HBO Max and NOW.

Dragons will continue to reign on TV, as House of the Dragon has been officially picked up for a second season. HBO announced the news that House of the Dragon season 2 is on its way less than a week after the Game of Thrones prequel series premiered to the largest audience for any new original series in the cable networks history.

House of the Dragon takes place about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and is based on George R. R. Martin’s book, Fire & Blood, which details the family history of House Targaryen (Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors). Specifically, the show is said to cover an era in Game of Thrones history known as "The Dance of the Dragons."

The House of the Dragon cast features Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, Emm D’Arcy, Milly Alcock, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel and Sonoya Mizuno.

What to Watch's House of the Dragon episode 1 review called the new series a return to form for the popular TV franchise. The premiere was watched by nearly 10 million people on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, August 21, Deadline reported. Since its original airdate the show was been watched by more than 20 million viewers across HBO platforms. 

The series airs on Sky Atlantic in the UK where it also set records, per Variety, with nearly a million people watching the simultaneous airing at 2 am UK time; total viewing numbers for Monday, August 22, reached 1.39 million when including the primetime broadcast of House of the Dragon. These numbers resulted in the biggest drama debut ever on Sky Atlantic, besting Game of Thrones.

Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, Francesca Orsi, said this about the renewal: "We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one. Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. 

"A huge thank you to George [R. R. Martin], Ryan [ Condal] and Miguel [Sapochnik] for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two."

House of the Dragon is aiming to run for three to four seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The quick renewal for the show means that it is well on its way to being able to tell its complete story.

As far as when House of the Dragon season 2 may come, unsurprisingly there were no details on that. Though our earliest guess would be a year from now — late summer/early fall 2023 (takes a lot of work to get those dragons camera ready.)

House of the Dragon season 1 episode 2 premieres on Sunday, August 28/Monday, August 29, with new episodes releasing weekly. With a 10 episode season, the House of the Dragon season 1 finale should air on October 23 for US audiences, October 24 for UK.

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NOTE: This review contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 1.

It’s been over three years since one of the greatest sagas in the history of TV came to a climax in a hail of dragon fire and online fury. 

Yet while the Game of Thrones finale was rightly maligned for its clunky plotting, a disappointing ending could never obscure the legacy of a fantasy show that truly changed the way we look at television. After all, sometimes it’s all about the journey rather than the destination. 

In its heyday, the HBO saga was appointment viewing — miss it at your peril. Fans will be delighted to hear House of the Dragon takes us right back to those early seasons when Westeros felt fresh, dangerous and unpredictable. 

Full of vivid characters, destructive rivalries and some terrifying tastes of the spectacular action to come, the first episode of this new prequel spin-off is a return to form for the monstrous franchise. 

Set 170 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the origin tale traces the dramatic fall of the Targaryen dynasty. It begins in Kings’ Landing with the family at the height of their power. Rather than the warring clans we’re so used to, this is a time when one family has absolute power, like Roman Emperors looking out at a dark world from a shining metropolis. 

When the original show began all those years ago and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) gazed across the narrow sea and spoke of her family’s claim to the Iron Throne, we can’t help but feel this was the halcyon gilded past she was harking back to.

With 17 dragons at his back — the equivalent of owning all the world’s nuclear warheads — King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) grip on power is secure, yet he knows that without a son and heir, the future of his legacy is uncertain. However, Viserys knows the only threat to the Targaryen dynasty comes from within, not without.

When tragedy strikes and his baby boy dies in a moving Sophie’s Choice moment, we also get an early glimpse of Viserys as a good man with compassion in his heart, who is also determined to preserve the Targaryen dynasty at any cost. It’s a great scene from Considine, which suggests that a good man can be a good king — a running debate throughout the series. 

Good king or not, Viserys is now at the center of a fully-blown succession crisis. Will he pick his ambitious and volatile younger brother Prince Daemon (played with relish by Matt Smith, of Doctor Who and The Crown fame) or will he plump for his teenage daughter Rhaenyra (rising Australian star Milly Alcock)?  

As far as the viewers are concerned, Daemon laid his cards on the table when he set off on a blood-soaked rampage through Flea Bottom at the start of the episode, hacking off the hands, heads and various other parts along the way. Yet characters such as him are two-a-penny in George R. R. Martin’s brutal world and we’ve certainly seen — or will see — far worse on the Iron Throne. Joffrey, we’re looking at you...

One man who certainly doesn’t trust him is Ser Otto Hightower. Hand of the King, he's a machiavellian operator played with simmering intent by Rhys Ifans of Notting Hill fame. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on him and his daughter Allicent (Olivia Cooke) as the series goes on.  

But despite Daemon’s shortcomings, Viserys’ daughter has a trait that disturbs the small council far more than a few maimed beggars. She’s a woman. No female has ever sat upon the Iron Throne before, so naming her as his heir could risk sowing the seeds of Targaryen destruction.  

It’s only a few decades since the Targaryens found themselves in a similar predicament, with Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) — or The Queen Who Never Was — being passed over for her cousin Viserys, despite having a better claim to the throne and being more suited to life as a monarch. 

Whether the King wanted to correct the mistake made all those years ago or he finally sees his younger brother for the viper he is, he opts for Rhaenyra and another one of the series’ main themes is set in motion. 

George R. R. Martin’s works have been branded as misogynistic and while there’s no shortage of that here, choosing this story, in which Rhaenyra and others challenge the patriarchy, feels apt. Confronting those attitudes within the world of Westeros feels like a fitting retort. 

We also get an interesting glimpse of Daemon and Rhaenyra's relationship, which will be pushed to the limit in the weeks to come as the uncle and niece line their dragons up against each other. We’re expecting some Cuban Missile Crisis vibes, except that these two are more than ready to push the nuclear button. We definitely sense Daemon would burn Westeros to the ground, so long as he could survey the ashes from the Iron Throne. Maybe Rhaenyra too, as the story unfolds. 

Indeed the triangular tug-of-war that runs between Viserys, Daemon and Rhaenyra is what this show will ultimately be built around and the focus on one family, rather than a sprawling mass of warring clans, is a real strength. Game of Thrones became bloated with storylines by the end of its run, inadvertently causing the saga to crash under its own weight. This looks set to be a leaner and equally mean offering. Prepare for plenty of fire and fury.

New House of the Dragon episodes air every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max in the US and on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK.

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At long last, we'll soon be able to watch House of the Dragon and revisit the world of Game of Thrones in this new prequel series.

Set 200 years before the events of the original HBO series, House of the Dragon is the first of the planned Game of Thrones spin-offs and delves into the history of one of George R.R. Martin's most infamous families: House Targaryen.

This story takes place during the height of Targaryen's reign over Westeros and transports us back to a time when they sat on the Iron Throne, and their dragons still ruled the skies. Although they wield great power, trouble begins to brew for the Targaryen dynasty when King Viserys threatens to name a new, female heir to the throne.

Here's how to watch House of the Dragon so you're ready to get sucked back into the world of Westeros all over again and see the drama unfold.

