This week's penultimate season 2 episode of House of the Dragon, "The Red Sowing," finally gave Team Black the advantage in the Targaryen civil war, and if the teaser for next Sunday's finale is any indication, the Dance of the Dragons is going to be taken to another level of devastation as more fire-breathing beasts join the fray.
Spoilers follow.
After Seasmoke claimed Addam of Hull as his rider in the closing moments of last week's episode, Rhaenyra – with some convincing from Mysaria – decides to look for dragonriders among the lowborn, leading to an "army of bastards" arriving to Dragonstone in a perilous attempt to claim the second-largest dragon alive, Vermithor.
The notoriously volatile creature burns/devours most of the wannabes, but Hugh Hammer stands his ground and ultimately claims the dragon, with Ulf the White stumbling right into Silverwing's path and (luckily) managing to follow suit.
The episode concludes with Ulf and Silverwing drawing Aemond and Vhagar out of King's Landing, but as they approach Dragonstone, the Prince Regent senses danger and retreats while Rhaenyra watches on surrounded by dragons with a look of confidence on her face.
The season finale promo doesn't give much away, but it seems clear that we are going to get more dragon vs. dragon action, and quite possibly at least one more main character death - although those anticipating any major showdowns (Daemon vs. Aemond for example) might be disappointed, as the show will return for at least one more season.
Check out the teaser below, and let us know how you think the episode will play out in the comments section.
"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).