Editor’s Note: The following accommodates main spoilers for Season 2 Episode 1 of House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon is lastly again, and after that nail-biting season premiere, there’s so much to look again on. Season 1 ended on a grim be aware when Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) chased down Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) on his dragon, Vhagar, and subsequently killed Luke in a dragon assault. We realize it was a mistake, but it surely has launched the nation right into a conflict. Episode 1 of Season 2 sees the traces now firmly drawn. The Greens, who assist Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) for king, are already dealing with a blockade to King’s Landing. Meanwhile, the Blacks, who assist Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) for queen, are splintered as Rhaenyra mourns her son and Daemon champs on the bit, ready for motion. By the time Rhaenyra returns, teary-eyed and filled with rage, all she says is the phrases, “I want Aemond Targaryen.”

This is all of the sign Daemon must sneak into King’s Landing and rent a ratcatcher (Mark Stobbart) and one in every of his previous Goldcloaks (Sam C. Wilson), a member of the City Watch, to assassinate Aemond. Obviously, issues do not go as deliberate. The ratcatcher, traditionally solely remembered by the identify “Cheese” (whereas the Goldcloak is named “Blood”), finds Helaena (Phia Saban) along with her two youngsters. With Aemond lacking, Blood and Cheese drive Helaena to decide on which of her twin youngsters is the male inheritor, Jaehaerys, and butcher the kid in his mattress whereas Helaena runs away along with her daughter, Jaehaera. Traumatized, she bolts for her mom’s chambers and walks in on Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) in mattress with one another.

We spoke with House of the Dragon showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal about Season 2, first discussing the departure of former showrunner Miguel Sapochnik and what impact, if any, that had on the narrative as an entire. For Episode 1, Condal spoke about the illicit relationship between Alicent and Criston, and the longevity of their relationship. We additionally mentioned Rhaenyra’s temperament as queen and the way a lot of that’s associated to attempting to emulate her late father (Paddy Considine). Finally, we mentioned the decision-making course of that goes into choosing which characters to adapt, after which Condal teased somewhat concerning the destiny of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s rocky relationship for Season 2. Watch the video interview with Condal above or learn the total transcript of the interview beneath.

House of the Dragon

The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the favored HBO collection Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is about practically 200 years earlier than Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil conflict with King Viserys.

Release Date

August 21, 2022

Creator

Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

4

Distributor

HBO

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What Has Season 2 of ‘House of the Dragon’ Faced After Miguel Sapochnik’s Departure?

COLLIDER: I’m concerned with understanding, first off, the modifications from Season 1 to Season 2; clearly, there have been some inventive modifications, Miguel Sapochnik left the crew. Do you assume that there was an enormous shift in that departure when it got here to approaching storytelling this season, or do you assume it is primarily maintained the identical?

RYAN CONDAL: No, the storytelling all the time sat with us, the writers. I’ve a beautiful crew, and Sara Hess and I co-wrote the present collectively. Certainly, Miguel was concerned within the inventive course of, however he was actually extra there because the filmmaker of the present to convey it to life visually, and he did nice stuff for the present and definitely was a serious a part of it. But, I feel the success of Season 1 meant that we had established one thing; we discovered a bunch of issues that had been working. And we had been in a position to strategy Season 2 with confidence behind us that we knew what we had been doing, and I feel we went in trying to enhance the issues we will enhance, after which do extra of the stuff that we thought was working effectively from Season 1, and I feel we bought there in the long run.

Ryan Condal on When Criston and Alicent’s Relationship Started

Jumping into this primary episode, one thing that actually shocked me is the connection between Alicent and Criston Cole moved from what was most likely subtext to overt textual content. I’m curious if you happen to can disclose when this relationship made that change, as a result of it looks like they’re very comfy with one another, however I consider it is solely been just a few days for the reason that finish of Season 1.

CONDAL: Are they comfy with one another? It feels very awkward there. They’re actually speaking concerning the climate. So, that is the factor, it is a model new relationship. We do not particularly get into, deliberately, when and the place it began. Part of that’s the enjoyable of leaving it as much as interpretation by the viewing viewers. But it is definitely a brand new factor, a brand new romance. And the thought is that these two characters have this very stunted emotional growth, notably on the earth of intimacy with a associate. Cole, as a result of he is been a canned man his complete life within the order of the Kingsguard and his previous sins with Rhaenyra and carrying that like a millstone round his neck.