How to watch House of the Dragon in the US

House of the Dragon finally gets underway on Sunday, August 21 at 9 pm on HBO. New episodes will air weekly, following the same schedule, with the season 1 finale planned to air on October 23.

Thankfully, that means you have a range of options for watching the show. The network is available on cable packages, but if you've cut the cord, you can add it to a range of over-the-top streaming services like Hulu, YouTube TV, and Sling TV.

Of course, as the series is airing on HBO, this also means you'll be able to stream the series on HBO Max (though you'll still be waiting for each episode to air, you won't be able to binge House of the Dragon until all 10 episodes have aired).

There are two plans available for HBO Max: the basic plan costs $9.99 a month and will let you watch House of the Dragon, but it will include ads and you won't be able to download episodes or watch them in 4K resolution.

To remove ads and stream in 4K, you'll need to opt for the ad-free plan, which costs $14.99 a month.

How to watch House of the Dragon in the UK

UK Thrones fans will find House of the Dragon in the same place as the original series, as the show premieres on Sky TV on Sky Atlantic on Monday, August 22 at 9 pm and will air weekly at the same time, in the same place, just one day after the show first airs across the pond. 

There are a range of options for Sky TV packages to suit anyone's needs, all with different channel selections and optional extras like including Paramount Plus or Sky Sports so you can watch Formula 1 or the Premier League. You can always find the latest Sky TV deals over on the Sky.com website.

House of the Dragon will also be available to stream on NOW with a NOW Entertainment Membership, which costs just £9.99 a month.

How to watch House of the Dragon in other regions

As it's such a huge new show, House of the Dragon is airing all over the world. For example, the series will be made available to stream on Disney Hotstar in India at the same time as it airs on HBO, and it will be streaming on Neon in New Zealand.

King Aegon — or Aegon the Conqueror — is a name steeped in legend for Game of Thrones fans and they'll be delighted to hear he could get his own spin-off series. 

Showrunner Ryan Condal has taken us back through the history of Westeros in House of the Dragon, which charts how the Targaryen dynasty first began to crumble, and he hopes to take us even further!

King Aegon became the founder and first king of the Targaryen dynasty after leaving Dragonstone and conquering Westeros. He is famous for uniting six of the seven kingdoms — excluding Dorne — with fearsome dragons Vhagar, Meraxes and Balerion, the greatest Targaryen dragon who ever lived and the largest since the fall of Valyria. 

Yet while Condal is keen to share his story, he felt it was important to explain how the Targaryen family fell from power first...

"Aegon's is definitely an interesting story, but I didn't feel like it was the first story to tell," says Condal. "Aegon's conquest is really about a man with three dragons conquering a kingdom that has no dragons. So there certainly is an inherent conflict and dramatic story to be told there, but it I think you need to build greater context around it to understand what's at stake."

Set 170 years before the events of Game of Thrones, this year's House of the Dragon tells the story of the Targaryen dynasty and how its fall from power began with a succession crisis during the reign of King Viserys.

"I would love to go back and tell Aegon's story at some point, but the reason we went with House of the Dragon is because the story has great resonance with Game of Thrones," explains Condal. "The reason the Targaryen dynasty fell apart began with with this tale. When you see Daenrys looking across the Narrow Sea and the first episode of the original series, this is the great shining memory that she's thinking of."

House of the Dragon begins on Sunday 21 August on HBO in the US & on Monday 22 August on Sky Atlantic in the UK.

Loved Game of Thrones and now you're wondering what to watch before House of the Dragon arrives on your screens?

It’s now more than ten years since Game of Thrones first hit our screens and thrilled us with political intrigue, epic battles, dysfunctional families — and some rather explicit romances.

While the first spin-off, House of the Dragon, is almost here, it might feel like it's just not coming quickly enough.

So, let’s take a deep dive into some other shows that might fill the gap while we wait. We’ve tracked down shows featuring magical world-building, brutal wars and a few political rivalries, to find the shows to watch after Game of Thrones.

So, prepare yourself for battle and check out our list…

Our guide to what to watch while you wait for House of the Dragon

Vikings

Okay, there aren't any dragons in this one, but there are sweeping vistas of faraway lands (well, as far as Greenland), epic battles, and a driving thirst for power, all of which might just scratch your Game Of Thrones itch. 

Based on the real-life Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel, Raised By Wolves) and his crew, Vikings takes us through the raid on England, his rise to Scandinavian King and follows his sons to Iceland, the Mediterranean, and North America. It's one of the best TV shows with Vikings around.

Spanning several years, and splashing out on a couple of good battle scenes every season, it has that Game Of Thrones epic feeling. If you were squeamish at some of the bloodier scenes in HBO's fantasy saga though, make sure you have a cushion ready to hide behind; these Vikings take no prisoners when it comes to revenge.

Number of seasons: 6
Episodes: 89
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Where to watch: Prime Video

Britannia

It’s A.D. 43 and the Roman Imperial Army headed by Aulus Plautius (David Morrisey, The Walking Dead) has returned to Britain for a second go at conquering the country. This time, they find themselves up against wild warrior women and mysterious druids who can channel sinister supernatural forces. 

Two Celtic warriors — Kerra (Kelly Reilly) and Antedia (Zoe Wanamaker) — once arch-rivals, are forced to band together to save their country from the Roman invaders. Britannia was created by award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem) alongside his brother Tom and has a more heightened tone, with plots that are more sorcery-heavy than some of the other, grittier dramas on this list.

This one falls under the "ludicrous but fun" category, although it doesn't shy away from the blood and gore of its rivals! Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Number of seasons: 3
Episodes: 27
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Where to watch: US, Prime Video | UK, Sky TV

Rome

While many big, bold shows have tried to emulate Game of Throne’s success, this series, which kicked off in 2005, had us gripped with political intrigue, bloody battles, and explicit sex scenes long before we’d ever heard of Westeros. Rome, unsurprisingly, follows Rome’s transition from republic to empire. 

In the show, we meet the rulers and see many of the historical events, much of it through the eyes of two ordinary soldiers, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson). 

Rome was one of the most expensive TV shows ever produced, with a large-scale recreation of ancient Rome and a starry cast that featured some future Game of Thrones stars including Ciarán Hinds, Tobias Menzies, and Indira Varma. Sadly, its cost meant the drama was brought to an end after just two seasons, but it nevertheless proved there was a public appetite for this kind of epic drama.

Number of seasons: 2
Episodes: 22
Average episode length: 60 minutes
Where to watch: US, HBO Max | UK, Sky

Outlander

If you enjoyed Game of Thrones's tortured couples, then Outlander might float your boat. This series follows World War II nurse Claire Randall (Catriona Balfe) as she is transported back to 1793 via some mystical stones, where she falls for Highland warrior, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). 

At first, Claire finds herself embroiled in the Jacobite rebellion, but the show skips between time periods including wartime England and the American Revolution. Claire and Jamie are separated and reunited over the years, while wars, betrayals, sexual indiscretions, and pregnancies keep the drama bubbling along. 

