Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen. Photo / HBO
Warning: This contains spoilers for season one.
House of the Dragon first hit our screens in August 2022. Now, nearly two years after its debut, it’s making its grand return with season two premiering in New Zealand on June 17. Set to include more seat-gripping face-offs and a murderous rift within the House Targaryen, it is anticipated the show, created with the help of Kiwi visual effects company Wētā FX, will come back more dramatic than ever.
Sitting down with the New Zealand Herald’s Lillie Rohan as part of a roundtable, House of the Dragon stars Olivia Cooke, Phia Saban, Matthew Needham and Tom Glynn-Carney reveal what fans can expect from the upcoming season and, according to one star, we are in for a ride.
“It’s bloody,” Matthew Needham says of the second season of House of the Dragon. “It’s emotional and it’s just carnage, really.
“People are in for a ride,” adds the British actor, who stars as the conniving Lord Larys Strong in the Game of Thrones prequel show.
It’s a confession that may come as no surprise to fans of the Golden Globe-winning series. After all, our last interaction with the show was Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) chilling stare into the camera after the tragic death of her son, Lucerys.
Now, with the second season picking up after the murderous act - performed by her half-brother Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) dragon, along with his brother Aegon’s (Glynn-Carney) challenging of her claim to the Iron Throne, fans will see an all-out House Targaryen civil war.
While it’s unclear how many large-scale battle scenes the upcoming eight episodes will contain, The Ringer has reported there will be at least one, and Kiwi fans can revel in the fact that the breathtaking special effects are thanks to Wētā FX.
Founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993, the digital visual effects company recently earned two accolades at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in January for their work on the HBO series The Last of Us, and Best Animated Short at the Oscars in March.
Fans are already impressed with the quality of the effects in the season two trailer, “ Wētā is great! Not surprisingly that the visual effects quality in the teaser has become noticeably better,” one wrote on Reddit.
But while effects are undoubtedly a huge part of the show, Needham hints that this season, it’s not so much the cinematic fight scene masterpieces that will captivate viewers as something entirely different.
“The quietest moments can sometimes be the loudest,” he says, hinting that a bulk of the season could follow scheming politics and unsaid moments. “I think House of the Dragon fans really like to get off on that. I think there’s something really satisfying in that sort of contained drama.”
A main theme of the show’s new season (which is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood series) will be Aegon’s rule as King.
Having just been crowned by the plotters of season one, which include Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) father Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and Ser Cristan Cole (Fabien Frankel), fans will get to see how the rightful heir to the throne, Rhaenyra, and her uncle - who happens to also be her husband - Daemon (Matt Smith) rally support.
Touching on his character’s arc this season, Tom Glynn-Carney says there is a lot for fans to look forward to and says, if anything, Aegon will be a “hurricane” of emotions.
“He feels deeply,” he says, pondering how to phrase the next revelation. “Everything he does feel is like on a cellular level and that can arguably be as dangerous, if not more dangerous than someone who doesn’t feel anything, I think, because it builds up. It’s bubbling lava underneath the surface.”
Cautious not to reveal any spoilers, Glynn-Carney says: “We see him stepping into the shoes of the King and wearing this new skin as sort of enthusiastically and proudly as he can at this point.”
Admitting Aegon is ultimately a “spoilt” boy, the actor wants to make it clear, he is nothing like Game of Thrones character, King Joffrey Baratheon.
“Joffrey was a very, very cold and calculated, sadistic, character,” he explains. “I think Aegon’s a different beast. I think his villainous side comes from a lack of self-respect and a deep inner pain that he’s dealing with.”
One thing he can confirm about his character’s ambitions this season is that once crowned, he is “very clear” about what he wants: “His motivation is to maintain power and kind of stay where he is and have the authority he feels like he deserves now.”
But while Aegon is where he believes he belongs, another character, the King’s mother Alicent, is facing the cold reality of what that means for her and her former friendship with Rhaenyra.
With one son on the throne and another having killed Rhaenyra’s own son, the female characters who were once friends before Alicent wed Rhaenyra’s father are, once again, left in a plateau. While fan theories claim the pair could see a reconciliation, others aren’t hopeful of a reunion. Olivia Cooke shares her own take.
“God,” the actress says, pondering how to answer the hotly debated question. “I don’t know, where do you go when your son has killed your ex-best friend’s son? Where do you go from there?”
However, much like fans on Reddit who say the pair could see a “near-reconciliation or at least mourning of their lost friendship”, Cooke isn’t ready to give up hope yet. “I think she just wants an audience with Rhaenyra. I think she thinks if she can get in front of Rhaenyra, Alicent can show how this was never meant to happen.”
While her relationship with Rhaenyra remains up in the air, Saban, who stars as Helaena, the daughter of Alicent and wife of her brother Aegon, hints that another female bond is set to see further development this season. Theirs.
“Sometimes all they have is each other so in a sense, they’ve been pushed into a place where they don’t have an option to not be there for each other,” she says. “They just have to work out how it’s going to work now everything’s gone terribly wrong.”
Quick to avoid any questions about the big moments of the upcoming season and how it could affect their characters - including if there are any deaths, brutal powerplays or shock moments, the actors are coy. That is, until they are asked another hotly debated but considerably light-hearted question: would they ride a dragon?
Needham chuckles. “No, not for a single second. I’m very, very happy with my chair that I get to sit in.”
House of the Dragon‘s second season premieres in New Zealand on June 17, exclusively on Neon.
Lillie Rohan is a London-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things relationships and dating.
'I forbade my mother from seeing it. There's a lot of sex talk in the show.'