"What is this brief, mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?" the teaser, which you can watch below, asks.
And legacy is key to the characters within the show because they are members of the House of Targaryen throughout decades, 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. The 10-episode drama based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood novel from his A Song of Ice and Fire series.
The teaser shows several characters promising to be faithful to King Viserys and his named heir, his daughter Princess Rhaenyra. But unfortunately not everyone is OK with such rule, just because of her gender.
"Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne," the teaser warns.
A battle will be brewing.
Those actors include Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, Rhys Ifans, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn.
The show comes from co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, who executive produce alongside Martin, writer Sara Hess, Jocelyn Diaz, Vince Gerardis, and Ron Schmidt. Greg Yaitanes is a co-executive producer and director, and Clare Kilner and Geeta V. Patel are directors.
House of the Dragon premieres Aug. 21 on HBO and also streams on HBO Max. While it doesn't yet have a Metascore, its predecessor is marked as a "Metacritic must-watch" after earning an impressive 86 Metascore across its eight-season run.
