First Look: The Crown’s Matt Smith Plays Royalty Again In Game Of Thrones Prequel, House Of The Dragon

Matt Smith may have ended his reign as Prince Philip on The Crown, but he’s about to start another one, this time on the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.

HBO has dropped the first batch of visuals from House of the Dragon, which is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and will cover the early years of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil, which is also known as ‘Dance of the Dragons’. (No sightings of the dragons yet.)

Enter the dragon: 'House of the Dragon' started production last month and is slated to debut next year. According to IMDB, the series will be filmed in England, Iceland, Croatia, and Morocco.

Slated to debut in 2022, the 10-episode series — based on George RR Martin’s book Fire & Blood — will star Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, and Fabien Frankel.

Besides the images, HBO has also shared a few character bios:

Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: The king’s first-born child, she is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragon rider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything… but she was not born a man.

Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen: The younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne. A peerless warrior and a dragonrider, Daemon possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…

Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon aka The Sea Snake: Lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. As “The Sea Snake,” the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros, Lord Corlys built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower: The daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.

Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower: The Hand of the King, Ser Otto loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king's brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.

House of the Dragon is one of several shows set within the GOT-verse in the works at HBO and HBO Max. Among those is Tales of Dunk and Egg, which follows the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Aegon V Targaryen.

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Photos: WarnerMedia