House of the Dragon

Available on: NOW TV/Sky Atlantic

House of the Dragon is the latest case of a network trying to revive the corpse of a former cash cow, marking the first return to Westeros since Game of Thrones’ disastrous ending in 2019.

Set 200 years before the events of GoT, it is primarily focused on a civil war between the dysfunctional Targaryen family that is set in motion when King Viserys (Paddy Considine) declares his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir.

Unexpectedly, the notion of a woman occupying the Iron Throne is cause for dispute among the show’s many schemers, but the picture is muddied further when Viserys later weds his offspring’s best friend and through her is bestowed with multiple male heirs.

Like its predecessor, House of the Dragon is packed with quasi-Shakespearian conspiracies – devious uncles, unpleasant conspirators, and many, many scorned lovers. For this reason alone, it is not without its qualities. The cast is generally excellent – Considine, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy are all obvious standouts.

But, like so many rebooted franchises, the show suffers because little feels original. GoT gripped the world at its peak because it was completely unpredictable and often shocking, whereas much of this feels like a case of the showrunners attempting to play the greatest hits. Heck, we’re even forced to endure another episode that is virtually impossible to see on account of its characters being permanently shrouded in darkness. And with dragons flying around willy nilly, there’s very little in the way of shock value.  

None of this necessarily makes House of the Dragon a bad show, just a forgettable one. Little that happens in the finale suggests that a second season is worth waiting for, which leads one to conclude that HBO would have been better off leaving this sleeping dragon to lie.