Everything to know before watching ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2
14.06.2024 - 17:01
/ nypost.com
“House of the Dragon” returns for Season 2 on Sunday, June 16 (9 p.m. on HBO and streaming on Max). The show was a smash hit, with around 29 million viewers tuning in weekly.
But Season 1 aired in 2022, so you may have forgotten exactly what this show is about, who everyone is, and what’s going on. It doesn’t help that there are approximately 10,000 characters, often with similar names (Rhaenyra and Rhaenys, Aemond and Daemon) or even the same name (multiple Aegons). Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s everything you need to know. “House of the Dragon” follows Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) ancestors, roughly 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones.” Members of the Targaryen family have silver hair, ride dragons and often engage in incest. They ruled Westeros for hundreds of years.
But, by the time “GoT” came around, dragons died out and Daenerys was the last Targaryen (until Jon Snow was later revealed to be a secret Targaryen). So, what caused the family’s downfall? A brutal civil war. This show tells that story.
Season 1 of “House of the Dragon” followed the reign of King Viserys (Paddy Considine). He named his daughter, Rhaenrya (played by Milly Alcock as a teen and Emma D’Arcy as an adult), as his heir. He also married Rhaenyra’s best friend, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and had children with her – including sons Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).
Many people in Westeros assumed that King Viserys would name Aegon as his successor to replace Rhaenyra (since the oldest son is traditionally the heir). But, Viserys stuck to his guns.Unfortunately, Aegon is a common family name. On his deathbed, Viserys mumbled about a different Targaryen ancestor, Aegon the Conqueror.