In the first season of House of the Dragon, we were originally going to see young Alicent Hightower dressed to marry King Viserys I Targaryen. The scene was deleted, but images remain.

The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon is coming round the corner, but the first season still has hidden treasures for us to discover. There were quite a few deleted scenes that HBO still has yet to show us, something I take as a personal affront. You couldn’t put them on a home video release or something, HBO? You don’t want my money?

Some images from these deleted scenes do exist, though. For instance, remember at the end of the second episode of the series, where the middle-aged King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) decides to take as his new bride the teenage Alicent Hightower (Emiliy Carey), the daughter of his close advisor Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and the best friend of his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock)? Rhaenyra sure does. Although Alicent is more or less just doing as her father instructs her at this point, her choice to go along with marrying her best friend’s dad forms a rift between the two friends, one that will have devastating consequences years down the line.

Anyway, there were a few scenes cut from the end of that episode. In one, Rhaenyra and Alicent go to the godswood in the Red Keep and argue about what’s happening. In another, Rhaenyra swallows her anger and helps Alicent prepare for her wedding. These scenes didn’t make the cut, but we do have images of what young Alicent looked like in her wedding regalia:

Emily Carey (Young Alicent Hightower) in a deleted scene from House of the Dragon pic.twitter.com/fkurOVb9FG

— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) February 8, 2024

I know things get cut as producers pare down episodes of television into something worth watching, but I would have liked to see these scenes. (I’d still like to see them in some form, HBO, if you’re reading, hint hint.) Check out the full catalog of deleted scenes here.

The second season of House of the Dragon will air on HBO and Max sometime this summer. It’s shorter than the first — eight episodes vs 10 — and will probably have more deleted scenes. Here’s hoping they leave as much worthwhile stuff in as possible, and that if they cut something, they release it another way: on DVD, on YouTube, in a documentary special, I’ll take anything.