Overall, Outlander offers a more romantic take on things compared to Game of Thrones' brutal approach. A seventh season is on the way.

Number of seasons: 6
Episodes: 67
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Where to watch: US: Starz | UK: StarzPlay (via Prime Video Channels)

Shadow and Bone

Like Game of Thrones, this one is based on a series of hit fantasy novels by Leigh Bardugo. Bardugo's young-adult "Grishaverse" introduces the viewer to a new (and slightly complicated) world. 

Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) is a young, orphaned soldier who discovers she is a Grisha, a group with supernatural powers. However, her gift is unique and could help reunite her split world ­­but she’s thrown into a world of political and magical intrigue, unsure who to trust. 

While reviews were mixed, the series has plenty of the elements we’re looking for: a large ensemble cast, various locations across an epic world, as well as some great action sequences. With only eight episodes to binge, it’s definitely worth a punt.

Number of seasons: 1
Episodes: 8
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Where to watch: Netflix

The Tudors

This show stars Natalie Dormer — better known as Margaery Tyrell by Game of Thrones fans — but there's much more than just one actress to keep you entertained. 

Dormer plays Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII’s infamous six wives. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Vikings) plays King Henry himself.  The Tudors follows his political and spousal troubles. If the royal family intrigue was your thing in Game of Thrones, this is well worth a look. 

While critics claimed it took a soap opera approach to history, over telling historical accuracies and highlighting broader societal issues, The Tudors is still a bold, provocative watch.

Number of seasons: 4
Episodes: 28
Average episode length: 47 minutes
Where to watch: US: Showtime | UK: All 4 (Channel 4's streaming platform)

Merlin

If you want something to fill your Game of Thrones gap, but that's also something you can watch with the rest of the family, try taking a trip to Camelot. 

This BBC series is a prequel to the Arthurian legend we all know and follows a young Merlin (Colin Morgan) and Prince Arthur (Bradley James) in their early years. Great news: there’s a dragon under the castle. Not such good news: as Merlin was designed for a family audience, it features fewer swords and more sorcery. Game Of Thrones-style gory deaths and battles are out. 

However, it’s full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, and manages to tell an epic story featuring a great range of characters across five seasons.

Number of seasons: 5
Episodes: 65
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Where to watch: US: Netflix | UK: BBC iPlayer

The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time is, like Game of Thrones, based on a huge series of novels by a beloved fantasy author. This time, it's Robert Jordan's smash-hit Wheel of Time. Want to get ahead of the series? Find out how to read The Wheel of Time books in order.

In this Amazon Original series, powerful magic-wielding member of the all-female group the Aes Sedai, Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) and her Warder, Lan (Daniel Henney) set out in search of The Dragon Reborn — the reincarnation of a legendary hero who is prophesied to stand against an evil entity known as the Dark One.

The pair set out for Two Rivers, recruiting a group of four youngsters from the village who could all fit the bill in order to bring them to safety in the White Tower. As you might expect, this does not go at all smoothly, as the Dark One's forces already plague the land. 

The series is full of shock twists, hideous monsters, loads of lore and plenty of compelling characters. If you're a fantasy TV fan, The Wheel of Time might just be perfect for filling the Game of Thrones void.

Number of seasons: 1
Episodes: 10
Average episode length: 55 minutes
Where to watch: Prime Video

Game of Thrones

We're cheating slightly here, but why not do it all again? 

There are eight seasons and 73 episodes, so unless you’re an uber-dedicated fan and have already watched every season multiple times, you can’t possibly remember every single thing that happened in Game of Thrones. So, why not go back to the start? 

You won’t get the thrill of the shock deaths and the many dramatic twists, but there’s a different pleasure to be taken from watching the drama unfold knowing exactly what will happen next. It's a perfect opportunity to brush up before House of the Dragon, plus the ending didn’t universally unite fans...maybe it’s time to reassess the whole thing and give it a second chance?

Number of seasons: 8
Episodes: 73
Average episode length: 50 minutes
Where to watch: US, HBO Max | UK, Sky and NOW TV

The North remembers Jon Snow, and it appears that HBO never forgot him. It’s no surprise that one of the most beloved characters in the Game of Thrones universe is getting his own show. 

HBO announced that they’re in the early stages of development on a Game of Thrones sequel and Kit Harington is already attached and ready to return to the role of Jon Snow if the series ends up getting a green light.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, setting social media ablaze as the speculation mill ramped up about how an HBO original sequel could work. Given the way the series ended in season 8, a Jon Snow sequel offers a chance for some course correction after many fans were left baffled and disappointed by the finale. 

Game of Thrones ended with Jon Snow learning that his true identity was Aegon Targaryen. As a Targaryen and not the bastard son of Ned Stark (Sean Bean), Jon suddenly found himself in line for the Iron Throne. However, Jon had no interest in becoming a contender for the throne and he returned to the Wall, where he sought out his Wildling friends. 

And, enticingly, a sequel could allow for cameos from other members of the original series. Provided they made it out of the series alive, of course. At least we know that Jon Snow’s sisters Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) are still alive, as is Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright). 

Stark family reunion, anyone?

A sequel to Game of Thrones offers the intriguing prospect of using the HBO series as source material so that Jon Snow’s character can take off on bold new adventures that are wholly unique to the HBO series and not George R. R. Martin’s books. It’s a move that we’re seeing across all kinds of franchises these days, from AMC’s endless spinoffs of The Walking Dead to all of the Marvel and Star Wars series hitting Disney Plus. 

The first Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, is set to arrive on August 21. As the first of several planned spinoffs there is a lot of attention on the new show, but fans have been hesitant to embrace a show set years and years before the events of the original series. 

Harington has been busy since Game of Thrones ended, making his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Eternals and appearing in a live production of Henry V. 

Tales of Dunk and Egg, the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, has reportedly found its writer.

According to Variety, American screenwriter Steve Conrad (Patriot, Wonder) has been tapped by HBO as the writer for Tales of Dunk and Egg. Conrad will also serve as executive producer through his own banner, Elephant Pictures. The series was previously reported to be in early development by Variety in January 2021.

No casting or release information has been revealed at this time, and both HBO and Steve Conrad declined to comment to Variety about the one-hour fantasy show.

Tales of Dunk and Egg is based on a series of novellas by Game of Thrones creator, George R. R. Martin. These fantasy books are set nearly one hundred years before the events of the first main book and follow "Dunk" (Ser Duncan the Tall, future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard) and his squire "Egg", better known as future king Aegon V Targaryen.

The series is comprised of three books: The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003), and The Mystery Knight (2010), which were later collected into an anthology titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in 2015. George R. R. Martin has expressed a desire to write more in the series in order to develop the characters even further.

HBO has been keen to build on the success of Game of Thrones for a while now and is said to have several other fantasy series — both live-action and animated — in different stages of development.

The first prequel series to make it through this process is House of the Dragon, which is currently scheduled for release on HBO Max at some point in 2022. This series is set 300 years prior to the events depicted in Game of Thrones, and will explore the rise of House Targaryen as well as the Targaryen Civil War, better known to many as the "Dance of Dragons".

