Tensions rise between Targaryens in first teaser for House of the Dragon S2

HBO dropped the first teaser for the much-anticipated second season of its Game of Thrones prequel spinoff collection House of the Dragon throughout CCXP23 in Sao Paulo Brazil. The eight episodes will cowl the onset of civil conflict inside House Targaryen, generally known as the Dance of Dragons.

(Spoilers for the first season beneath.)

As I’ve written beforehand, HBO’s House of the Dragon debuted final yr with a stable, promising pilot episode, and the the rest of the season lived as much as that preliminary promise. The collection is ready about 200 years earlier than the occasions of Game of Thrones and chronicles the starting of the finish of House Targaryen’s reign. The main supply materials is Fire and Blood, a fictional historical past of the Targaryen kings written by George R.R. Martin.

As guide readers know, these occasions culminated in a civil conflict and the extinction of the dragons—no less than till Daenerys Targaryen got here alongside. It’s King Viserys I Targaryen’s (Paddy Considine) fateful choice to call his fierce dragon-rider daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as his inheritor—passing over his brother and inheritor presumptive Daemon (Matt Smith)—that units occasions in movement. As Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best)—aka the “Queen Who Never Was,” as a result of she was handed over when Viserys was topped—is aware of all too nicely, “Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a girl ascend the Iron Throne.”

The first season spanned a few years and made some fairly vital time jumps, which in flip required changing the youthful actors as their characters aged. Most notably, Emma D’Arcy now performs the older model of Rhaenyra. The S1 finale introduced Westeros to the brink of civil conflict.  Viserys died, and his second spouse, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), conspired along with her father Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) to crown her eldest son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) as king as an alternative of Viserys’ declared inheritor obvious, Rhaenyra. (Let’s simply say their strategy was very typical: help Aegon or be executed.)

This kicked off so much of political maneuvering as each side tried to shore up help for their chosen inheritor in preparation for the inevitable struggle. Even although she was technically the rightful inheritor, Rhaenyra really appeared to be contemplating House Hightower’s situations for concession—till the smug Prince Aemon (Ewan Mitchell), Alicent’s youthful son, went after Rhaenyra’s younger son, Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). Both dragonriders failed to regulate their dragons, and Aemon’s dragon Vhagar ate Lucerys and his dragon Arrax in mid-air. The season closed with Daemon and Rhaenyra receiving the devastating information, successfully dashing any hope of a peaceable decision.

(Spoilers beneath the gallery based mostly on occasions in Fire and Blood.)

Most of the S1 primary solid members are returning for S2 (these whose characters survived). And we have got some new faces in the combine: Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull; Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers; Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower; Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong; Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull; Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome; Kieran Bew as Hugh; Tom Bennett as Ulf; Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark; and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne.

The teaser opens by setting the stakes,  with Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower, admitting that “errors had been made in the hours following King Viserys’ dying,” and Alicent declaring, “The conflict can be fought. Many will die. And the victor will ultimately ascend the throne.” So it is positively enterprise as ordinary in Westeros. There are dragons and dragonriders, a beheading, troops gathering and getting worn out by dragon hearth, and Rhaenyra and Aemon going through off with their dragons. Clearly Rhaenyra is not going to heed the warning of Rhaenys:  “There is not any conflict so hateful to the gods as a conflict between kin. And no conflict so bloody as a conflict between dragons.”

There can also be one transient scene with Aemon’s sister-wife, Helaena, being held with a knife to her throat. It’s already been confirmed {that a} significantly brutal plot level in the supply materials will shut out S2, and this appears prefer it could be a reference to that notorious “Blood and Cheese” incident. Blood is a sellsword and Cheese as a ratcatcher, each employed by an agent of Daemon to take revenge towards House Hightower for the dying of his son Lucerys.  Essentially, they pressure Helaena to decide on which of her two younger sons can be put to dying. When she chooses her youngest two-year-old, Maelor, they behead her eldest, Jaehaerys, as an alternative, and produce the head again to Daemon. That ought to make for a robust S2 finale, establishing the deliberate ultimate two seasons fairly properly. Here’s hoping they get to complete the story.

The second season of House of the Dragon is anticipated to premiere on Max in the summer time of 2024.

Listing picture by Max