Here's What's Wrong With 'House of the Dragon', According to Fans

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for 'House of the Dragon ' episode 1

Fire is already reigning on social media in the wake of the long-anticipated 'House of the Dragon' Sunday premiere. The 'Game of Thrones ' prequel has understandably drawn high expectations – and it turns out not all of them were fulfilled, at least with the first episode.

One of the biggest issues that some fans have taken with the show is how similar it is to 'Game of Thrones'. While a huge "yes" for some people, it seems to undermine the story's authenticity and uniqueness for others. Many critics have already noted that the show might have tough time establishing its own independence from the original series, even though the universe is the same.

Another thing is how the show seems to lack characters that are distinctively good and sympathetic – at least according to some people.

"No protagonist who is at least a little bit sympathetic? After the honeymoon phase is over this is not going to work, imo. Tell me a successful show without someone you can identify with and root for? And no, Succession and Breaking Bad has that, even if they are corrupt and immoral." – /Som12H8

Some fans have a very specific concern: it turns out that they are afraid to get invested in the show, fearing that it might have a fate similar to 'Game of Thrones' – which had a notoriously controversial finale.

However, others argue that the 'House of the Dragon' story does not seem to even have a potential comparable to the original series.

"Do things expand? I liked it, but it seems disappointingly small-scale compared to GoT. Tiny core cast, not many storylines seeming to be going on, all confined to a single location, etc. In episode 1 of GoT we already had a huge cast in multiple distant locations, cultures, and many different storylines introduced that wouldn't converge for years. This pilot seems much less epic in comparison. Just a few characters in King's Landing and nobody to even root for other than Rhaenyra who is pretty bland." – /larrieuxa

Another popular concern with the show is the way it already is more than disturbing. Some people were ready to turn it off at the moment when "Matt Smith saws some dude's" testicles off (because yes, he does). Graphic sex and violence was what ensured the success of 'Game of Thrones', but now, fans are afraid, 'House of the Dragon' will have to escalate things even more to keep the hype levels.

'House of the Dragon' premiered on August 21 on HBO Max. The first season will have 10 episodes, with the finale to air in October.