Tales of Dunk and Egg does not currently have a release date. Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max in the US and on NOW TV in the UK. 

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Sean Bean plays Mark Cobden, a guilt-ridden teacher whose life is destroyed when he accidentally kills an innocent man, in thrilling three-part prison drama Time by acclaimed British TV writer Jimmy McGovern. 

Separated from his family, Mark is sentenced to four years in jail where he befriends prison officer Eric McNally (Stephen Graham), who does his best to protect the inmates from the dangers of life behind bars.

But when one of the most dangerous prisoners identifies Eric’s softer side as a weakness, Eric faces an impossible choice between his principles and protecting the ones he loves. With both Eric and Mark trapped by their pasts and unsure of their futures, can they find survive and find the strength to move forward?

Sean Bean, who starred in the previous Jimmy McGovern drama Accused, says: “Getting involved in a Jimmy McGovern drama again is a real privilege and it's been great to be reunited with Stephen Graham. Mark Cobden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly-written characters and I'm looking forward to bringing him to life on screen.” 

Stephen Graham, who'd starred in the same Accused episode as Sean Bean, reveals: “It's an absolute honour to be working with Jimmy McGovern again, I’m feeling blessed. I’m excited to be working with Lewis as I have heard so many incredible things about him as a director, I can’t wait to get stuck in. Of course, I am made up to be back on set with Sean.”

Time with Sean Bean release date...

Sean Bean's three-part series Time is now available in the US on BritBox. While in the UK it is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Is there a Time trailer?

Yes a trailer for Time has been released...

Sean Bean on Time's Mark Cobden...

Sean Bean plays mild-mannered teacher Mark Cobden who is brought to Craigmore Prison to start a four-year sentence for accidentally killing a man. But prison proves a terrible shock to Mark and life quickly becomes unbearable when he finds himself incarcerated alongside aggressive and disturbed fellow inmates.

Sean says: ‘Time tells you what it’s like for a regular guy to be imprisoned, and the nightmare that is,’ he says. ‘Mark has had an uninteresting, normal life where nothing much happens. But he suddenly finds himself taken to prison and locked up among a frightening bunch of people who are all going through their own suffering, mayhem and paranoia.'

To make matters worse, Mark, who’s estranged from wife Alicia (Nadine Marshall), misses his teenage son terribly, and is plagued with remorse about the crime he’s committed. ‘It’s a thing he can never atone for,’ says Sean. ‘He takes on all the responsibility and all the guilt because that's what he believes he should do.

‘Time is about lots of different facets of being imprisoned and guilt, suffering and inequality. You’ve got a real cauldron of emotions and violence and it’s every man for himself…’

Stephen Graham on Time's Eric McNally...

Stephen Graham says: 'Time is about honour, loyalty and love and what we do when faced with our own moral compass. It's a great, old-fashioned narrative between these two men who are both on this journey of self-discovery and are in extraordinary situations. You feel honoured to get a script from Jimmy McGovern. He tells the story of the human condition in an amazing way. You're guaranteed your character is going to come up against conflict or trauma, you know you're in for a great ride!

'Growing up, wanting to do this job professionally, my major ambition was to be in a Jimmy McGovern piece from the age of about 15. I remember watching Hillsborough about the tragic football-stadium disaster. It blew my mind.'

Hannah Walters on starring alongside her husband in Time..

Stephen Graham's real-life actor wife Hannah Walters (Whitechapel, This Is England) plays Eric's on screen wife Sonia in Time. 

'Acting alongside my wife Hannah as she was playing Eric's wife Sonia was phenomenal,' explains Stephen. 'The characters we play it, are nothing like us two at all. So that was really lovely to explore.'

Hannah Walters gave us an insight into her marriage with Stephen: 'I'm just going to be honest...it's fancying my best mate. Yeah, that's what it is. It's having butterflies in my tummy when I have been away from him for too long, and it's fancying the arse off my husband, And basically, after 27 years, he's my best friend and I want to kill him at times, but I just adore him.'

Who else is starring in Time?

The Royle Family star Sue Johnston appears in Time as Mark’s concerned mum June, while The World is Not Enough actor David Calder plays Mark's father. Look out too for Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley and Benidorm) as Marie-Louise, who works in the prison chaplaincy team and helps prisoners with their rehabilitation.. 

Dunkirk star Aneurin Barnard (who recently played murdered brewery boss Jack Evans in The Pact) is Mark's disturbed cellmate Bernard and Small Axe star Nadine Marshall plays Mark's estranged wife Alicia - they have a teen son together.

Eric McNally's son David is played by Paddy Rowan, best known for portraying Sean Mercer in ITV drama Little Boy Blue.

Meanwhile, behind bars, ruthless prisoner Pete is played by Kadiff Kirwan (Timewasters, Chewing Gum), and Michael Socha has a pivotal role too. 

 Jack McMullen, who was Finn Sharkey in Waterloo Road and also starred in Little Boy Blue, plays young prisoner Daniel who'd killed someone during a fight. you may also remember Jack in BBC football comedy The First Team.

Writer Jimmy McGovern gave us his thoughts on creating Time...

BBC1's Time is the creation of BAFTA and Emmy-winning writer Jimmy McGovern, who has also penned major hit series including Cracker, Hillsborough, The Lakes, The Street, Moving On and Accused, which also starred both Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. 

Writer Jimmy McGovern said of Time: 'The BBC have given me a brilliant young director and two of the greatest actors on the planet. I am overjoyed.

'I did have both Sean Bean and Stephen Graham uppermost in my thoughts all the way through when writing. Yes, absolutely. I just think they have faces you die for, full of full of life, full of compassion and humanity. I think if you're gonna write about a British prison, that's the kind of things you need — experience, shown in all the lines of those faces.

'I think I've been working on Time since the 1980s because from about 1982 onwards, I did a fair bit of work in prisons. I was always popping in doing a writer’s workshop and popping out again, and I was always fascinated by prison life for all kinds of reasons but I think the main one is I always had the feeling of, There but  for the grace of God go I'. You know, because I was young and skint once as well, and I did a few naughty things. I was extremely lucky. So it I think the seeds of writing Time goes back to the 1980s really. I'm always looking for stories, and the thing about the thing about a British prison is it's so full of stories.'

Time cast — what else have Sean Bean and Stephen Graham starred in?

Sean Bean has had a long established career in film and TV. Between 1994 and 1997 he starred in eight Sharpe TV movies as the British soldier Richard Sharpe. He joined the first series of Game Of Thrones as Ned Stark in 2011. Recently Sean played worried father Douglas Bennett in World on Fire and starred in the Netflix sci-fi series Snowpiercer. Sean's episode of the Jimmy McGoverns series Accused called 'Tracie's Story' saw him play a cross-dresser, alongside his Time co-star Stephen Graham. In films, he's probably best known for playing wise warrior Boromir in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Stephen Graham made a name for himself in This is England in 2006 and its TV sequels, but in the US he's probably best known for playing Al Capone in the hit gangster series Boardwalk Empire. He received critical acclaim for his roles in C4’s The Virtues and ITV’s Little Boy Blue (available on. BritBox), Starred in Jimmy McGovern's Accused (see above) and made a much-talked about appearance as DS John Corbett in Line of Duty Season 5.

