HBO had a press event for House of the Dragon, inviting Ryan Condal, co-creator, showrunner and executive producer, to share about season two, along with a dozen cast members, including Emma D’Arcy, who plays Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen; Matt Smith, who portrays Prince Daemon Targaryen; and Olivia Cooke, who plays Queen Alicent Hightower.
Condal said season one’s finale gave the producers and cast a perfect jumping-off point for the new season, which arrives on HBO and Max June 16. It is set days after the first season ended.
“That was the place, going back five years, we wanted to end the season with,” said Condal, the lone American representing the show at the event. “Off we go to the next horrible tragedy.”
He described the season as “a point of no return,” with some serious conflicts. “The hatred only gets worse as things go on and pile up,” said Condal.
Mara Webster, co-founder and head of programming at In Creative Company, moderated the event, at HBO headquarters in New York.
Team Green came out first, with six cast members. Cooke said she takes issue with viewers hating on Alicent. “I don’t see her as vicious,” she said. “I see that she has got a point a lot of times.”
Fabien Frankel, who plays Ser Criston Cole, hears from the haters too. He said a colleague told him, “I hope you’re looking forward to being the most hated character on television.”
Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays King Aegon II Targaryen, said the king has “a little more spring in his step” in the new season, and is stepping “into these kingly shoes with enthusiasm.”
But he’s still a troubled soul. “The guy is riddled with insecurities and vulnerabilities and the things that fracture a person,” said Glynn-Carney.
Ewan Mitchell, who plays Prince Aemond Targaryen; Phia Saban, who portrays Queen Helaena Targaryen; and Matthew Needham, who is Lord Larys Strong, were also in the Team Green panel. That then gave way to Team Black.
“It’s good to get rid of the riffraff,” quipped Smith as the first group exited the venue.
Along with Smith and D’Arcy, the team featured Steve Toussaint, who portrays Lord Corlys Velaryon; Eve Best, who is Princess Rhaenys Targaryen; Harry Collett, who plays Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, and Bethany Antonia, cast as Lady Baela Targaryen.
Smith shared his thoughts on playing Daemon in the Game of Thrones spinoff. “He flies by the beat of his own drum,” he said. “His moral compass is his own. And I admire that about him.”
Toussaint said he has avoided the George R. R. Martin books. “They’re two different mediums,” he said. “I didn’t want to fall in love with the page. I felt it was safer to just play what is in the script.”
The cast was asked about shooting the riding-dragons scenes. “It’s just exactly like riding a dragon in real life,” joked Best. “It’s desperately uncomfortable in armor.”
Antonia and Toussaint spoke about being Black actors in the cast. “It was so important to me to be in a franchise of this scale,” Antonia said, because she never saw Black actors in such productions as a child.
Toussaint shared about the many, many letters, social messages and personal greetings he has received, viewers sharing their enthusiasm for a diverse cast. “Everybody has a right to be represented,” he said. “That is a world we are striving for.”
Condal said George R. R. Martin is “always with us.” He said the producers are “operating on our own in a good way, but George always looms large in the world of House of the Dragon.”
He hinted at “many more shows about this world.”
Viewers will meet five new dragons in the new season. But Condal stressed that House of the Dragon is much more than dragons. “The things I’m most proud of are two characters in a room,” he said. “You have to have these stage stories.”
