House of the DragonShowrunner Reveals What That Finale Means For Season 2

Last night’sstunning season finale of House of the Dragonleft us with quite a cliffhanger — and we ’ll have to wait a while to see what comes next . Shooting for time of year two ofHouse of the Dragonwill start out in 2023 with its release to be find , but theGame of Thronesseries can in all probability be expect to bow in 2024 . Showrunner Ryan Condal tattle toVarietyabout how the end of season one will lead into the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons .

Now about that ending : when asked if it was always plan to stop with Lucerys ’ ( Elliot Grihault ) demise , Condal toldVarietythat the young prince ’s death via dragon brawl was always the plan . “ I looked back at the original bible that I wrote for the series back in May of 2019 , and that was in there as the endpoind , ” he said explain why he depart slenderly from author Geroge R.R. Martin ’s original plot . “ It just feel like the one - two slug of Viserys cash in one’s chips , the Greens seizing the toilet and telling that story from Alicent ’s squad ’s perspective , Rhaenyra ’s team finding out and order in seat the railway locomotive of warfare and then setting the dragon off and having this ugly thing happen over Storm ’s terminal — the story is called the Dance of the Dragons . To complain off the warfare / stop the first human action of our account with the first dragons dancing seemed to be the right dramatic place to leave everybody off . ”

As viewers saw in the season finish , Queen Rhaenyra was first not inclined to forthwith bucket along to warfare , a deliberate pick to make her stand apart from the Man of the land . “ You see her weigh her decisions — weighing her responsibility that she take with the Song of Ice and Fire , the thing she foretell her forefather , that she would hold the kingdom united and at peace as he tried to do . But at the same clip , her birthright has been stolen . Those things are diametrically fight down to one another . ‘ How do I suffice both ? I ca n’t . It ’s paradox . What do I do ? ’ She ’s just not going to rush headlong into anything , ” Condal explained . “ You ’re seeing what Viserys probably saw in her , that she ’s capable of nuanced cerebration and the ability to think through problems . While all the man around the tabular array , including Daemon , just want to immediately jump on flying dragon and go burn King ’s Landing , she ’s not quite ready to do that just yet . ”

Screenshot: HBO

However , when tidings is receive that Lucerys — affectionately known as Luke — was killed by Aemond ’s ( Ewan Mitchell ) much larger dragon , it does n’t count if the fight was get going by the fauna . This play of events ultimately bust Rhaenyra ’s heart and land the blow call for to push the war to lead off . Condal give credit to episode theater director Greg Yaitanes , who oversaw that brawny last shot of Emma D’Arcy . “ The very last natural process line of the script was , ‘ Rhaenyra appear up and war is in her center . ’ That was in the first draught of that script . That was always the program for ending the time of year , because after all this inner disputation that Rhaenyra goes through over the trend of the episode , everything changes the moment that she learns about the treachery at Storm ’s End and the death of her son , ” Condal let on , and added , “ I suppose we probably did three or four takes of it . And Emma , humankind , did they nail it . Just unbelievable . ”

House of the Dragon season one is uncommitted to watch on HBO Max .

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Graphic: Jim Cooke