House of the Dragon 's full trailer sets the calm before the storm of civil war

House of the Dragon is getting the Comic-Con festivities started early.

HBO dropped the full-length trailer for the first Game of Thrones spin-off on Wednesday, days ahead of the show's planned panel in the renowned Hall H at the San Diego geek convention.

Clanging swords, gouts of flame, and acres of spiked, leathery skin abound in the exciting new footage, the latter of which signaling that we can expect an abundance of full-grown dragons. We can also expect a nuanced look at how power in Westeros operated hundreds of years before the events of Game of Thrones, when Targaryens ruled the realm.

As we see in the below clip, a new battle for the Iron Throne is underway, this one led by women.

The series will chronicle the events leading up to what the poets of Westeros call the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war that devastated House Targaryen over the matter of succession. King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) named his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, his sole heir to the Iron Throne. But when Rhaenyra's best childhood best friend, Alicent Hightower, marries her father in later years and conceives a son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), the dynasty is split in two.

Milly Alcock and Emily Carey will first play younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent on the show before Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke take over as the adult incarnations.

Ollie Upton/HBO Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen struggles with Olivia Cooke's Alicent Hightower in HBO's 'House of the Dragon.'

"They are central female characters who are at once credited and also blamed with this particular war," series co-creator and co-showrunner Ryan Condal told EW. "Because the history is written by men, we were really interested in the dynamic forces that a certain medieval level of innate chauvinism puts on the two women."

Other major players in the events to come include Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's uncle and another heir to the throne; Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King and Alicent's father; Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, head of House Velaryon and the most famed nautical adventurer in Westeros; and Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, the wife of Corlys who was passed over the throne in favor of her male cousin, Viserys.

HBO released a behind-the-scenes featurette on Monday that showed some footage of the sets, including Dragonstone and the King's Landing throne room. Miguel Sapochnik, House of the Dragon's other co-showrunner who directed some of the most beloved episodes of Game of Thrones, says in the video it was about "realizing what worked in Thrones, what didn't."

"What do we want to better? How do we want to evolve?" he added.

Most of these players, including Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, are coming to Comic-Con for a panel on Saturday in Hall H to further preview the upcoming series. In the meantime, read EW's House of the Dragon cover story for an exclusive sneak peek.

The series premieres Aug. 21 on HBO. Watch the trailer above.

Subscribe to EW's West of Westeros podcast before its debut on Aug. 21.

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