House of the Dragon premiere had a secret callback to the Game of Thrones finale

In the minds of devoted viewers, the debate surrounding season 8 of Game of Thrones remains fresh. Even after the conclusion of production three years ago, HBO’s profitable mint continues to captivate fans. Ultimately, the very popular and groundbreaking series’ last season divided its audience due to its divisive and hastily created nature. However, House of the Dragon showrunners chose to include a callback from the infamous finale.

People of King’s Landing are used to seeing dragons

Dragons are a common occurrence in the Game of Thrones prequel, however, they are mostly limited to the capital. Showrunner Ryan Condal told Vanity Fair, “That’s definitely the world-building I think we need to pay attention to, because it really is specific to King’s Landing.

King’s Landing is like living near a military base. If you go down by San Diego, you see all this bizarre aircraft flying overhead, and all the people that aren’t from there are like, “Oh, that’s an Osprey! That’s amazing!” Other people are just like, “Yeah, that happens every day.” I think that’s the thing we were going for.”

House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 1 gave a subtle nod to the Game of Thrones finale

Though a lot of fans absolutely hated the final season, the House of the Dragon showrunners decided to give a subtle nod to the infamous finale that saw Daenerys burn down all of King’s Landing. Condal revealed:

“Certainly, there is a bit of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Miguel Sapochnik, who directed the episode, also directed “The Bells,” which was the last time we saw a dragon flying over a King’s Landing street like that. It didn’t end very well for the poor merchants and shopkeepers that were living on that street.”

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