Major downgrade from the books and the previous show. The casting for the king is terrible as is his wig. The casting for the Velaryons is jarring. Literal black people pretending to be white people. Awful wigs looks like characters are wearing a mop or amateur cosplayers. The black characters are unsurprisingly not real characters. No one points out their blackness, while every other character is attacked for their defining traits immediately in the first episode (eg. The King for being weak, Otto hightower for being a widower).

The dragons have had a huge downgrade from the previous show. They are colorful like power rangers but that's where the positives end. Their animations are limited and stiff. Their flying animations are odd and twisting. The camera intentionally avoids close ups because of laziness to detail their bodies. They stand out in every scene they are in for how fake they look. They don't behave like giant reptiles. They are just slaves to their masters doing exactly what they're supposed to with no free will unlike Drogon in Game of Thrones--who had an attitude with his master and did things she didn't approve.

The timejump idea and replacement of young actors with olders ones is stupid, a clear indication that the showrunners are rushing the story. It is poorly executed with only some actors being replaced. It completely undoes the viewers bond and identification with the characters.

The violence is so fake and forced, especially in episode 1. It is not clear whether the kingsguard are killing innocents or criminals, and the shock factor is very surface level since we do not get any screentime with the victims to humanize them. We barely see their faces, and then they are killed. It's a failed attempt to be violent like the original show but without the humanizing factors that actually elicit a response from the audience.