House Of The Dragon is branded 'the orgy of carnage it should always have been' as 'bombastic' season three debut wins rave reviews from critics

House Of The Dragon season three was worth the two year wait according to critics, as rave reviews herald the return of the Game of Thrones prequel.

HBO dropped the season three premiere on Monday in the UK, bringing viewers back to the Seven Kingdoms after what many deemed to be a disappointing conclusion to series two. 

The third run of the spin-off series, starring the likes of Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney and a lot of CGI dragons, finally unleashes the epic Battle of Gullet bloodbath fans were hoping for in season two.

And critics, who have previewed the first four episodes, have dubbed the new season 'the orgy of carnage' the show should always have been.   

Jack Seale for The Guardian awarded the new episodes four stars, declaring 'after two forgettable seasons the Game of Thrones prequel finally comes into its own – blazing back on to our screens with the most epic dragon-based smackdown imaginable. Fans can breathe a fiery sigh of relief!'

Radio Times' Louise Griffin went one better with a rave five star review and praised the show for never failing to 'demonstrate the sheer scale of Thrones.'

'Of course, with the season storming out of the gate in such a blaze of glory, could it risk fizzling out further into the fun?' she added. 

'We'll have to wait and see. What we do know for certain is that the Dance of Dragons is finally heating up - and as House Targaryen rains fire and blood over Westeros, no one is safe.'

Daniel Fienberg for The Hollywood Reporter decided that 'the third episode of the season and, to a lesser degree, the fourth were my favorite episodes to date. Why? Because they were funnier, smarter and a little more intimate in scale, albeit with episode lengths of between 56 and 64 minutes and, yes, lots of dragons.'

Writing for Empire in another four star review Caroline Siede wrote 'the performances continue to grow richer as the show barrels forward,' adding that the new episodes are 'more action-packed but still as thoughtful as ever... the first half of Season 3 suggests it could very well be House of the Dragon's best offering yet.'

Ben Travers of Indiewire wrote that the third series far surpasses season two. 'Not only does the opening hour pay off on the eight episodes of build-up that first aired two years ago, but the ensuing half-season benefits from the focus and unification lent by the results,' he wrote.

Nick Hilton for The Independent gave three stars, deciding that the show will always be haunted by the ghost of Game of Thrones, for better or worse.

'Even though it is lazy to say it, the show remains darkened by the shadow of its forebear,' he wrote. 'More dragons did not have to mean less humanity, and yet the balance remains off in a show that is dazzlingly bombastic but disappointingly shallow.'

Alison Herman for Variety said House of the Dragon 'cranks up the action in a less sleepy season three,' singling out the performances and character development.

'Whether they provide surprise and distraction or anchoring ballast, it's the people who make 'House of the Dragon' worth enduring the predetermined devastation. The dragons are just the CGI flying lizards on top,' she wrote. 

In the jaw-dropping premiere which dropped in the US on Sunday, viewers watched the long-awaited Battle of Gullet take form after two seasons of anticipation.

Fans were left stunned when the battle claimed the lives of multiple beloved characters in just the season opener.

Tragically, Jacaerys Velaryon and his dragon steed, Vermax, were among the fallen in the bloodbath. 

There was also a loss for the Lannister clan, and a certainly memorable admiral is also dead by the end of the action-packed episode. 

The highly-anticipated series three premiere also saw the shocking plot twist of Ewan Mitchell's character Aemond kissing his mother Alicent, played by Olivia Cooke. 

House of the Dragon season 3 is available to stream on HBO Max.