As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, HBO has unleashed the final trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3, and as dragons descend on King's Landing, Rhaenyra Targaryen stands tall as the city's new (rightful?) ruler.
However, keeping the Iron Throne won't be easy, something that's evident from Team Green's continued scheming. There's also a confrontation between Alicent and her former friend, no huge surprise when Rhaenyra demands Aegon be brought before her.
We also see new and returning faces in what will be House of the Dragon's penultimate season. Season 2 drew mixed reviews for being relatively slow-paced, but Season 3 looks far more action-packed.
Perhaps most exciting for fans is a new look at the Battle of the Gullet, a watery, extremely bloody clash that looks set to be a highlight in the Game of Thrones prequel's third season.
It was supposed to be part of Season 2, but was pushed to this batch of episodes due to restrictions caused by 2023's Hollywood strikes.
"To try to tell this story without doing the Gullet would be trying to film Lord of the Rings without doing the Battle of Helm's Deep," House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal recently told Entertainment Weekly. "If we were gonna do it, we had to do it right. And that meant dragons and ships and multiple theaters of conflict."
While Emma D'Arcy wasn't part of that conflict, the Rhaenyra actor was blown away by what they've seen. "There was a degree of thrill at what was on the page this season because the show's gotten bigger, not just in terms of its dramatic scale, but actually in terms of its ambition. It's very exciting when that happens. It felt to me that the bar had been raised — and I'm a competitive person, so I wanted to meet that."
"The series this time around starts at 60 miles an hour," D'Arcy continued. "We're finally watching a war that has been building for two seasons. I'm so impressed by Ryan and the team, because it's to really hold your nerve to stage a conflict that has been, until now, primarily interpersonal, interfamily.|
"And then [to] finally, in one huge gesture, allow that conflict to unleash on the realm as a whole, I think is some very classy plotting."
Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the series, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.
Returning cast members for season 3 include Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim.
New additions include Tommy Flanagan as Lord Roderick Dustin, Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly, and James Norton as Ormund Hightower.
House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres on HBO on June 21.