ENTER THE DRAGONS
Get ready for some dastardly plots, dazzling special effects (and a peroxide-haired Matt Smith!) in the hotly anticipated prequel to Game Of Thrones
PICK OF THE WEEK HOUSE OF
THE DRAGON Sky Atlantic, Monday, 9pm
The dragons from Game Of Thrones are swooping back on to our screens: it’s an exciting prospect that is bound to get the show’s fanatical fans into quite a flap. Three years on from the conclusion of the epic fantasy saga set in the kingdom of Westeros, the question is whether the hotly awaited sequel – or to be precise, prequel – can live up to the anticipation.
The scale of the production is unsurprisingly huge, with the rumoured budget of £16million for each episode creating the medievalstyle world on an even more dazzling scale than before. Note-perfect special effects bring the dragons to firebreathing life: look out for no fewer than 17 of them over the course of the first season, each with its own individual character (only three were ever seen in Game Of Thrones).
The tale begins 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, the cruel queen of Westeros who, played by Emilia Clarke, eventually met her own bloody end in Game Of Thrones.
Ruling over the land is her ancestor King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), a good man, but one whose weakness makes him a target for those who would scheme to take the Iron Throne from him.
His greatest threat is his menacing brother Daemon (Matt Smith, far left), who is as adept at the dark arts of court politics as he is unerringly ruthless with a sword.
Most of all, Viserys longs for a son to be his heir and secure the line of succession. He does have a daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy, near left), whose strength and brilliance would surely make her fit to rule when she grows up – but would this unforgivingly primitive era ever accept a woman at the helm? So the stage is set for an almighty struggle for dynastic power that will eventually brew into an apocalyptic civil war.
The drama also features Rhys Ifans as cunning royal adviser Otto Hightower, and Olivia Cooke (main, left) as the pivotal character of his daughter Alicent, but the undoubted star is Matt Smith. After Doctor Who and Prince Philip in The Crown, he now makes another iconic role entirely his own, playing Daemon as a deliciously malicious agent of chaos. With his long peroxide tresses, he proves that blonds really do have more fun.
As to whether House Of The Dragon lives up to the hype: rest assured, without giving away any secrets, the heady mix of the steamiest sex scenes, eye-wincing violence and most of all a compelling storyline is as irresistible as ever.