And on Alicent’s aspect, she was married off at 14 years previous to a man that was 20-plus years her senior. She does not actually have a — definitely, she was bodily intimate with Viserys, however I do not know that that they had a romantically intimate or emotionally intimate expertise simply due to the massive age hole between them. So it is led us to this place the place you see these two characters who do not expertise numerous pleasure, experiencing nice pleasure collectively in a pleasant approach that I feel makes the viewers go, “Oh, okay. These are two humans enjoying themselves.” But they do not have the emotional know-how and modeling for how one can exist in one thing like that, notably, one thing they should hold a secret.

Is Rhaenyra Trying to Emulate Her Father More?

Going into Season 2, taking a look at Rhaenyra as a personality, I discovered it actually attention-grabbing seeing in Season 1, when these characters swap over in the course of the time bounce, that numerous Rhaenyra’s extra intense and chaotic points appear to have been tempered a bit. We see that also within the first episode. Can you communicate to that, how you’ve got created Rhaenyra, and the way, as a frontrunner, she’s attempting to most likely emulate her father greater than anybody else?

CONDAL: Yeah, and I feel you nailed it. Is that Rhaenyra’s complete existence, now that the crown’s been placed on her head, is attempting to sublimate her extra punk rock and rebellious instincts that we noticed when she was a youngster, when she was performed by Milly [Alcock], and attempting to emulate her father, understanding that her father selected her in order that she would rule and mannequin in the way in which that he skilled her to all through her life, and would have wished her to. But what Rhaenyra is realizing, if not on this first episode, she is going to understand it within the time to come back, Viserys strategy is possibly wonderful in a time of peace, however in a time of conflict, you possibly can’t be and simply particular person on a regular basis and nonetheless be an efficient ruler. That’s the factor that Rhaenyra goes to bump up in opposition to many times this season. What makes that attention-grabbing is we all know that she has this underlayer of rebelliousness and an unwillingness to fall in keeping with the anticipated order of the day.

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‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Needs To Change the Approach to Rhaenyra

The subsequent season must see Rhaenyra reignite her fiery nature to say her place on the Iron Throne.

Ryan Condal Explains How They Adapt the Series and Include Characters

You’ve talked about earlier than in another interviews that Daeron exists, and I’ve seen proof of that, however on the subject of characters like that, and characters like Nettles, and all these essential characters who generally may should be consolidated — what’s your strategy on the subject of wanting on the present and seeing which characters who might need been essential within the ebook, however possibly should be added collectively, to have a extra succinct story?

CONDAL: Look, it is an adaptation, and it is a difficult one, as a result of it is a historical past ebook, and there’s a narrative there, but it surely’s not a standard narrative the way in which you’d discover in a novel like The Song of Ice and Fire tales had been. So, I feel there’s all the time a problem as a screenwriter bringing a textual content to life on the display screen. And I feel you simply should take it on a case-by-case foundation. Sort of, like, what story had been you attempting to inform? What characters are crucial in that story, who helps us transfer this story ahead? I feel the opposite factor you will discover typically in our rendition of Fire & Blood, that being House the Dragon, is that we have actually hewn to the concept this can be a story about this very difficult household, and numerous the POV characters that you’ll find us following are family members.

And there is definitely exceptions, Criston Cole, issues like that. But even he, in a approach, is a member of this household, after having been adopted by each side over the course of the years which have handed. But you solely have a lot display screen time to inform the story. And I feel we all the time return to, okay, effectively, who’s the member of the Targaryen household that we’re following on this explicit storyline? And how does this affect them, and the bigger story of this conflict for succession that we’re following?

Condal Emphasizes the Importance of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s Relationship

Are we going to see Rhaenyra and Damon be blissful at any level on this season? Because I really feel like I’ve had my coronary heart torn out somewhat bit watching a few of these episodes.

CONDAL: [Laughs] That stays to be seen. I’ve stated earlier than, like the good custom of Game of Thrones, the narrative within the kind of bigger The Song of Ice and Fire universe, is that you simply construct characters up who’ve these deeply complicated relations with each other, after which the forces of politics and conflict drive them aside, and so they go to totally different locations, after which generally these circumstances convey them again collectively, having developed and altered over time in attention-grabbing methods. Rhaenyra and Daemon sit on the middle of this narrative as a lot as Alicent and Rhaenyra do, and I doubt that now we have seen the final of them collectively.

House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 on Max.

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