With the dropping of an official trailer, it feels like we can finally get excited about the second season of House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series. When last we left off, Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) had murdered his own nephew Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). Technically, it might have been an accident, but that’s not going to matter to Luke’s mother Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), who is in a battle with her half-brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) for control of the Iron Throne. Before her son’s murder, Rhaenyra was trying not to escalate things. But now, the gloves are coming off and the dragons are taking to the skies.
I’m really looking forward to the scene where Aemond has to admit to his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) that he killed Luke and started a war. Like Rhaenyra, Alicent was trying to keep things from spinning out of control, but that’s all out the window. Although Rhaenrya and Alicent are now on different sides of this conflict, they began the series as best friends. The show deliberately drew parallels between them throughout the first season, and we expect that to continue in season 2.
In fact, according to one spoiler, the show will add in a scene concerning Rhaenyra and Alicent that isn’t in the source material, the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. Read on to learn more, but beware SPOILERS!
Alicent and Rhaenyra will reportedly meet on Dragonstone in the House of the Dragon season 2 finale
I’ll say at the outset that this report is unconfirmed. It comes from the Wake the Dragon Twitter account, which has been doing great work bringing us the latest news, rumors, images, video and memes concerning House of the Dragon. I like the account, but in the interest of having as many disclaimers as possible, without HBO confirmation, this remains a rumor.
Okay, so what is the rumor? According to Wake the Dragon, Rhaenyra and Alicent will reunite on Dragonstone in the House of the Dragon season 2 finale:
This does not happen in Fire & Blood. In that book, the next time Rhaenyra and Alicent meet Luke’s death is (beware another SPOILER incoming) after Rhaenyra takes over King’s Landing and keeps Alicent as her prisoner. That will surely be a powerful scene on the show.
But if this report is to be believed, House of the Dragon wants these two to reunite a little earlier than that. Dragonstone is Rhaenyra’s stronghold in Westeros. If Alicent is there, my guess is that it’s part of a secret diplomatic mission to try and deescalate things before even more people die in this war their families are waging against each other. My guess is that it will happen — if it happens at all — before Rhaenyra invades King’s Landing and retakes the Iron Throne.
Without knowing the specifics, it’s hard to know whether this scene is a good idea. The show has put more of an emphasis on the relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent than the book did, so I understand them wanting the characters to share the screen. Then again, that desire may not be enough to justify this scene if the writers have to twist the narrative into ungainly shapes to make it happen. But again, we can’t know whether they do that until we know more.
And as a final disclaimer, this is all just a rumor. We won’t know for sure until we’re actually watching the House of the Dragon season 2 finale next year. What do you make of it?
