The excitement for House of the Dragon is at an all-time high. The long-awaited spinoff to HBO's mega-hit, Game of Thrones, is set to debut later this month, and the marketing for the series is ramping up. A series of trailers and featurettes have been released over the last few weeks, and HBO set up a Dragon's Den at San Diego Comic-Con to give fans a real House of the Dragon experience.
We've known that the spinoff series would feature a wide range of dragons. However, we now know that season one will feature nine dragons in total, each with a distinct personality, thanks to an interview with showrunner Miguel Sapochnik and Empire. Although we got a taste of the fiery beasts in Game of Thrones, that would only be a sneak peek compared to the full-course meal we receive in House of the Dragon. In a similar style to Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion from GOT, each winged monster will have their own personality and qualities that distinguish one another.
Sapochnik tells Empire they tried to give a different look to the dragons in the series, and in the final editing stages, the crew is making sure each scaly creature has something unique about them.
"Each new dragon has its own personality. That's what's going on now in our last part of the animation – we're applying personal character traits to each of the dragons. One of them's got a [bad] leg. Another one's much more like an eagle, because she's kind of neurotic. And another one's like a curmudgeonly old granny."
The relationship between the Targaryen family and the dragons in the series will be interesting to follow, as we saw Daenerys go through several growing pains and learning curves with her three fire breathers. Since there were far more dragons roaming the lands of Westeros during the spinoff time period, we may see a Targaryen bloodline that can bend any flying beast to their will.
Sapochnik Says Many Dragons Will Resemble Drogon in House of the Dragon
Drogon was the most popular and the fiercest dragon to soar over Game of Thrones while it was on the air and has since become an iconic figure in the series. His name has become synonymous with the show, and showrunner Miguel Sapochnik admits it was hard to stray away from him. Although the crew of House of the Dragon is making each dragon distinct, Sapochnik told Empire he kept coming back to the design of Drogon while creating their concepts for the creatures.
"I've got a book which has hundreds of [concept] designs. The first thing you want is not to do Drogon. So I came up with a whole theory about how there were three different kinds of dragons, based on their different skulls. We came up with all kinds of stuff. But in the end, we ended up back at Drogon. There's something about Drogon. It's like the Millennium Falcon. It hit something."
The design and presence of Drogon was certainly memorable through eight seasons of Game of Thrones, and fans can only hope that House of the Dragon has once again crafted monsters that will be as impressive as their spinoff counterparts. House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO and HBO Max later this month, Aug. 21st.