House of the Dragon Image Reveals Return To Key Game of Thrones Location

A new image from House of the Dragon shows off the fact that the series will be returning to an important Game of Thrones location. House of the Dragon is a prequel to HBO’s hit fantasy epic, which was itself based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. The new series will premiere on August 21, 2022, with a 10-episode season and adapt his 2018 novel Fire & Blood, which follows the fall of House Targaryen during the Dance of the Dragons civil war.

House of the Dragon takes place two centuries before the events of the original Game of Thrones series, in which Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen is the last of her line. The series will focus on the exploits of, and infighting within, the Targaryen family when they ruled Westeros. The massive ensemble cast includes Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, Graham McTavish, Ryan Corr, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, David Horovitch, and Bill Patterson.

Today, the official House of the Dragon Twitter account shared a brand new image from the spinoff series. It shows D’Arcy’s character Rhaenyra Targaryen standing in front of the three-dimensional map of Westeros featured in the original series. She appears to be at Dragonstone, the ancestral land of her family, and a key location for Game of Thrones season 8. Check out the image below:

This image, which features the map room looking quite a bit less dusty and ancient in House of the Dragon, seems to be taking place during a particularly dramatic moment in the series. It appears that a group of other characters has turned and left Rhaenyra, who is the first daughter of Viserys and the impending queen, standing on her own to contemplate the map. Some Game of Thrones fans are already speculating that this scene takes place just moments after she gives birth to her son, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett), which may be why Rhaenyra is taking stock of her family’s lands.

House of the Dragon will also be featuring flashbacks, in which Milly Alcock plays a younger version of Rhaenyra alongside Emily Carey as a young Lady Alicent Hightower. This contemplative moment may be a key in triggering these backstory sequences. Fans won’t know for sure what the context of this seemingly dramatic moment is until the series officially airs. However, House of the Dragon seems committed to making sure any location that was featured in Game of Thrones has an air of familiarity in its prequel spinoff, while also feeling somewhat fresher and newer, with 200 fewer years of age on it.