Time with Sean Bean — the locations

BBC1's Time has been described as a "visceral, emotional and high-stakes portrayal of life in a British prison." It’s directed by Lewis Arnold, who recently helmed the hit ITV series Des, and produced by Simon Maloney (I May Destroy You). 

As for locations, Time was filmed in and around Liverpool and in a disused prison in Shrewsbury that was painted a colour by the production team that was intentionally made to look miserable and oppressive. Director Lewis Arnold said that he'd looked around for various locations before going for Shrewsbury.

'We looked at so many different prisons, but this one just had such a feeling and energy, especially when our set designer got in and put a visual stamp on it as well, and it’s been left that way!'

“The wings and the cells, plus the majority of key prison stuff such as the landings, were shot in this disused prison, which ironically, myself and the executive producer had filmed in five years ago when it first closed. That was just before it was meant to be turned into student accommodation that never happened. So we were still able to use it now. We looked at so many different prisons, but this one just had such a feeling and energy, especially when our set designer got in and put a visual stamp on it. And it’s been left that way!'

Time with Sean Bean — episode reviews

We've loved watching Sean Bean and Stephen Graham in Time, despite the harrowing nature of some scenes. But let's face it a Jimmy McGovern drama about prison life wasn't going to be in any way gentle. As all three episodes of Time are now on BBCiPlayer, here's a look at the highlights of each, but please do look away if you haven't caught up yet to avoid spoilers.

Time — Episode One
Mark Cobden arrives at Craigmore prison to start a four-year sentence which we later find out is for dangerous driving, having killed a man. The inmates are intrigued what he's in for and start giving him a hard time. Mark has to share a cell with a disturbed prisoner Bernard who's serving time for murder. Aneurin Barnard's portrayal of Bernard, especially the reveal of his self-harming, provided the most memorable moments in the whole first episode.

Mark gets the wrong side of some of the prison hard nuts just for being who he is — a middle class teacher in his 50s, who just wants to serve out his time quietly and reflect on his sentence. He does keep any troubles to himself and doesn't let on anything is wrong to his parents when they visit, or to his teen son when he speaks to him on the phone. He goes along to counselling sessions at the prison chaplaincy run by a kindly lady Marie-Louise, played by he ever-brilliant Siobhan Finneran.

Meanwhile, Eric McNally is the the prison officer who works on Mark's wing and looks out for the prisoner's welfare. Yet he gets a huge shock when one violent offender Pete reveals to him that he knows Eric's son David is serving time in another prison and there's an implied threat to his safety unless Eric follows his orders. This leads to Eric's life spinning out of control and trouble with his wife Sonia, as he has to sort for David to be sent to another prison for his own protection. Eric then metes out revenge on the blackmailing prisoner Pete. But at the end of the episode, it's clear menacing Pete knows exactly where Eric's son has been moved to. Who's been spilling the beans? 

Time — Episode Two
The brutality of prison life continues in abundance. Prison officer Eric has learnt that his son David is still not safe despite being moved to a different jail. But will he give in to the prison gang’s demands and protect his boy, or will he stick to his principles? short answer is yes, and he's soon becoming a drugs mule. But as with most blackmail, it doesn't stop with the first drop. Life’s not much rosier for jailbird Mark, as he wants to write to the wife of the man he killed to ease his guilt, while the intimidation from other prisoners increases. He takes on his chief tormentor Johnno, by surprise attached and ear bite! Meanwhile, he accompanies his new cellmate Daniel when he finally agrees to meet the parents of the man he killed. It's tough for all parties.

Time — Episode Three
In this stunning finale, there’s no let-up, as Eric continues to go against his own strict moral code and smuggles in more illegal goods to protect his son David. Meanwhile, as Mark receives tragic news, chaplain Marie-Louise asks him to go on day release and attend a conference to talk about his crime. Can he finally come to terms with what he has done?

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Almost two years after the Game of Thrones finale, the show is finally reentering the public consciousness. For at least six years, Game of Thrones was the touchstone of pop-culture: a multi-Emmy winning series that ruled Twitter feeds and could be discussed with anyone from your best friends to your not-so-media-inclined relatives. But after a major drop off in quality and its awful final season, Game of Thrones basically disappeared from the pop culture landscape. After loudly airing their grievances, fans seemed content to let the show fade into the past. Behind the scenes, HBO is a lot less willing to let the property go quietly.

In the past year, HBO has floated more sequels, prequels and spin-offs than one can reasonably keep track of. Among them is a scrapped project starring Naomi Watts. Tentatively titled Blood Moon, the studio produced a pilot before officially cancelling production in 2019. This proves that while HBO is definitely serious about pursuing these projects, it's unlikely they will all make it to series.

More recently, The Hollywood Reporter detailed author George R.R. Martin’s eight figure deal with HBO to continue bringing his stories to life. In addition to executive producing the projects, Martin is working closely with the writers. Over the past few years, Martin has insisted that these shows be called “successors” rather than “spin-offs” — hinting at how much distance they will have from the flagship series that preceded them.

Keeping that in mind, here is everything we know so far about the many Game of Thrones spin-offs.

House Of The Dragon

First on the list — the only show that has been officially ordered to series. As you can guess, House of the Dragon follows House Targaryen, long before the reign of Queen Daenerys. Set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the story will likely lead up to the famed Dance of the Dragons, also known as the Targaryen civil war. 

Based on Martin’s latest book, Fire and Blood, this story promises to marry political strife and fiery action much like the original series. Book readers know from experience that the Dance of Dragons was a dark and bloody period in Targaryen history, pitting both family and dragons against one another.

Scheduled to begin filming this month, the House of the Dragon stars Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen (who Daenerys' brother and dragon were named after) and Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen (his younger brother and heir to the throne). Alongside them is Emma D’Arcy as dragonrider Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Olivia Cooke as the clever Alicent Hightower. Other cast members include Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans.

The series will be helmed by co-showrunners Ryan Condal (Colony) and Game of Thrones alum Miguel Sapochnick, who directed some of the show's most beloved episodes, including ‘Hardhome’ and ‘Battle of the Bastards.’ Given what we know so far, it's safe to assume this show will be closest to Game of Thrones in tone, leaving room for more experimentation from the other spin-offs. 

The first season is 10 episodes long and expected to premiere in 2022.

Tales of Dunk and Egg

Based on Martin’s popular novellas, this series follows the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg, a disguised Targaryen who would later before King Aegon V Targaryen. Taking place 90 years before the main series, the show would follow their travels across the country, tracing their many chivalrous deeds.

