It seems the second season of HBO's critically-acclaimed Game of Thrones prequel series, House of The Dragon, will be with us quite a bit sooner than previous reports have indicated.
In a recent interview, Daemon Targaryen actor Matt Smith said he believed the show was set for an August premiere, but Warner Bros. Discovery streaming and gaming chief J.B. Perrette revealed the actual launch month while speaking at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom conference on Monday.
Though Perrette didn't specify an exact date, House of the Dragon will return for more Fire and Blood this June.
Plot details are still under wraps, but anyone who's read George R.R. Martin's source material should have a pretty good idea of how the story will progress - at least over the course of the first few episodes.
Season 1 concluded with the death of Queen Rhaenyra's beloved son, Lucerys Velaryon, at the hands (and jaws) of Prince Aemond and his dragon Vhagar, and from the looks of the recently released season 2 trailer, the distraught Rhaenyra is going to waste little time in seeking vengeance.
The first footage shows both sides preparing for battle, as Rhaenyra abandons all attempts to reconcile with her former friend, "Queen" Alicent Hightower.
We can expect plenty of bloodshed and heavy losses on both sides, as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen warns, "there is no war as hateful to the gods, as a war between kin, and no war so bloody as a war between dragons."
Check out the teaser below, and keep an eye out for a new trailer, which should be with us fairly soon.
"The prequel series finds the Targaryen dynasty at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires—real and imagined—crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins almost 193 years before the events of Game of Thrones, when King Viserys Targaryen breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm."
House of the Dragon season 2 sees Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans reprise their respective roles. Additional returning cast includes Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, and Matthew Needham.
The directors for the new season are Alan Taylor (Episodes 1 & 4), Clare Kilner (Episodes 2 & 5), Geeta Patel (Episodes 3 & 8), Andrij Parekh (Episode 6), and Loni Peristere (Episode 7).