Game of Thrones star says it’ll be “surreal” to watch HBO’s prequel show

It’s been three years since the end of Game of Thrones, and HBO is finally ready to debut its prequel series House of the Dragon. Set around 200 years before the original show, the new series will tell the tale of a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen family. Like Game of Thrones before it, House of the Dragon will have an ambitious story, spectacular special effects, and a huge cast.

No one from Game of Thrones will turn up on House of the Dragon, but naturally, cast members from the older show are curious. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played Jaime Lannister for all eight seasons of Game of Thrones, talked about it recently to PEOPLE.

“I know it’s probably going to be weird,” the 51-year-old actor said. “Well, I’ve seen the trailer. It seems very familiar.” You can judge that for yourself:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau wishes HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show “all the success”

Part of that familiarity is because there’s some continuity behind the scenes. Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon has two showrunners: writer Ryan Condal, who didn’t work on GoT; and Miguel Sapochnik, who directed great episodes like “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter.”

“Miguel [Sapochnik], who’s the showrunner, directed some of the big episodes in Game of Thrones,” Coster-Waldau said. “So, I have a feeling it’s going to be quite surreal to watch it.” That said, Coster-Waldau notes that the show has “an incredible cast. I hope they’ll have all the success.”

As for what Coster-Waldau is doing now, you can hear him in Radioman, a podcast series about a DJ who starts a podcast about a series of local murders.

“We’ve worked on this the past two years,” Coster-Waldau told PEOPLE. “At the core is a true story, but then we’ve just completely changed everything from that.”

"I’m so proud of it. Because when I started out as an actor, when I was 22, the first thing I did was radio drama. And then that went away, that died out. And now it’s been revived in a way."

Podcasts are truly radio for the 21st century.

House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21. You can stream Radioman now on Audible.

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