Among Game of Thrones fans, this is likely one of the most anticipated successors. The three novellas Martin has penned, The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight offer source material to directly translate to screen. Since it's widely agreed that Game of Thrones was at its best when adapting Martin’s words, this may be a chance for history to repeat itself. 

Dunk and Eggs’s stories also offer the possibility of fun in the world of Westeros. Their many antics include famed tourneys and legendary battles. Plus, there’s a chance for the story of Dunk and Egg to directly tie into the events of Game of Thrones. We may be greeted by familiar characters or (more likely) their ancestors. 

This show is still in the early stages of development and beyond the source material, much is left unknown.

Nymeria / 10,000 Ships

In the very first episode of Game of Thrones, Direwolf pups are found near Winterfell. Quite perfectly, there’s one wolf for each Stark child. Arya famously names her pup after the legendary warrior Queen Nymeria, a major inspiration to the future assassin.

Queen Nymeria ruled over the Rhyonar people, who lived in city-states along the Rhoyne River. Attacked by the Valyrian Freehold (the origin empire of House Targaryen) and on the verge of defeat, the queen ordered her people onto all 10,000 of her ships. It took much wandering, but they eventually found a new home in Dorne. The show's working title, ‘10,000 Ships’ indicates that the series will center around this journey.

The Rhoynish migration took place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, making this story the oldest of the potential successors. Still, this exploration of Dorne connects to the main series in an unexpected way.

The Dorne plotline, which focused on House Martell, is considered one of the shows early failures. The messy storyline was especially painful given the way Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell became an instant fan favorite. Returning to Dorne through the epic tale of Queen Nymeria would mean more than a brief excursion: here, the franchise has a chance to fully explore the potential of Sunspear and the fascinating Dornish culture.

9 Voyages / Sea Snake

From Rome creator Bruno Heller, this project follows Lord Corlys Velaryon aka the Sea Snake. Though he is set to appear in House of the Dragon, portrayed by Steve Toussaint, this series would give him the space to really shine.

Lord Corlys’ life has been documented in Martin’s Fire and Blood, where he is heralded as the greatest seafarer the Seven Kingdoms have ever known. He is said to be as adventurous as he is ambitious, promising an epic journey all the way through. Best known for his nine great voyages to Essos, Corlys filled his ship with gold and treasures before adding 14 more ships to his fleet along the way. The wealth he accumulated served him well into old age (but it helps that he later married Princess Rhaenys Targaryen). With what little we know, it's safe to assume Lord Corlys Velaryon’s life is chock full of legendary adventures. 

So far, Toussaint’s casting means this is the only Game of Thrones project with a person of color in the lead role. 

Flea Bottom

As the name suggests, this series will be set in the winding slums of Kings Landing (Westeros’ capital city). Fans will remember this as the birthplace of Ser Davos Seaworth and the bastard Gendry Baratheon.

Again, little is known about the story or plot details but there is plenty of inspiration to be drawn from Martin’s books. Given Flea Bottom's location, the show will likely include a royal presence, yet it offers a look at those the main series had a penchant for ignoring.

There was much debate surrounding the people of King's Landing and their perspective on rulers, especially during the final episodes of Game of Thrones. Whether or not this story takes place around the time of Queen Daenerys or even King Robert is to be seen; regardless, Flea Bottom can finally delve into these unanswered questions. What does life in Westeros look like when you aren’t lucky enough to be a lord, a lady or even just a name in a prominent family?

Untitled Game of Thrones Animated Series

Little is known about the Game of Thrones animated project; to date, no details have been shared about the story, setting or characters. This project is very much in the early stages of development yet the tone of the show promises to capture Game of Thrones and match its violent darkness.

Animation presents fascinating possibilities for just how experimental this project could be. Some speculation indicates the show will have an anthology style, allowing the story to span beyond Westeros and even across different eras. Given that Martin and his collaborators have produced encyclopedic amounts of writing on the world of Fire and Ice, there’s no shortage of material to make this possible. 

Without the constraints of the CGI budget that so often plagued the early seasons of Game of Thrones, we may get a chance at even more intense action.

Bonus: West End Play

Remember Coldplay’s Game of Thrones musical from 2015? It was a 12 minute long special that poked fun at the idea of adapting Game of Thrones for the stage. Well, it appears we’ve come full circle because George R.R. Martin is currently developing a stage play based on  his books.

The story is set during The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, a pivotal moment in Westeros history that ultimately leads to the events of Game of Thrones. Though no characters have yet been confirmed, given the story as told in the books, this play may mark the return of many beloved characters. Among them are Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon and the Lannister twins, Cersei and Jaime. This would also provide the rare appearance of Jon Snow’s parents (spoiler alert?) Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. 

Game of Thrones alum Lena Headey is on her back to television – this time in a dramatic sci-fi series. The Emmy nominee is set to star in the Spectrum Originals and AMC Network's series Beacon 23, an adaption of Hugh Howey’s 2015 novel. 

Lena Headey will play the role of Aster, a woman who mysteriously finds her way to a lonely beacon keeper on his lighthouse in the darkest recesses of space. The project comes from creator Zak Penn ( The Avengers, Ready Player One) and is described as follows by Penn: 

"intimate, suspenseful thriller [that] follows two people whose fates become entangled after they find themselves trapped together at the end of the known universe. A tense battle of wills unfolds at the edge of space, Halan [not yet cast], the beacon keeper, begins to question whether Aster is friend or foe as her ability to disguise her agenda and motives could make her a formidable opponent”

Headey has been fairly busy voice acting since the conclusion of Game of Thrones in 2019. She has lent her voice to several television projects such as Netflix's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Netflix's Wizards, Cartoon Network's Infinity Train, and Nickelodeon's Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Spectrum Originals and AMC’s Beacon 23 is set to premiere with a nine-month exclusive run on Spectrum and then will have a second window across AMC Networks' platforms. Lena Headey will also executive produce the project through her production company, Peephole Productions. Other executive producers on the project are Ira Steven Behr, Tina Thor, Elisa Ellis, and Katie O’Connell Marsh.

Is Game of Thrones on Netflix? Where can I watch it? Don't worry we have it all covered!

Whether you couldn't quite handle how the series ended or were a fan of all the blood and backstabbing from day one, Game of Thrones was an utter phenomenon. 

The fantasy series won 59 Emmys across its run, and it instantly became one of the most talked-about shows of the last decade upon its release. 

The series was inspired by legendary fantasy author George R. R. Martin's series of novels. While we wait forever for the final book, the next best option we have is to revisit the saga by binging all eight seasons of the hit show. 

If you’re planning a rewatch, you might be wondering how to watch Game of Thrones online. Here’s how! 

Is Game of Thrones on Netflix?

Nope! Sadly, Game of Thrones fans or newcomers will need to head elsewhere to catch the fantasy show. 

How to watch Game of Thrones in the US 

Like all of HBO’s flagship shows, Game of Thrones is available to watch on HBO Max in the USA.

An HBO Max subscription costs $14.99 a month, but nets you access to a huge amount of content. Not only will you be able to tune into Game of Thrones, but you’ll also be able to watch Watchmen, It’s A Sin, Kaley Cuoco's The Flight Attendant and so much more.  

