Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon [Season 2]: Inside the Dawn of the Targaryen Civil War
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About this ebook
Following the huge international success of House of the Dragon season one, HBO’s acclaimed series returns for a second season. Author Gina McIntyre, who wrote Insight’s best-selling book on season one, Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty, has returned to the set at Leavesden Studios near London to chronicle the making of season two, receiving unprecedented access to the production. Season two promises even more intrigue and action, with remarkable performances and unforgettable set pieces, all explored in-depth within this must-have volume that makes the perfect companion to McIntyre’s original book. Filled with concept art, on-set photography, and other dazzling visuals, this will be the ultimate exploration of a highly anticipated TV event.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: Go behind the scenes of season two of House of the Dragon and discover exclusive insights and secrets from the show’s set.
REVEALING INTERVIEWS: Go behind the scenes of House of the Dragon through in-depth interviews with showrunner Ryan Condal and the incredible cast and crew.
STUNNING IMAGERY: Explore a treasure trove of never-before-seen images, including concept designs for the show’s dragons, locations, and costumes, plus candid on-set photos.
OFFICIALLY LICENSED: The only officially licensed making-of book for season two of HBO‘s House of the Dragon.
COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon: Inside the Dawn of the Targaryen Civil War is the perfect companion to Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty, The Art of Game of Thrones, and Game of Thrones: The Costumes, also published by Insight Editions
Gina McIntyre
Gina McIntyre is the New York Times best-selling author of Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down. Other award-winning books include Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times, Star Wars Icons: Han Solo, Game of Thrones: The Costumes and more. A longtime entertainment journalist, her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter.
Read more from Gina Mc Intyre
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Game of Thrones - Gina McIntyre
PROLOGUE
IN AUTHOR GEORGE R. R. MARTIN’S A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE NOVELS, THERE EXISTS A FAMOUS OBSERVATION ABOUT HOUSE TARGARYEN, THE PLATINUM-HAIRED DRAGONRIDERS WHO RULED FOR CENTURIES OVER THE FICTIONAL CONTINENT OF WESTEROS: MADNESS AND GREATNESS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN. EVERY TIME A NEW TARGARYEN IS BORN, THE GODS TOSS THE COIN IN THE AIR AND THE WORLD HOLDS ITS BREATH TO SEE HOW IT WILL LAND.
In 2011, HBO’s groundbreaking fantasy Game of Thrones introduced television audiences to Westeros, and to protagonist Daenerys Targaryen, one of the only surviving members of the once-formidable House. Over eight seasons, the lavish adaptation of Martin’s best-selling books earned widespread acclaim for its stunning visuals and rich, character-driven drama. Fans around the globe compulsively followed every development as the series chronicled an existential battle between humanity and the forces of eternal darkness. They were equally invested in the hard-fought effort by Daenerys, played by Emmy Award nominee Emilia Clarke, to reclaim the Iron Throne, the seat of power held for generations by her ancestors.
HBO’s subsequent adaptation of Martin’s work, House of the Dragon, had the unenviable task of following what many considered the biggest TV show of all time. Opening roughly two hundred years before Game of Thrones, the prequel returned viewers to Westeros, presenting a world that was at once familiar yet wholly original. Created by Martin and writer-producer Ryan J. Condal and adapted from portions of Martin’s 2018 book Fire & Blood, the series was set during an era when the Targaryen dynasty was at the height of its power, and only beginning to experience the discord and strife that would lead the family to ruin.
When House of the Dragon premiered on August 21, 2022, a new generation of Targaryens was born onscreen, and it became clear that with their mad creative gamble, Martin, Condal, and their talented collaborators had achieved greatness. According to HBO, the debut season averaged at least 29 million viewers per episode—higher than all but the final two seasons of Game of Thrones. It would go on to win the Golden Globe for Best Television Series—Drama and to earn nine Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, winning in the Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes category.
Expertly crafted, the first season breathed visceral life into an essential chapter in the history of Westeros by foregrounding the experiences of childhood friends turned reluctant adversaries Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. Centering women characters allowed the writers, directors, and cast to explore the devastating limitations of life under patriarchal rule. The approach also enabled them to craft a potent work of fantasy replete with powerhouse performances that felt bracingly modern and pointedly relevant.
Now, building upon the strong foundations of its initial ten episodes, House of the Dragon’s second season continues its salient exploration of the political intrigue and interpersonal conflicts that send the Targaryens spiraling toward civil war. Questions of legacy and legitimacy drive the rift: In the wake of the death of King Viserys I Targaryen, which member of the family truly has the right to rule Westeros, and to what lengths will each side go to secure its claim? This season sees the two sides of the family that are deeply entrenched in their positions getting more and more so,
explains Condal.
