House of the Dragon: Trailer for brand new series

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With only a matter of weeks until House of the Dragon premieres, many fans of the George R.R. Martin franchise are wondering if it will be better than its predecessor. Game of Thrones had an interesting journey going from an unknown, niche fantasy series set in a medieval world with dragons to snowballing in success and becoming the biggest show in the world through word-of-mouth. Game of Thrones was a huge hit and earned a place in pop culture history with some even convinced it had stolen Breaking Bad and The Sopranos’ crown as the greatest show of all kind.

Can House of the Dragon save Game of Thrones?

Despite the numerous Emmy wins and a worldwide fandom desperate to follow every twist and turn in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga, it all came crashing down when season eight hit screens.

Many fans slammed the show for the hasty finale as the story hurtled towards its epic conclusion with the White Walkers and the Night King (played by Vladimir Furdik) swiftly despatched by Arya Stark (Maisie Williams).

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) also claimed the Iron Throne but not before she burned the people of King’s Landing.

To make matters worse, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) killed his aunt and lover to stop her deadly megalomania after witnessing the power going to her head first-hand.

In the end, Drogon destroyed the Iron Throne and took his mother’s body presumably to Valyria.

Westeros then became a republic with the lords across the now six kingdoms – following the ceding of the North – voting for a new ruler and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) becoming the first elected leader of the continent.

One of the main criticisms of the final season of Game of Thrones was the abrupt nature with which the story was wrapped up after slow-burn and intricate plotting previously.

However, long before season eight, the show’s ratings were already dropping with season four being the zenith of Game of Thrones’ greatness.

Ratings from the end of season four from IMDb, Metacritic, and reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows a steady decline in the drama’s critical acclaim.

The overall average score from these three ratings sites was 9.1 and marked the show’s peak success, it was also the point where Game of Thrones had really broken out as a huge show.

While IMDb saw a brief spike in the ratings with season seven, the final run’s ratings were sent plummeting with Metacritic seeing the most drastic drop.

The average ratings was 6.5 stars overall and Rotten Tomatoes even describing season eight as causing a “collective cringe around the globe”.

For House of the Dragon to best its predecessor and possibly serve as a shining light for the franchise, it would need an 8.3 rating for season one across the board with the original series hitting a similar number.

The Game of Thrones data has been gathered by online casino company PlayOJO with Head of Product Marketing Andrew Steddy telling Express.co.uk: “The show’s fandom has been a true catalyst to its success, but online critics have also played a crucial role. The fandom’s power online has been growing exponentially, providing harsh feedback and insatiable support to their franchise.

“The data suggests that House of the Dragon’s first season will need to score at least 8.3/10 to make up for the finale’s nosedive. All eyes will be turned to the writers, and as shows are increasingly character-driven, think of the popularity of Stranger Things’ 4th season, casting too will make the difference.

“In fact, a lot like PlayOJO, entertainment brands and franchises have to evolve whilst having the ability to maintain high standards. We truly think House of the Dragon has what it takes to reignite the GoT fire, but it will be no easy task.”

House of the Dragon has been created by Game of Thrones veteran director Miguel Sapochnik and written by Ryan Condal, who have said they will be taking elements from the original series which worked and improving the on the ones which didn’t.

Compared to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon will be a very different affair as it won’t tackle the end of the world scenario presented in the parent series.

Instead, it looks like House of the Dragon will be taking on a more political drama revolving around the line of succession among the Targaryen dynasty. So, it could be a very different take on Westeros and comparisons may prove tricky.

House of the Dragon will be airing on Sky and HBO on August 21 and streaming on NOW from this date

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