‘House Of The Dragon’ Viewers Are Already Into The Spinoff For One Overriding ‘HotD’ Reason (Besides Those Dragons)

Finally (or maybe it’s too soon), the first Game of Thrones spinoff is upon us. House of the Dragon (which is already known as HotD by the internet) debuted on Sunday night, and people were… skeptical. Some were excited, yes, but there’s a certain amount of trepidation involved after how the flagship series ended. For that matter, the entire eighth season left people sour, given what the writers did to Daenerys Targaryen (the Khaleesi, the Unburnt Breaker of Chains, etc. etc.). She unleashed “Dracarys” all over King’s Landing, and now, viewers can visit this place afresh, as it stood over a century before the events of Game of Thrones.

Surprise, surprise, this spinoff is actually pretty darn good, at least when it comes to the handful of episodes screened for critics. We’ve got a ton of Targaryen wigs, obviously, but the pilot does a marvelous job of setting up the various players and houses (with the dragon riders obviously being the main focus). We got to meet Paddy Considine as King Viserys I and Matt Smith as the salty Prince Daemon, who’s already rather randy, and Matt Smith wasn’t joking about how he probably could have stood fewer sex scenes.

Of course, people love the dragons (which look bloody awesome), and they were definitely here for “the script” (meaning those fire-breathing beasts) Also, people were thinking a lot about Dany and how “Valyrian is their mother tongue.”