As that happens, the factions inch ever closer to unleashing their dragons against one another—a previously unthinkable choice with the potential to destroy not only the rivals vying for the Iron Throne but also the kingdom itself. By any measure, it would be an act of madness, but a thirst for power and a hunger for greatness can push even the most rational people to extremes. I don’t want to write about pure white, saintly heroes or evil, monstrous villains, because most human beings are really more complex than that,
Martin says. We all have good in us. We all have evil. The conflict arises out of that. It arises out of love and hate, and desire and ambition.
Love, hate, desire, ambition—this is the combustible combination at the heart of House of the Dragon’s second season, one that will change the course of Westerosi history, and the lives of its most memorable figures. It’s a much bigger season because there are so many more worlds,
Condal says. "We have so much more location work. We go to so many more places. We’re following more of our characters that we’ve already established, à la Game of Thrones. It’s intended to be a complex exploration of what it means to prosecute a war when you have apocalyptic weapons in the arsenal."
The Iron Throne.
Concept illustration of Dragonstone, the ancient Targaryen stronghold.
CHAPTER I
STARTING ANEW
A NEW BEGINNING
FOR THE CREATIVE BRAIN TRUST RESPONSIBLE FOR SHEPHERDING HOUSE OF THE DRAGON TO THE SCREEN, THE PROSPECT OF CREATING A PREQUEL TO GAME OF THRONES WAS BOTH UNIMAGINABLY EXCITING AND ALMOST INEXPRESSIBLY DAUNTING, GIVEN THE ORIGINAL SERIES’ UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS. NOT ONLY DID IT BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL OBSESSION DURING ITS EIGHT SEASONS, BUT THE FANTASY RANKS ALSO AS THE MOST DECORATED PROGRAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE EMMY AWARDS, WITH A TOTAL OF 160 NOMINATIONS AND 59 WINS.
Back in 2018, when Game of Thrones was nearing the end of its record-breaking run, author George R. R. Martin approached writer-producer Ryan J. Condal about collaborating on a follow-up that would debut once the blockbuster series had concluded. This new successor show,
as Martin referred to it, would chronicle the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war in which rival factions of House Targaryen turn on one another in a brutal conflict that leaves dragons on the verge of extinction. Set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, the series would unfold in the same world but at a time when the Targaryen empire was at its zenith.
Martin had met Condal several years earlier, and the author knew that Condal possessed both a deep understanding of and a sincere appreciation for the dense and heady mythology he’d created in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels that had spawned Game of Thrones. Condal also had experience with fantasy and speculative drama. His Hollywood credits included the screenplay for the 2014 Dwayne Johnson–led sword-and-sorcery epic Hercules and co-creating the USA Network series Colony with Lost’s Carlton Cuse.
While it was clear that after Game of Thrones, any subsequent adaptations of the author’s fiction would be held to a standard of excellence not easily replicated, there was no way Condal could turn down the opportunity. So, over the next four years, he and a team of world-class creative collaborators worked tirelessly to shape what would become the first season of House of the Dragon. Martin’s authoritative retelling of the Targaryen saga, 2018’s Fire & Blood, served as their foundation.
Milly Alcock as young Rhaenyra is embraced by Emily Carey as young Alicent in a scene from Season 1 of House of the Dragon.
Martin had taken the book’s title from House Targaryen’s words,
a phrase that serves as a family’s motto or creed, and he wrote the tome largely as a historical document ostensibly authored by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown, a character Martin has described as a cantankerous old scholar.
Together, the author and Condal jointly outlined an initial season centering on such principal figures as the kindly, nonconfrontational King Viserys I Targaryen and the members of his inner circle: his hot-tempered younger brother, Daemon; his beloved daughter, Rhaenyra; his highest-ranking adviser, Otto Hightower, who serves in the office known as the Hand of the King; and Otto’s daughter, Alicent, Rhaenyra’s closest childhood friend.
They opened the series at a pivotal moment when the kingdom is wrestling with important questions of succession. The much-loved Old King Jaehaerys Targaryen, having no direct heirs, convenes a Great Council at the castle of Harrenhal to determine who will follow him onto the Iron Throne. More than 1,000 lords from across Westeros consider fourteen claims to the throne, but only two serious contenders emerge: Jaehaerys’s grandchildren Rhaenys and Viserys.
