NICK DE SEMLYEN EDITOR

@nickdesemlyen

DRACARYS! As anyone who knows their Drogon from their Rhaegal will be aware, that’s the high Valyrian word for dragonfire, deployed in Game Of Thrones to unleash white-hot hell-flames. And that’s precisely what we’re doing in this issue of Empire, bringing you a deep dive into the all-new, just-aslethal and more-dragony-than-ever Westeros.

HBO’S House Of The Dragon will feature more bone-melting heat and political machinations than a British summertime. And we dispatched our finest dragon-rider, Dan Jolin, on a mission to penetrate the series’ veil of secrecy. Sadly, he didn’t end up on the Iron Throne (“Too spiky,” he grumbled), but he did send a raven to Empire Towers to drop off a scroll bearing a thrilling long read, complete with interviews with the cast and showrunners. Though frankly, we wish he’d just sent an email.

Elsewhere, Viola Davis tells Amon Warmann why The Woman King was the film she had to make. The late, great James Caan is saluted by Christina Newland, who spoke to him just months before he passed away. Plus we catch up with Bret Mckenzie and Jemaine Clement, aka Flight Of The Conchords, about their heady days putting together their own HBO show, a series that has laughs, pathos and even a dragon, albeit a cartoon one called Albi.

Beyond these pages, the Empire experience has never been more versatile. Check out our new digital app, which allows you to read us anywhere (on a bus, a plane, beyond The Wall), with bonus content to boot. And if you want to go all-in, sign up as an Empire VIP, with all kinds of perks. Just ask the 100 lucky readers who got to hang out with Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas in July at our VIP screening of The Gray Man. It was a red-hot event… and we didn’t even need to say DRACARYS!

Enjoy the issue.