The sky is going to shake and blaze again with the roar and fire on June 16.
Are you thinking the same? Yes!
Season 2 of “House of the Dragon,” the prequel to the most beloved fantasy series on HBO—”Game of Thrones”—is returning this summer with a gruelling task for the fans—to choose between Queen Alicent Hightower and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.
The much-hyped trailers—one for black and one for green—preview “Dance of the Dragons” by George R.R. Martin, which depicts a Targaryen civil war where two siblings will fight for the throne after the death of their father.
Much like “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” is a show about family clashes and battles over thrones and power. The only difference?
The full-grown dragons in “GoT” were seen only for brief periods, and “House of the Dragon” is all about the dragons and their breaths of fire and the powerful Targaryens that reign the realm with their help—or, shall we say, sitting on top of them?
Well, there are many other things regarding the show that die-hard fans might not know about. If you want to know about them, keep reading things you didn’t know about “House of the Dragon” before you start to see another “Civil War”—this time with dragons in the sky.
‘House of the Dragon’ is slightly inspired by real stories
“House of the Dragon,” like “Game of Thrones,” is slightly based on real-life incidents.
George R.R. Martin said that the “Game of Thrones” prequel is inspired by “The Anarchy,” a 12th-century English civil war.
During his 2022 Comic-Con interview, the “GoT” writer said that the sole legitimate son of King Henry I drowned while attempting to cross the English Channel, leaving the king with just his daughter Matilda as a legitimate offspring.
As a result, the king anointed Matilda as his successor and had every lord of the kingdom swear an oath to her.
However, after King Henry I passed away, the majority of the kingdom’s lords either disregarded or denied the significance of that vow.
Then Matilda’s cousin Stephen crossed the channel, seized the initiative, and took power.
The conflict between Matilda and Stephen, known as “The Anarchy,” started during this time, and the story plot of “House of the Dragon” came from that, he continued.
The Iron Throne was rebuilt for the prequel
The Iron Throne was destroyed in “Game of Thrones,” but there it was in “House of the Dragon,” only it was much bigger and more asymmetrical, right? Well, there’s a reason why the famous seat doesn’t look the same to you.
The new prop was larger and more asymmetrical to better match the description of the throne in George R.R. Martin’s novels.
Viserys’s dagger is a reference to ‘Game of Thrones’
The Valyrian steel dagger that Viserys carries is identical to the one that was used to try to kill Bran in the first season of “Game of Thrones” and Arya wielded in the show’s last season.
A ‘weirwood’ reference to ‘Game of Thrones’
The weirwood where Rhaenyra is seen in the episode of “House of the Dragon” is the same stump of a weirwood where Sansa is shown praying in season 3 of “Game of Thrones.”
Certain characters seem older than their actual age in the books
“House of the Dragon (2022)” continues the trend started by “Game of Thrones” by making certain characters seem older than they actually are.
King Viserys, played by the nearly 50-year-old Paddy Considine, is seen as a man whose hair is beginning to grey.
Rhaenyra is first portrayed as being at least a teenager, if not a little older.
In the original text, Viserys was thirty years old when his wife Aemma passed away, and Rhaenyra was only eight years old when she was named Viserys’s successor.
When casting Daemon Targaryen, Matt Smith was the only real option
In an interview with Den of Geek, Condal disclosed that they only considered Matt Smith to be the perfect actor to play the role of the defiant prince.
“Matt is really the only person we talked about,” Condal said.
“We would say, ‘Like a Matt Smith or a Matt Smith type’ when talking about Daemon. I just absolutely loved his work on The Crown as Prince Philip, who somewhat ironically is a similar character. He’s the second fiddle, in that case to the Queen of England, his own wife, and is a bit adrift. [Daemon] is similarly a bit of a rogue prince trying to find his footing and place in the world,” Condal added.
Even though fans were not very happy with Smith playing Daemon Targaryen, he changed their opinions by giving a stellar performance in the pilot episode.
All the fires in House of the Dragon are REAL
The actor who plays the young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen told the Hollywood Reporter that Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon used a lot of source lighting, such as moonlight, torchlight, or sunlight, sometimes making the interior scenes very dark. Also, that makes something else very much real—the fires.
According to this actor, all the fire in the show is real. “Because there’s no electricity in this world, everything is lit by fire,” Alcock said.
“So all the lighting that you see in the show would have people that come around and light everything on fire, and the set would get incredibly hot. I would get really sweaty and stand like this (extends arms) with two girls with hair dryers. So it was all very glamorous,” she added.