House Of The Dragon

Unfiltered, uncensored, uncompromising trailer reactions from team EMPIRE

John Nugent (News Editor): Who’s excited for this? The first Game Of Thrones spin-off.

James Dyer (Digital Editor-in-chief ):

I am absolutely losing my shit.

John: Well, we know you are.

Chris Lupton (Creative Director): I’m excited.

Alex Godfrey (Features Editor): I’ve never seen Game Of Thrones.

James: This is based on Fire & Blood, the book which George R.R. Martin wrote when he should have been finishing the proper series. It’s not a novel, it’s like a history textbook of House Targaryen.

Ben Travis (Deputy Online Editor): Sounds fun!

James: It’s not fun. But that’s the source — they’re just dramatising it. Now, that’s Rhys Ifans. He’s playing Otto Hightower, the Hand Of The King.

Ben: Ah, that’s why he’s got the brooch.

Sophie Butcher (Social Media Editor): That’s what Tyrion wore.

James: And this is Paddy Considine. He plays King Viserys I. He’s a good king. And that is Blackfyre, a Valyrian steel sword, once wielded by Aegon the Conqueror. That sword becomes quite important, because wielding it gives legitimacy to claiming the throne and—

Chris Hewitt (Executive Editor):

I thought the idea of Trailer Talk was to let other people talk? [laughter]

Ben: This is going to be the world’s first Trailer Monologue.

Chris Lupton: So this is Matt Smith.

James: Yep. He’s Prince Daemon Targaryen. Bad Targaryen.

John: Presumably he’s the great-greatgreat-etc-grandfather of Daenerys.

James: Yep, it’s all connected. This is set 200 years before Game Of Thrones.

Chris Lupton: So it’s Revenge Of The Sith, then?

James: Basically, yes. It’s the fall of House Targaryen, when all their dragons kill each other.

Ben: Westeros’ Order 66, basically.

John: It’s weird that the wig budget hasn’t been boosted since the original series.

Ben: None of them look like natural blonds.

James: That’s Steve Toussaint there as Corlys Velaryon, the ‘Sea Snake’.

Ben: So he’s like Aquaman?

Chris Lupton: This is like an episode of Legendary. They’re all turning up now.

James: He’s a bad motherfucker. That’s all you need to know about him, really.

John: I interviewed Steve Toussaint earlier this year. He was very cool — he was telling me his character is like a legendary seafarer, right?

James: Basically, yeah. He comes from Old Valyria. Here’s Sonoya Mizuno, who plays Mysaria. She’s the mistress of whispers — essentially like Varys.

John: Ah yeah — she also plays the dancing robot in Ex Machina.

James: This is Alicent Hightower, played by Olivia Cooke. But look at the dagger! It looks exactly the same as Littlefinger’s dagger.

Ben: Ah, is that the one which Arya used in the final season?

James: I can’t be sure, but you’d think they were handed down through the generations.

Ben: And who is she in all this?

James: She is, and I quote, “the most comely woman in all the Seven Kingdoms”.

Alex: Everything you lot are saying is putting me off this.

James: You’ll notice the Iron Throne has a ton of extra swords.

Ben: As I believe it does in the books.

James: It’s supposed to be like a thousand swords.

Sophie: So it’s set over two different time periods, then? Because there’s less swords in this shot than in the other shot.

James: Fewer.

Ben: Uh oh, we’ve got a Stannis Baratheon here! [laughter]

Sophie: We say “less” up north.

James: Beyond the wall...

Ben: It does feel like a genuinely different era. We’ve never seen a Targaryen on the throne. When Game Of Thrones starts, that family is massively on the back foot.

Chris Lupton: If this is a Game Of Thrones version of Revenge Of The Sith,

I hope the VFX is good. You don’t want a General Grievous.

James: I don’t think General Grievous is in this.

John: I’m reasonably optimistic for this.

Ben: I’m excited for people to be excited about Game Of Thrones again.

John: It does feel like the franchise is on the back foot a bit and they have to prove themselves to the fanbase.

James: What it won’t necessarily have is Martin’s gift for character moments. My worry is this might get very plotty. We also need, y’know, “I drink and I know things.” But I think this has potential. Give me dragons and incest! HOUSE OF THE DRAGON IS ON SKY AND NOW IN 2022