We’re mere weeks away from the premiere of House of the Dragon, HBO’s follow-up to House of the Dragon. Set some 200 years before the original show, House of the Dragon will tell the story of a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty. But even though we’re in a new time period with a new cast, some things remain the same.
For instance, HBO has posted info about the first couple of episodes on its website, including the episode runtimes and any warning labels regarding adult content. Here’s what we have so far:
- Episode 1: 1 HR, 6 MIN — warning labels for Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Strong Sexual Content
- Episode 2: 54 MIN — Adult Content, Adult Language, Violence
- Episode 3: 58 MIN — No warning labels
That’s pretty consistent with what we were used to on Game of Thrones. The premiere is a little longer than usual at over an hour, but not too bad.
That said, the final two seasons of Game of Thrones had some very lengthy runtimes, with the season 8 episode “The Long Night” running nearly an hour-and-a-half. That was considered long in 2019, but since then other shows have picked up the gauntlet Game of Thrones laid down and run with it; the most recent season finale of Stranger Things, for exactly, was two-and-a-half hours long, which is longer than most movies. By today’s standards, the episode runtimes for House of the Dragon are conservative.
House of the Dragon “pulls back” on the amount of sex as compared to Game of Thrones
As for the warning labels, anyone who’s watched Game of Thrones knows to expect some adult content when it comes to violence, language and sex. That said, the producers on House of the Dragon have said that the new show “pulls back” on the amount of sex. Game of Thrones was sometimes criticized for its depiction of sexual violence, and while showrunner Miguel Sapochnik says that is still a part of the show, they will approach it “carefully, thoughtfully and don’t shy away from it. If anything, we’re going to shine a light on that aspect. You can’t ignore the violence that was perpetrated on women by men in that time. It shouldn’t be downplayed and it shouldn’t be glorified.”
House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.
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