TV

Can You Watch House of the Dragon With Family?

Can You Watch House of the Dragon With Family?
Image credit: HBO

How safe is the Game of Thrones prequel to watch with kids and/or parents?

There are two major types of people who pay attention to a movie or TV show’s age rating and content warnings: parents who want to protect their kids from adult content and kids who don’t want to blush heavily while watching something with their parents. Whichever category you fall into, it’s important to do your research in advance.

House of the Dragon is famously the successor of Game of Thrones — the show notoriously not suitable for young audiences or quality family time. But most people claim that the prequel is much tamer than the original. So is it safe to watch or not?

House of the Dragon Is Not Family-Friendly

The short answer is, absolutely not. House of the Dragon is not the kind of series you want to show your kids, and it’s exactly the kind of series that would lead to both sides’ embarrassment if you were to watch it with your elderly relatives. Why?

The very first episode of House of the Dragon has the following content warnings: Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Strong Sexual Content. Apart from maybe on-screen substance abuse, that’s pretty much every single warning that makes a piece of media absolutely not family-friendly.

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As a rule of thumb, we’d advise you to disallow kids younger than high-school age to watch this TV show, and maybe pick something else for your next family night.

House of the Dragon Is Still Tamer Than GoT

While a blatantly wrong choice for young audiences or cozy nights with parents, House of the Dragon is still on average a lot more tame than its predecessor. The two series share the same content warnings, but Game of Thrones was in general more graphic, prophane, and filled with good ol’ shocking scenes per square foot.

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Both HotD and GoT have numerous instances of brutal violence, sexual encounters, and inappropriate language… Often, numerous such instances per episode. So the optimal way to watch these hit series is with your partner, your friends, or by your lonesome. While many characters from House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones like to bring their families into improper situations, you might want to avoid that.