After the controversial ending of HBO’s hit drama series Game of Thrones and the announcement of the spin off show House of Dragons, fans of the Westerosi universe have been on the edge of their seats waiting for premiere of the new show.

With several stills to numb on from the most anticipated series and with the premier date drawing closer each day, early review from critics who have seen the first six episodes of the show’s first season finally make it to the press, and they’re nothing short of great.

House of Dragons is the first show to arrive post-GOT and is set two centuries before the birth of Deanerys Targeryn and the events of the Game of Thrones drama. It tells the story of the ensuing conflict between King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and his junior brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) after Viserys appoints his first born daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) the heir to the Iron throne.

See what some critics had to say below;

Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“By the end of the first hour, all the main pieces are in play, countless political, domestic and actual storms are brewing, old alliances are being broken, new ones formed and treachery is never more than a spear’s length away. House of the Dragon looks set fair to become the game of political seven-dimensional chess that its predecessor was, designed to reward diehard fantasy fans in full measure without alienating the masses that will propel it to the top of the ratings.“

Stephen Kelly, BBC

“It’s a rich, textured work, sharply written and handsomely directed, with a budget that far outstrips season one of Game of Thrones. There are lavish dragon sequences from the start, for instance, while it’s notable that the third episode features an enormous celebratory hunt, full of sets and extras. In early Game of Thrones, a similar sequence consisted of a small group of characters in some woods – a bugbear of George RR Martin, who originally wrote the hunt as befitting of a king.​​“

Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone

“But the spinoff unfortunately proves a poor test case for the less-is-more theory when it comes to adaptations of George R.R. Martin’s books. A more streamlined show built around a character as rich as Tyrion, or Arya Stark, could perhaps work smashingly. House of the Dragon, unfortunately, is filled with characters and conflicts that would struggle to hold the audience’s interest if they were just one small element among the many of its parent series. As the only subjects, they’re almost uniformly dull, preventing House of the Dragon from justifying its existence as anything other than a calculated piece of brand extension for the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery.“

Darren Franich, EW

“So the show wants the relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent to take center stage. But the early episodes bungle their dynamic, with an unspecific friendship that’s relegated to the sidelines. The drama heightens when clear battle lines get drawn. The first introduction of the grown-up characters is flat-out stunning, establishing palpable and sorrowful consequences for earlier decisions. And the sheer number of childbirth scenes would be a running gag if the show didn’t render them, with vivid detail, as a genuine medical horror. Dragon doesn’t soar immediately, but no House was built in a day.“

House of Dragon premiers this Sunday at 9pm on HBO Max.

https://mediarants.com/house-of-the-dragon-early-reviews-for-the-game-of-thrones-prequel-are-in-and-they-look-good/