Posted in: Game Of Thrones, HBO, TV | Tagged: Emma D’Arcy, game of thrones, HBO, house of the dragon, matt smith, ryan condal

House of the Dragon: Ryan Condal on What Finale Means for Season 2

Fans who tuned in from House of the Dragon knew from day one up who the major players are going to be as Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) long sown the seeds that lead to the epic season finale in "The Black Queen." What kept everything from imploding was their mutual love for King Viserys (Paddy Considine) as Alicent is his wife and Rhaenyra, his daughter and chosen heir. Co-creator Ryan Condal set the stage for what looks to be a very bloody second season. This is your major spoilers warning for the HBO series.

"Season 1 was setting the table for a very bloody feast to come," Condal told Entertainment Weekly. "The reason that I wanted to spend our time doing this is that I wanted everybody to understand who all of these characters were and the long history they had behind them — behind their fathers and their grandfathers — that led us to this point where they end up fighting a civil war against each other." The season finale established where loyalties lay between the kingdom Viserys ruled. "I'm interested in picking up with all of those characters that we spent all of this time introducing, particularly Rhaenyra and Alicent's families, and seeing what happens now that we've flipped the chessboard over and spilled the pieces on the ground. How do all those react? That's the story that we tell in season 2 and beyond."

Setting Up Dance of the Dragons in House of the Dragon

During the events of House of the Dragon's penultimate episode, "The Green Council," Alicent declared her husband changed his mind about the line of succession on his deathbed and declared their child Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) as the true heir to the iron throne. His coronation was swift as most bent the knee. "The Black Queen" caught everyone up to Rhaenyra's side and their response after receiving news from her aunt Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), who fled Kings Landing.

Rhaenyra, who holds back her uncle and husband Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) from immediate civil war, sends envoys, which her sons Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) and younger brother, Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) volunteer to establish contact with allies to reaffirm their loyalty. After failing to secure the loyalty of the Greens, Lucerys is engaged in a dragon fight with his uncle Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), who he blinded in one eye from a scuffle when they were younger. Things take a turn for the worst as Aemond loses control of his dragon Vhagar, who proceeds to take out his nephew and his dragon in the process. The final scene of season one shows Rhaenyra's sorrow turned into a rage in front of a fire.

"I don't know if the Dance of the Dragons will ever have the sprawl that the original Game of Thrones did, simply because of North of the Wall and Esso and all these other places that it went," Condal said. "But certainly the season that we're writing, the rhythms of this show are going to feel much more like a middle season — seasons 3-6 of Game of Thrones — in terms of its scope and breadth and the number of characters."

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