There’s also a huge range of movies available on the platform, including every single Warner Bros movie being released in 2021, a whole host of classics including the Alien franchise, Jaws, every Lord of the Rings movie and more recent films like Jojo Rabbit and Mad Max: Fury Road.

HBO Max can be installed on a range of devices, including iOS and Android mobiles and tablets, PlayStation and Xbox games consoles, select Samsung smart TVs, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire tablets, and Roku. You can also watch in-browser, and via Chromecast.

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If you’d prefer to purchase episodes or seasons individually, you can buy them on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Prime Video.

How to watch Game of Thrones in the UK 

Game of Thrones is available to stream on NOW TV in the UK. NOW TV is a contract-free streaming service that offers UK viewers a range of exclusive content and the chance to customise exactly what they want from their viewing experience. 

All you’ll need to do to watch Game of Thrones is pick up a NOW TV Entertainment Pass for £9.99 (after a seven-day free trial), and you’ll be able to watch all eight seasons of the fantasy phenomenon, hassle-free. 

Plus, if you add NOW TV Boost to your pass for £3 more, you’ll be able to watch in full 1080p HD and stream on 3 devices at the same time! 

One of the easiest ways to watch NOW TV is with a NOW TV Smart Stick. By plugging one of these devices into your TV, you'll be able to stream content from whichever NOW TV pass you pick over WiFi!

NOW TV is also available on: the NOW TV set-top box, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku, BT and YouView set-top boxes, on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, select smart TVs and via Chromecast. On the go, you can watch with the NOW TV player on laptops (not Chromebooks), or via the NOW TV app on iOS and Android devices, too. 

How many seasons of Game of Thrones are there? 

Game of Thrones ran for 73 episodes across eight seasons. They were initially broadcast between 2011 and 2019. 

Who was in Game of Thrones?  

Game of Thrones featured an ensemble cast that included Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Sean Bean (Ned Stark), Carice van Houten (Melisandre),  Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) and Kristian Nairn (Hodor). 

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Game of Thrones alum Indira Varma is set to star in the upcoming Star Wars series centered on Obi-Wan Kenobi at Disney+. She will star opposite of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen - both reprising their roles as Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi and former pupil now the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

As these casting auditions go for Disney, there aren’t any further details about who Varma’s character will be - the cone of silence surrounding the show continues. The series is expected to take place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope in the Star Wars timeline. John Wick: Chapter 3 and Underground producer Joby Harold is writing the show. He came aboard way back in April 2020 following a creative reset. Having come aboard in April 2020 following a creative reset. Deborah Chow is set to direct. Star Wars fans should be familiar with her as she is a The Mandalorian veteran. 

If you don’t know Indira Varma, then shame on you. Outside of her role as Ellaria Sand in Game of Thrones, she is a series regular on ABC’s legal drama For Life, which wrapped its second season last week. Her other acting credits also include Amazon's Carnival Row and HBO's Rome.

This new The Obi-Wan series is just one of several Star Wars projects in the works at Disney+. There is a Cassian Andor series with Diego Luna reprising his Rogue One role, a live-action projects Ahsoka, centered on the Jedi played by Rosario Dawson in The Mandalorian; Rangers of the New Republic; The Acolyte from Leslye Headland; Lando, which Dear White People creator Justin Simien is developing; and lastly an animated show The Bad Batch which is set to premiere this May.  

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Netflix’s upcoming adaption of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman took a visit to Westeros and returned with Gwendoline Christie and Charles Dance. Both Games of Thrones alum have officially joined the cast. Netflix has also confirmed Tom Sturridge, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Asim Chaudhry, and Sanjeem Bhaskar will be in the series too. Holbrook recently starred in Robert Rodriguez’s family movie We Can Be Heroes, which is currently streaming on Netflix. 

Gaiman’s The Sandman follows the main character, Dream, who is the titular Sandman. Dream goes by many names like Morpheus, Oneiros, and the Shaper. Morpheus is held captive by an occult ritual for 70 years. He escapes into the modern-day and spends some time avenging himself, and then sets out to rebuild his kingdom, which falls into despair while he was locked away. The storyline mostly takes place in the Dreaming, Morpheus’s realm, and the waking world, with occasional visits to other domains, such as Asgard and Hell. Gwendoline Christie is set to play the role of Lucifer, the ruler of Hell. The casting couldn’t be more perfect. 

The Sandman is not the first of Gaiman’s highly acclaimed works to receive television adaptions. American Gods and Good Omens have both been adapted. American Gods just entered its third season, and Good Omens could someday see a second season. Gaiman and Allan Heinberg are co-writing the Sandman series, with Heinberg also on board as the showrunner. The series is currently slated for 11 episodes. Netflix’s official synopsis for The Sandman reads: 

“A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama, and legend are seamlessly interwoven, ‘The Sandman’ follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic — and human — mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.”

The Neil Gaiman takeover continues. 

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Due to the highly unprecedented circumstances of 2020, a whole lot of us found ourselves stuck at home with too much free time on our hands and a lot of television to catch up on. It seemed as good a moment as any for us to indulge in binge-watches of cozy favorites, cult classics, and those much-vaunted critics' darlings that we never got around to when they premiered. It’s been a fun reminder of the medium’s influence and iconic output as you browse Twitter and see people checking out The Sopranos for the first time or digging through Netflix’s near-impenetrable catalog for hidden gems. I’ve seen people giddily live-tweeting series I hadn’t heard word of in decades, such is the power of the internet. One notable absence from this trend, however, is Game of Thrones.

Isn’t it kind of baffling that the series many claimed to be the greatest TV show ever made, one of the most influential and profitable pieces of small-screen entertainment ever made, a multi-Emmy winning saga, has just sort-of disappeared? The lavish adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s currently unfinished fantasy series was hailed as the beginning of a new era, not just for TV but pop culture at large. It was an escapable force of nature, a show that was at one point simulcast in 173 countries, becoming the "largest TV drama telecast" of all time according to Guinness World Records. Now, it feels like we collectively agreed to just stop talking about it. How does something so stratospherically popular become persona non grata in less than two years, its cultural footprint ever decreasing as the months pass?

It’s not uncommon for major hits in pop culture to fade away and their initial impact left forgotten by time. Some shows age badly or their conclusions disappointed fans. Consider the fate of How I Met Your Mother, a show whose finale similarly angered viewers and thus exacerbated all the prior concerns they’d had about the series. Think of Avatar, a movie that reigned supreme as the highest-grossing film of all time for a solid decade but left behind such little impact on the millions of people who flocked to see it. Yet none of this happened with the speed or intensity of Game of Thrones. It’s not just that people were sad about how it ended. The show screwed things up so catastrophically that it rewrote their legacy, something that had been guaranteed right up until 2019.

