Images taken from the set of House of the Dragon, the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series in the works at HBO, have revealed our first look at Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy. Smith, best known for his run on Doctor Who, will be playing Prince Daemon Targaryen with D'Arcy (Truth Seekers) co-starring as Rhaenyra Targaryen. Both have been spotted on set in character as the Targaryens, and you can look at the images below.
Shot on Holywell Bay Beach in Cornwall, the pictures show how Matt Smith will appear as Prince Daemon, wearing a long black jacket with knee-high boots. D'Arcy, who plays Daemon's wife and niece Rhaenyra, can also be seen wearing a long crimson gown as the two have a long chat on the beach. Both are also sporting platinum blonde hair, as we've seen with the Targaryens on Game of Thrones, with D'Arcy looking a lot like her future descendant Daenerys (Emilia Clarke).
The cast of House of the Dragon also includes Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen, the King of Westeros; Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Queen of Westeros; Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Alicent's father and the Hand of the King; Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, the lord of House Velaryon also known as the Sea Snake; Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, a dragonrider and the wife of Lord Corlys; Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, Daemon's most trusted ally; and Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole, a skilled swordsman.
House of the Dragon is developed for television by Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal, based on George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood novel. It is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, chronicling the beginning of the end of House Targaryen. It was given a straight to series order in 2019 with the first season consisting of ten episodes.
Previously, HBO had put in a pilot order for Bloodmoon, another Game of Thrones prequel series set 10,000 years before the start of the original show. Naomi Watts led the ensemble cast as a charismatic socialite holding a dark secret, with other cast members including Josh Whitehouse, Georgie Henley, Denise Gough, Naomi Ackie, Alex Sharp, and Toby Regbo. After the pilot was filmed, HBO apparently didn't like what they saw as they opted not to move forward with the series.
It will be interesting to see how well House of the Dragon hits with fans when it is released. The original series was one of television's most popular shows for several years, but it all ended on a sour note with the show's final season in 2019. There was heavy criticism for the season, which resulted in a popular petition for HBO to recreate the season with new writers. It remains to be seen how many of these burned fans will give the franchise another chance with House of the Dragon.
HBO hasn't yet named an official premiere date, but House of the Dragon is expected to drop on the cabler and on HBO Max sometime in 2022. The latest set images shown above come to us from @houseofthedragontv on Twitter.