‘House Of The Dragon’ Will Feature Multiple ‘Crown’-Like Time Jumps In Its First Season

We are about a month away from the long-awaited debut of “House of the Dragon,” HBO’s first attempt at a “Game of Thrones” spinoff. And though the source material is well known and the trailers point to a show that feels very much like the original ‘Thrones,’ it appears the creators of ‘Dragon’ are actually going to take some pretty big risks, particularly with how the story is structured.

Speaking to THR, the folks behind “House of the Dragon” talk about the plot of the new show and how time-jumps will be a regular occurrence in the series, including replacing young actors with older versions. 

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“The main characters are two women and two men,” said director Miguel Sapochnik. “There’s the king (Viserys), his brother (Daemon), the king’s daughter (Rhaenyra), and her best friend (Alicent). Then the best friend becomes the king’s wife and thereby the queen. That in itself is complicated — when your best friend goes and marries your dad. But from the tiniest things, it slowly evolves this gigantic battle between two sides.”

While that seems straightforward enough, apparently the new show will begin with Rhaenyra and Alicent as young teens, played by actresses Emily Carey and Milly Alcock, respectively. At some point in the season, the show will jump ahead a decade, with those actresses replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke. And ‘Dragon’ is expected to have even more multi-year jumps over the course of its 10-episode first season.

This is a slow-burn storytelling structure that might take people off guard, who are expecting “House of the Dragon” to move at a break-neck pace like later ‘Thrones’ seasons. Not only that, but replacing actors midway through a season is a risky move, something HBO boss Casey Bloys was initially nervous about.

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“It made me nervous because it’s hard enough to cast any role, but if you’re casting two characters of different ages, you have to be right four times,” said Bloys. “Now that I’ve seen the result, I feel really good about it.”

For fans weary of diving back into a “Game of Thrones” show after seeing how the original ended in such a lackluster way, never fear! The creators of “House of the Dragon” already know where this story ends and have the storyline mapped out for three or four seasons. That said, “House of the Dragon” could become a bit of a Targaryen anthology show, picking up with a new story after this current plot runs its course.

“The Targaryens span both directions,” Sapochnik teased. “So as a spine to other possible stories and spinoffs … this is a great place to start.”

“House of the Dragon” debuts on HBO on August 21.