It would be easy to answer this question by pointing to the show’s now-infamous final season and be done with it. The eighth season of Game of Thrones was bad in a way that managed to taint everything that came before it. While the show had hit a few roadblocks in previous seasons, especially once the creators ran out of books to adapt, fans at least had the supposed safety net of that last season. Surely, showrunners Benioff and Weiss would pull it out of the bag with the finale? It would be ridiculous for them to end the most obsessed-over series in a generation with a hastily planned whimper, right? Sadly, the end result was a rush-job that threw seasons' worth of character motivation and set-up out the window. Years of build-up was dumped or tied together messily, fan-favorite characters were shunted or given borderline-insulting conclusions, as was the case for figures like Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister. Seasons of psychological and thematic complexity boiled down to a jealous woman, some Nazi imagery, and a new King on the Iron Throne who nobody seemed to care about.

We could be here all day listing the problems of season eight but the conclusion would be the same: one of the greatest TV shows of the new millennium had one of the worst endings in the medium’s history, and fans and critics alike revolted. Someone started a Change.org petition asking HBO to hire "competent writers" to remake the eighth season in a manner "that makes sense", something they launched midway through the season. Even the cast seemed evidently disappointed by the show's fate. Lena Headey had a "mixed" initial reaction to her character Cersei's ending. Conleth Hill, who played Varys, told Entertainment Weekly that the seventh and eighth seasons were "kind of frustrating" and not his "favorite". Clips of the cast in table reads looking despondent with the finale went viral. Despite the backlash, Game of Thrones still received a record 32 Emmy nominations and went home with the top award for Outstanding Drama Series, although everyone seemed to quietly agree that the win was less for the final season than its more general achievements.

Matt Zoller Seitz described Game of Thrones as the last water-cooler TV show. It was the last series where we all came together in some form to watch the same series at the same time because doing so was an absolute necessity of modern pop culture. In the current age of always-online viewing, where there are hundreds of networks, streaming platforms, and international options to watch whatever the hell you want at your own pace, Game of Thrones stood increasingly alone as true appointment TV. We may be in the much-discussed age of Peak TV, where the medium has never commanded more critical adoration, but for the most part, those celebrated darlings are pretty easy to pass by if it’s not your thing. With Game of Thrones, things were different. Even those who didn’t watch the show couldn’t avoid every beat of drama, both on and off-screen, because all the conversations were happening together, unfolding exactly as the series did.

We may never get that kind of TV experience back. While series such as The Mandalorian have garnered strong viewership, such epic genre narratives are more likely to be found on streaming platforms, which thrive on slow-burn buzz and the freedom they allow audiences to turn in whenever they want to. It is, as Seitz noted, "just another thing we fit into our lives, in addition to all the other things; it becomes just another form of content, along with movies, stand-up specials, YouTube videos of people twerking and failing at parkour and dressing their dogs like Game of Thrones characters." That has its upsides and downsides, of course, but with Game of Thrones, its failure of a final season truly hammered home how its status as the last bastion of appointment television would be forever tainted because of this format. It's one thing for a finale to suck: it's a whole other storm when tens of millions of people watched it happen at the same time while yelling about it on Twitter.

That online furor may have made the show’s descent into nothingness all the quicker. It was already a minor miracle that the show never experienced any real apathetic backlash given its immense popularity over the years and the sheer breadth of attention it commanded. The collective fury of a fandom scorned burned bright and by the end of it, the overall exhaustion of everyone involved was palpable. It’s not just that this show commanded so much attention: It’s that it did so while conveying its supposed importance to the culture at large. You didn’t just watch Game of Thrones. You engaged with TV history in the making. So much was promised, and by the end, it felt clear to many fans that the showrunners had just stopped caring, so why should they care in return? They didn’t seem invested in paying off something that had been promised for years, helping to cement the legacy of something that had become a fundamental part of 21st-century entertainment.

Game of Thrones ended as our default mode of consuming TV changed. We have become all too used to binge and purge culture. We all get obsessed with the latest Netflix marathon, then two weeks later, there’s something else to fawn over. Why spend another week complaining about Emily in Paris when Big Mouth is around the corner? A lot of these shows, as flash-in-the-pan as they often are, feel far less high-stakes than what Game of Thrones sold itself on, meaning there’s way less risk of being burned by a failed finale. There are more inclusive options too, shows that avoid the pitfalls relating to gender and race that Game of Thrones frequently fell into. We’re impatient and uncompromising and have no time to spend years building up a fandom for something that will fail on us. There are obvious downsides to this mentality, but in the new age of TV, this is the default direction for networks and showrunners to consider.

Still, while audiences may not look back on Game of Thrones fondly, it has still left behind an indelible legacy on the industry. Its approach to storytelling -- ruthless killing off of major characters, that blend of high-fantasy with gritty realism, its divisive but deeply dramatic cinematography -- lingers long in the imagination and can be seen everywhere, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Netflix's The Witcher series. Various networks and streaming services are scrambling to make their own epic fantasy Westeros wannabe, with Amazon reportedly investing half a billion dollars into their adaptation of The Lord of the Rings as well as a long-awaited take on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga. This sort of costly genre television is in large part feasible because Game of Thrones proved itself. The series will never wholly disappear from the landscape, if only because it will stick around as the ultimate cautionary tale. But sometimes, sticking the landing is crucial, and in an era of endless options and fewer pop culture necessities, Game of Thrones failed where it mattered. It’s not often that a show sends itself into total oblivion through the sheer power of its own ineptitude, but Game of Thrones will forever have that dubious honor alongside its dozens of Emmys.

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Game of Thrones has finally come to a heavily debated close, but that doesn't mean you have to stop watching your favorite show. Even if the finale didn't meet your expectations, the amount of work that went into the show on all accounts is stunning, and it's totally worth the rewatch to see the amazing sets, acting, and drama play out all over again. The Complete Series was recently released as a box set on iTunes in digital HD, and though it has a regular price of $199.99, you can save $50 on its purchase for a limited time. In the process, you'll be saving just under a dollar per episode as opposed to buying them all while not discounted. A ton of special features are included too, so you're not missing out on much by buying digitally as opposed to a physical copy.

Several other stellar complete TV series box sets are on sale at iTunes as well with prices starting as low as $12.99 , including options like

• Xena: Princess Warrior for $19.99
• Heroes: The Complete Series + Reborn for $29.99
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For more discounted TV show bundles, be sure to check out the full selection at iTunes.

We don't know who's going to take the Iron Throne, but we do know that Season 8 of Game of Thrones is almost upon us. You can get yourself ready for April 14 by snagging Seasons 1 through 7 of the hit HBO show on Blu-ray and digital HD at Amazon for just $89.99. This box set has an average price of around $120 there and today's deal matches the lowest price we've seen for it since Black Friday.

The trailer for Season 8 is epic and Ice and Fire fans are pumped to find out how it all ends. Whether you're watching Thrones for the first time or you want to revisit Westeros, you can catch up on all the plot twists, blood, and political scandals with this 67-episode set before the new season airs. If you watch two episodes per day, you'll just about get through it all before new episodes hit our screens.

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