House of the Dragon is an American fantasy drama television series that is a prequel to the television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), both based on the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin. The prequel series is created by Martin and Ryan J. Condal for HBO and is based on portions of Martin's 2018 novel Fire & Blood. Set two hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the beginning of the end of House Targaryen, the events leading up to and covering the Targaryen war of succession, known as the "Dance of the Dragons". House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019 with casting beginning in July 2020 and principal photography beginning in April 2021 in the United Kingdom. The series is scheduled to premiere on August 21, 2022. Its first season will consist of ten episodes. The show stars Paddy Considine, Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans.