Some will “love” House of the Dragon,” others will “hate” it

House of the Dragon, HBO’s follow-up to Game of Thrones, premieres in just a few weeks, and the impressions are rolling in. Most people seem to love the series, although one cast member appears to be bracing for a potential backlash. Gavin Spokes, who plays the character of Harwin Strong, told People that “[s]ome are going to love, and some are going to hate” the new show.

"You can’t please all the people all the time. I think we have just tried to put as much work and love into it as we can. If people aren’t gonna like it then that’s their opinion."

Spokes definitely has some strong opinions. He also said that House of the Dragon will give viewers “a little bit more meat on the bones” as compared to Game of Thrones, which is saying a lot because Game of Thrones was a famously dense series. How much more meat can you really slam on that thing? “I don’t want to sound derogatory to Thrones at all because I thought it was an incredible series,” Spokes said. “But there’s a slow build in the show. And it’s deliberate. Particularly to find out about who those characters really are.”

House of the Dragon will have “more meat on the bones” than Game of Thrones

Moving away from cryptic comments it’s hard to contextualize without seeing the actual show, Spokes talked a bit about his character, who’s the lord of Harrenhal at the time House of the Dragon takes place, which is some 200 years before Game of Thrones. He also serves as the Master of Laws on the Small Council of King Viserys I Targaryen and is the father of a couple of characters who will be very important to the plot in the long term. “[Strong] always believes that he is trying to do the right thing,” Spokes said. “Whether he is or not is for us to judge but he’s quite a decent person.”

And there’s one thing about House of the Dragon that Spokes isn’t ambiguous about: the scale. “They built a full castle,” he said, likely referring to the reportedly huge Red Keep set. “[Series co-creator Ryan Condal] was showing me around, like this is the chamber, and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to buy a castle?’ They built a whole castle north of London, and it’s extraordinary. And then extras arrive in beautiful costumes and amazing props, and you are sitting in Westeros.”

We’ll see exactly what he’s talking when House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.

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