Maybe the biggest shock win of the night? House of the Dragon is truly a restoration of House Targaryen and the Game of Thrones brand as it shockingly won Best TV Series at the 2023 Golden Globes.
Well, that’s what I get for saying that House of the Dragon isn’t the next Game of Thrones.
Outdoing its predecessor, House of the Dragon pulled off an incredibly rare feat as it not only won a Best TV series Golden Globe award (which GOT never did) as a fantasy show, but it also did so as a prequel to one of the greatest TV shows of all time.
Now, you don’t need me to remind you that prequels and sequels to great TV rarely ever live up to half the hype/success of the original show, let alone earn critical acclaim from the major television award associations.
In truth, House of the Dragon might be the very first sequel TV series to have won a Golden Globe in the Best TV Series category as when I looked back over the 62-year history of the Best Drama TV Series category, I couldn’t find any TV show that was a direct sequel to a previous winner/nominee.
Though, don’t take that statement as 100% factual as most of the 1960s and 1970s TV shows aren’t really what you think of for a Best TV Series, so maybe my math is wrong and there is some sneaky sequel/prequel that won.
Nevertheless, the most shocking thing about this award for House of the Dragon is the fact that it beat out extremely tough competition to get it. Better Call Saul, The Crown, Ozark, and Severance were all nominees in the category this year and easily could have won this award over House of the Dragon. In fact, even though I’m a diehard A Song of Ice and Fire fan, some of these shows should have won over House of the Dragon (ex: Better Caul Saul, Severance).
I’m going to stick by what I said about this show in my post-season review: the show is good, but it is not Game of Thrones Seasons 1-4 great.
Yes, there are amazing moments, such as Viserys walk up the Iron Throne, pretty much everything involving young Rhaenyra Targaryen, the opening scene of Daemon Targaryen on dragon back in Episode 3, Episode 1’s tourney, the dragon fight at the end of Episode 10 (for the pure spectacle only), and the rivalry scenes between Alicent and Rhaenyra.
But there are also some really clunky scenes and storytelling functions, such as the Criston Cole storyline, the Rhaenyra and Alicent storyline, the inconsistent uses of violence, the misuse of Daemon Targaryen, the dragonpit and Aegon II’s coronation scenes, and the many, many actor swaps, etc. Again, these moments don’t kill the season for me (well, not anymore), but they certainly don’t make it a Golden Globes winning season.
So, if Seasons 1-4 of Game of Thrones couldn’t get anything better than a nomination at the Golden Globes, Season 1 of House of the Dragon at the very most deserves the same honor. I’m sorry if I sound cruel or hateful as that’s the last thing I’m trying to be. I’m just being a realist and saying that Game of Thrones is still a better TV show than House of the Dragon as of this moment.
Still, congratulations to everyone involved on the production and producing of the show. Sure, I might not be the most vocal of fans over how Season 1 went, but I can’t deny that the show brought back the magical feeling that the early seasons of Game of Thrones brought to our screens all those years ago.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO) (House of the Dragon | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
