With just two months to wait until House of the Dragon season 2 lands on our screens, fans have been clinging onto every single morsel of information released about the upcoming show.
Now showrunner Ryan Condal has teased a number of details about part two, including hinting at a larger role for the Starks.
As the last season concluded, Rhaenyra's (Emma D’arcy) son Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) had flown north to try and rally supporters for his mother’s cause.
Then, in one of two brand new trailers that were released last week, we saw a Stark. From what we could gather, it looked like Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor), Lord of Winterfell, wandering through the snowy north with Jacaerys. Now Condal has confirmed that the young Stark will indeed feature more prominently in the second installment.
“I love a Stark!" said Condal to EW. "[Lord Stark] is very powerful. Everybody's vying for his army. He's quite a bit younger than Ned Stark was, so it's interesting to see the Young Wolf, the young Stark lord, and how he carries himself in the world, and the burden that's on his shoulders being the Warden of the North. I'm excited for the audience to see and experience that."
Condal also spoke about the second season’s depiction of the Targaryen civil war, which takes place around 170 years before the events of Game of Thrones. By the looks of the trailers (and in keeping with George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood) the second season is going to be a tremendously bloody affair.
"This is not a story of goodies and baddies, black hats and white hats," said Condal. "It's a story of this family that's been rent open by this dispute over who is meant to wear the crown after Viserys passes. The fun of this Greek tragedy is seeing how all of these individuals react."
The two new trailers, which dive right back into the action, are titled Black and Green – a nod to the fact that Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen’s team are nicknamed the Blacks, while their rivals, Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) family, are known as the Greens.
“My father chose me, his first born child, to succeed him,” says Queen Rhaenyra in the Black trailer. “He held his decision until death. And yet, Alicent’s son sits my throne. I mean to fight this war.”
Cue scenes of dragons roaring on beaches, of Aegon Targaryen planting himself on the Iron Throne in King’s Landing, of Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon Targaryen looking sternly at his wife (who is also, ahem, his niece), and of new characters whom we are yet to meet.
One such is Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), son of Otto (Rhys Ifans), and Alicent’s brother.
"Freddie brought so much character and humour to Gwayne, who until this season was warded away at Oldtown," Condal said to EW. “We thought it was very interesting to bring forward this character, who was maybe mentioned in the first season, but not really seen or experienced in any way; how that would impact Alicent and Otto; and what he would have to say coming in from the outside, not having been raised at court in King's Landing."
In the Black trailer there was also a glimpse of a funeral – who has died? We saw Daemon, wearing black armour, turn to face someone behind him at night, in the pouring rain. There was a shot of a cavalry-heavy battle, with horses charging through a green wood; more scenes of dragons roaring or flying (standard); and of family members crowded round war tables, plotting.
It was enough to give any House of the Dragon fan chills. The drama is now at absolute fever pitch, and it will not be easy for Rhaenyra to claw back power from her malevolent relatives.
When the last season finished, Aegon II, Rhaenyra’s half-brother, had been crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms, and tensions were sky high. Things had turned particularly sour after Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys had been killed by his uncle Aemond Targaryen.
Speaking to EW in 2022, D’arcy said: “The moment that she receives the news of Luke’s passing, that attempt at mediation crumbles... I don’t think there is any longer the bandwidth to suppress and repress her nature.” We cannot wait.
