House of the Dragon: Graham McTavish Reveals Kingsguard Life Prior to Game of Thrones

HBO is getting ready to unleash their first Game of Thrones spin-off on the masses with House of the Dragon this weekend and fans are ready for the next chapter in Westeros. The series is a prequel to the original focusing on the Targaryen family's rise to power. House of the Dragon features a star-studded cast including Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Graham McTavish. McTavish recently sat down with ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis, where he discussed the life of a Kingsguard member before the events of the original series.

"Yeah, well, you know, to become a member of the Kingsguard you basically have to forsake all relationship ties. So no wife, no kids, no money, no title, no castle, all of this sort of stuff. And so it's almost like a religious order really that it's like the Knight's Templar almost, a kind of warrior religious knight in a weird kind of a way. And in the same way of those kind of characters, historical characters, he is a very morally upright individual," McTavish told us. "He's very honest, he's discrete, but he hears and sees everything. His primary devotion, I would say is to Rhaenyra with whom he has a almost kind of fatherly sort of daughter kind of relationship. And he is, I think, secretly very pleased that she is nominated as heir to the throne. I think he thinks she's very capable and will do a great job."

McTavish went on to reveled if the royal family starts to feel like family to the members of the Kingsguard. "I guess, Rhaenyra being the most obvious one. But the Targaryens, as you will have realized are a complicated family and in the same way that he, I think, admires Rhaenyra and respects her, I think he is very wary and suspicious of Damon," the House of the Dragon star continued. "I think he sees a darkness there that he's quite disturbed by and he's also not allowed to ever sit down, Ser Harrold. Yes, the entire— Yeah, never. You never see him sitting apart from one horse, that's it."

"I mean, really my principal guide with this kind of thing is, you know, Ryan and Miguel and the writers of the show. And that's no disrespect at all towards George. But, you know, when you are crafting a television show it's a very different animal and you have to make it your own. And I personally choose to really devote myself to the script and the Bible of the show rather than necessarily taking my cues from the books." The actor added.

HBO has been developing a bunch of series set in the Game of Thrones universe alongside the soon-to-launch House of the Dragon. Also among the projects said to be in development is a Tales of Dunk and Egg prequel series and a spin-off surrounding Jon Snow. So, it looks like Warner Bros. and HBO will be in the Game of Thrones business for a long time.

"We developed a lot of ideas, we were still developing a lot of ideas, and I think we're really excited about the one that will air later this summer," HBO VP of original programming Kara Buckley said of Game of Thrones earlier this month. "But, we don't feel the need to make another one unless it feels really creatively exciting to us. That's my job, at least. And the team that I'm on, that's what we're told to focus on."

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