How and when to watch House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel
House of the Dragon, the prequel series to HBO’s epic Game of Thrones, premieres Aug. 21. The show is available on both HBO and HBO Max, which means we’re back to the good old days of a combined network/streaming air date and time.
Here’s what Game of Thrones fans need to know for watching House of the Dragon the moment new episodes are available.
The first episode of House of the Dragon airs Sunday, Aug. 21 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max. As TV subscribers know, HBO has East Coast and West Coast feeds for cable TV providers there. So if you get HBO West but also subscribe to HBO Max, you can catch the episode at 6 p.m. PDT instead of waiting to 9 p.m. PDT.
From there, House of the Dragon will air weekly on Sundays by the same 9 p.m. schedule for both HBO and HBO Max. There will be 10 episodes in all for House of the Dragon, meaning the season 1 finale will air Oct. 23.
As a prequel, you can go into this having never seen a minute of Game of Thrones (though you can now catch up in 4K and HDR on HBO Max). But of course, half of the intrigue will come from seeing events that are referenced in dialogue or flashback from the main series.
If you’re curious, or you need to study up before sinking into episode 1 on Sunday, we’ve published a primer on House Targaryen, the central figures of House of the Dragon. The show is based on the second half of George R.R. Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood and it is set about 200 years before the events of the original series.
Paddy Considine is King Viserys Targaryen, the heir to the Iron Throne and successor to Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith portray his children, the first-born Princess Rhaenyra and younger sibling Prince Daemon. Rhys Ifans is Otto Hightower, Hand of the
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