‘House of the Dragon’ Cast and Showrunner Tease ‘Bigger, Badder, Dragon-ier’ Season 2: Like a ‘Cold War in Process’
“House of the Dragon” showrunner Ryan Condal describes the second season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel as a “cold war in process.”
“And that’s really because of the dragons,” Condal told Variety at the Season 2 premiere Monday night in New York City. “Everybody’s terrified of launching mutually assured destruction and burning down the kingdom that they’re trying to rule over.”
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“House of the Dragon” Season 2 will continue to chronicle the royal succession civil war, known as the Dance of Dragons, between two rival factions of House Targaryen: the greens and the blacks.
“I think I was most excited to explore the exchange of power,” Olivia Cooke said of her character, Alicent Hightower. “[Alicent] was at the height of her power come the end of Season 1, and now her son’s on the throne, making her the Queen Dowager. I don’t think she’s really thought about the effects of that and how her power will slowly be diminished throughout the season.”
Meanwhile, Tom Glynn-Carney wanted to navigate Aegon Targaryen II’s vulnerability in Season 2.
“It’s very easy to fall into, when you play a villainous character, to make him all dark, to make him one-dimensional, to make him cold and calculated and not really much else,” Glynn-Carney said. “From the minute we started this project, I never believed he was just that. I thought he was way more interesting, way more complex than that.”
Viewers will not only see dragons on screen again, but they’ll also return to two familiar sites in Westeros: Winterfell and the Wall.
“I was kind of geeking out,” said Harry Collett, whose character Jacaerys Velaryon visits the Wall. “We made sure to get it right because it’s such an important location and such an important meaning to the fans.”
On returning to dragonriding, Collett said, “I love riding the dragon, but because I’m a man, it hurts in some areas. It’s really immersive, and you’ve got a wind machine in your face. It was great for the first half hour and then you get motion sick.”
Eve Best, who touted the second season as “bigger, badder, dragon-ier,” had a similar experience getting back on Rhaenys Targaryen’s dragon, Meleys. “It’s so wild and so very different from the end results, but it’s fun in a strange sort of way,” she said with a chuckle. “I would say you just need a lot of good padding.”
Although Fabien Frankel doesn’t mount a dragon, he had to endure a different type of discomfort: wearing Ser Criston Cole’s suit of armor again.
“Do you wanna to wear the armor?” he asked me, jokingly. “I’ll switch with you. I’ll wear your dress and not look as nice as you, and you can wear my armor.”
Asked how he would describe the second season, Frankel turned to his co-star Glynn-Carney for suggestions.
“Tommy, if you could tease this season in three words, what would they be?” Frankel shouted on the carpet, to which Glynn-Carney replied, “Green, not black!”
Additional “House of the Dragon” stars in attendance included Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Phia Saban, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia, Matthew Needham and Steve Toussaint.
“House of the Dragon” Season 2 debuts June 16 on HBO.
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