Check out EW's exclusive portraits of the House of the Dragon stars.

Welcome back to Westeros, though this isn't the same medieval land of dire wolves and white walkers you may remember.

HBO is going back 200 hundred years before the events of its Emmy-winning fantasy sensation Game of Thrones with House of the Dragon, the new prequel series coming Aug. 21. There, we'll find ourselves at the height of Targaryen rule in Westeros, a time of great decadence, wealth, peace, and, of course, dragons. It's also the calm before a great storm comes to tear it all down: the Dance of the Dragons, a gruesome civil war that breaks out amongst the thriving House Targaryen over — what else? — succession of the Iron Throne. 

Before another game (of thrones) commences, get to know some of the drama's main players who grace EW's exclusive portrait gallery shot by photographer Nadav Kander. And find out more about the new series in our exclusive cover story.

According to showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, Emma D'Arcy's Princess Rhaenyra is the most important role in the series.

While most young girls were perfecting their needlework, Rhaenyra was serving as cup-bearer for her father, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine), and riding her dragon Syrax at an early age. (Aussie actress Milly Alcock will portray a younger Rhaenyra at the start of House of the Dragon.) Viserys names his daughter as the next ruler, but the matter becomes complicated when the king conceives a male heir, splitting the historic House in two over the matter of succession.

"She is someone who's pushing at the edges of womanhood and has a really decisive, interrogative eye for how gender affects power, affects how one may occupy space, affects even the right to construct one's life," D'Arcy, who uses they/them pronouns, tells EW. "She is a person who feels at odds with the way that she is read by the world... It's like she has a doppelgänger," they add. "The doppelgänger is Rhaenyra born male, who has access to all the things that she craves and feels to be hers."

This Viserys is nothing like the Viserys Game of Thrones introduced in that first episode in 2011.

King Viserys I has helped maintain an age of peace in Westeros that has collectively lasted for more than 70 years. But that's not entirely a good thing. Viserys is the kind of ruler who doesn't like to ruffle feathers, including those in his own family.  

"The mantra we had for him was that he's a good man, bad king, because he just wants to please people and keep the peace," Considine, known for The World's End and The Outsider, says. "But also, Viserys has an ego. He's got a great tragedy in his life, but there's a part of him that's going, 'How am I going to be remembered in hundreds of years?' They don't remember peaceful kings. They don't remember good people. They remember warriors. They remember tyrants."

They say in Westeros that each time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land. Actor Matt Smith says Prince Daemon's coin is still flipping. 

Brother of King Viserys, Daemon is one of the more volatile Targaryens. He's a tremendous fighter who wields Dark Sister, one of two ancestral Valyrian steel blades of House Targaryen; he serves on the Small Council as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; and he rides the ferocious dragon Caraxes. Daemon's closest confidante is Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), a prostitute in the local brothel. 

He's also another potential heir to the Iron Throne. Some, specifically the Hand of the King (Rhys Ifans), fear Daemon could become another Targaryen tyrant should he be named successor. "He's always flipping sides in many ways, aligning himself with his brother or his own [interests]," Smith remarks. "But I don't think it's about an ambition to the throne and all that. I think a lot of it is about his brother."

Two characters who prove crucial in the events of the Dance of the Dragons hail from House Hightower, one of the oldest, richest, and most powerful Houses in Westeros — below the Targaryens, of course. Their ancestral seat lies in Oldtown, home of the maesters of the Citadel, which House Hightower was instrumental in founding. 

Ifan's Otto Hightower serves as Hand of the King, a position he's held for multiple rulers, and his daughter Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) is described as one of the most comely women in the kingdom. (Emily Carey will play a younger version of Alicent on House of the Dragon.)

"I'd say they are traditional, academically educated in a way that the other Houses possibly aren't," says Ifans. "Conservative. Good to have on your side because of their knowledge and their wealth and their power."

"Incredibly patriotic, as well," Cooke adds. 

The events leading up to the Dance of the Dragons leans heavily on the perspectives of Princess Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower, from their seemingly unbreakable childhood friendship through the bloody conflict that plagues their kingdom as adults.

Alicent comes across in author George R.R. Martin's book Fire and Blood as a schemer, someone actively pulling the strings from the shadows. But both Carey and Cooke point out that history, especially one that is told and shaped by men, doesn't always get the facts right about women. 

Cooke describes Alicent as "quite an anxious rule-follower" when compared to the "free and mischievous" Rhaenyra. "When you realize that you haven't been nurtured in the way that Rhaenyra has — her best friend that she's seen grow up, have everything given to her, and had the unbridled love of her father — that is a real tough pill to swallow."

Otto Hightower, whether intentionally or not, gives off some major Littlefinger vibes (Aidan Gillen's character from Game of Thrones). Ifans calls Otto an "astute, high-functioning political creature" who "knows the machinations of this court better than anyone."

"He's kind of his own CCTV system, in terms of knowledge of what's going on at any place with whom at any time," explains the actor, who recently returned as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard in Spider-Man: No Way Home. "He's ruthless, but he struggles with some of the decisions he is forced to make as Hand of the King."

Ifans, himself, couldn't be further from this character. "There have been times where I've been in absolute agony trying not to laugh because Rhys had said something before they said action," Cooke admits. 

Ifans does the same during EW's cover shoot. "The Hand job is one that most people in the realm would love to have," he jokes of his character. "As far as jobs go, the Hand job is the big one."

The seafarers of House Velaryon count themselves among an ancient House of Westeros that fans of Game of Thrones have largely heard of by name alone. House of the Dragon will show them at their prime. 

The Hightowers may be rich, but the Velaryons are richer. Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) made it so. Dubbed the Sea Snake after his famous ship, Corlys traversed farther than any other Westeros explorer in his young age, bringing back the rarest of treasures to richen his House.

The Velaryons were also crucial in the Targaryen conquest of Westeros, which cemented their relationship. The Targaryens rule the skies, and the Velaryon fleet rules the seas.

Toussaint (Small Axe) doesn't mince words when describing Corlys: "No one wants to f--- with him... He knows he has power, and he knows [the Targaryens] need him." 

According to Condal, virtually no one in Westeros has experienced war during the particular time in history we see at the start of House of the Dragon. The men have been trained for battle since birth, but battle — with the exception of minor skirmishes and tournaments here and there — never comes. Corlys is the rare outlier with battlefield preparedness. He feels more at home in the thick of war than on the king's Small Council. 

"[War is] much simpler," Toussaint says. "If you don't do it right, you die. That's it. There's no gray area. But of course he has this huge ambition. This idea of legacy, it's a big deal for him."

The actor likens Corlys, also known as the Lord of the Tides, to Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) from Game of Thrones. "Sea Snake is a father and wants what he thinks is the best for his children," he says. We all know how that worked out for Tywin. 

Actress Eve Best (Nurse Jackie, Fate: The Winx Saga) says the core of House of the Dragon is a line she recites as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen in the show's trailer: "Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne." She knows this all too well. 

Rhaenys should have been named Queen of Westeros when the time came to choose King Jaehaerys Targaryen's successor back in the day. She had the strongest blood claim. However, a great council decreed that the Iron Throne could not be passed to a woman, nor through a woman to her male heirs. So her cousin, Viserys I, was chosen instead. 

These days, Rhaenys, a dragonrider in her own right, enjoys her position as wife to Lord Corlys, though she's often referred to as "the Queen Who Never Was." "She's able to navigate this incredibly dense political environment with such finesse, calm, and effortless grace," Best says. "It's impossible to deny that underneath, there is this sword in her heart of that core wound, which is a combination of all kinds of things."