House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season is missing too many features

Just in time for Christmas, the House of the Dragon season 1 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray boxset is out on store shelves! If you want to be able to watch this show on demand without an HBO Max subscription, this could be a good purchase. But if you’re hoping for some of the extras that often come with home releases like this, you’ll likely be disappointed.

How much does the House of the Dragon season 1 home video boxset cost?

House of the Dragon season 1 is being released in a few formats. Here are the prices below, per Collider:

• House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season Steelbook 4K Ultra HD: $59.99
• House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season 4K Ultra HD standard edition: $54.97
• House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season regular Blu-ray boxset: $49.99
• House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season DVD set: $44.98

The boxsets aren’t insanely expensive, but we still wanted more in the way of special features. Speaking of…

What are the special features on the House of the Dragon season 1 home video boxset?

Here are the special features on offer, per Blu-ray.com: Starting with Disc One:

• Welcome to Westeros (5:59): A brief overview that includes interviews with George R.R. Martin.
• A New Reign (3:09): A brief overview featuring interviews with showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan J. Condal.
• Returning to Westeros (4:42): Talks about some of the challenges of coming back to the world of Game of Thrones.
• Before the Dance: An Illustrated History with George R.R. Martin (5:27)
• Height of an Empire (4:01): About the era of “peace and prosperity” when the show is set.
• Noble Houses (3:49): About some of the royal families on the show.
• Familiar Places (3:32): Explores the production design of the show.

Disc Two:

• Return to the Seven Kingdoms (25:08): Explores how House of the Dragon rose from the ashes of Game of Thrones and what working on it means to the cast and crew.
• Introducing the Characters (15:14): Meet Rhaenyra Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen, King Viserys, Otto Hightower, Alicent Hightower, Lord Corlys Velaryon, Rhaenys Targaryen, Ser Criston Cole and Mysaria.

Two of those features — “Welcome to Westeros” from Disc One and “Return to the Seven Kingdoms” on Disc Two — are only available on the two 4K Ultra HD editions, the two most expensive versions of this boxset. That said, both of those features pretty much play like remixes of the other special features…and the other specials are all available to watch on HBO Max, which makes this boxset seem like a really bad value if you already have a subscription and can watch the episodes whenever you want.

Where are the deleted scenes, bloopers and commentaries?

Again, most of the stuff from the special features is available to watch on HBO Max. HBO Max also has the docuseries The House That Dragons Built, which goes into detail on every episode. It’s strange that this isn’t included in the release.

Mostly I’m upset by what the boxset doesn’t include. We know there are deleted scenes from the first season of House of the Dragon — we’ve even gotten a glimpse of one — so why aren’t they included in this set? What about commentary tracks where the actors and producers talk more about what went into making the show? Maybe a funny blooper reel? People love those.

To me, these things are what make a home boxset valuable, so I’m not very interested in the House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season. However, if you just want the ability to watch the episodes whenever and don’t have an HBO Max subscription, it could be worth a buy.

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