As Rhaenys is older than her cousin—and therefore the eldest direct descendant of the king—custom dictates that the throne should be hers. However, the lords decide that only a man should be allowed to rule. They support Viserys, leaving Rhaenys to be forever known as the Queen Who Never Was. The slight is met with outrage by her husband, the great sailor Corlys Velaryon, often called the Sea Snake, a moniker taken from the name of the most famous ship in his fleet. But the decision is applauded by Daemon, who, according to the rules of male primogeniture, is next in line to become king. That prologue set the stage for all the events that follow, with questions about succession driving the narrative.
Daemon Targaryen’s sword, Dark Sister.
Olivia Cooke as Alicent (left) and Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra.
Roughly ten years into his reign, Viserys’s wife dies giving birth to a son, and the baby tragically passes away hours later. The grief-stricken king soon learns that Daemon was seen celebrating the infant’s demise, which ensures that his claim to the throne remains in place. Devastated, Viserys banishes his younger brother and, disregarding convention, names his teenage daughter, Rhaenyra, as his heir. Representatives from Westeros’s most powerful houses are invited to the royal castle, known as the Red Keep, to pledge fealty to her.
Years later, even after the king takes Alicent as his second wife and fathers sons with her, Viserys stubbornly insists that Rhaenyra must ascend the Iron Throne after his death. His recalcitrance frustrates his most trusted advisers, including Otto Hightower, as the ambitious aristocrat wishes to see his daughter’s offspring follow Viserys onto the throne. He’s also certain that the king’s blatant disregard for patrilineal tradition will lead to unrest.
With the broad strokes of the season in place, Condal sought out a key creative partner with whom he could collaborate during the writing process. He found Emmy-nominated writer-producer Sara Hess, a television veteran of such inventive series as House, Deadwood, and Orange Is the New Black. Hess was keen to explore the ways in which the patriarchy impacted the world of Westeros, and how circumstances conspired to drive an ever-greater wedge between the show’s central protagonists, Rhaenyra and Alicent.
As the scripts came together, the two characters became the principal lens through which the episodes unfolded. Alicent and Viserys’s marriage leaves Rhaenyra feeling betrayed, while Rhaenyra’s brazen indifference to societal dictates infuriates Alicent. Forced into an arranged marriage with Corlys and Rhaenys’s son, Laenor, Rhaenyra gives birth to three boys, Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey. However, none of them have the white hair common to both the Targaryens and the Velaryons. Rather, they strongly resemble Ser Harwin Strong, the heir to Harrenhal, with whom Rhaenyra carries on an affair for years. Alicent is outraged by Viserys’s willingness to overlook his daughter’s obvious indiscretions, and in time, rising tensions prompt Rhaenyra to depart the capital city of King’s Landing for the ancient Targaryen stronghold of Dragonstone.
Still at odds, the former friends are reunited at funeral services for Laenor’s sister, Laena, Daemon’s wife and the mother of his daughters Rhaena and Baela. The animosity between them appears to harden into hatred once a violent altercation breaks out among their children, with Lucerys, known as Luke, partially blinding Alicent’s son Aemond by accident. To the family’s astonishment and horror, Alicent demands one of Luke’s eyes as retribution, forcing Viserys to intercede.
Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra wearing her father’s crown.
Viserys’s protracted illness brings one final chance at reconciliation, but it is shattered when Alicent, misinterpreting the king’s dying wish, installs their son Aegon II on the Iron Throne. By that point, Rhaenyra, having helped Laenor escape with his lover to the continent of Essos, has taken Daemon as her new husband—marriage between family members being commonplace in Targaryen tradition as a means of ensuring the royal bloodline’s purity. While Daemon rages over Rhaenyra having been denied the throne, she’s determined to reclaim her stolen birthright without plunging the kingdom into conflict. Her perspective changes, however, once Rhaenyra learns that Aemond has recklessly caused Luke’s death, and from that point on, her thoughts turn only to vengeance.
As the storyline was being finalized and the scripts polished, two-time Emmy Award winning director Miguel Sapochnik joined Condal as co-showrunner. Sapochnik was well known to Game of Thrones fans—he had executive-produced the drama’s final season and directed some of the series’ most lauded episodes, including Hardhome,
Battle of the Bastards,
and The Long Night.
Together, he and Condal decided to set up the production at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, in Watford, England, just outside London, rather than return to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Game of Thrones had filmed.
They assembled a strong below-the-line team to bring their ambitious vision to life. Award-winner Jim Clay, whose credits include Love Actually, Children of Men, and Belfast, signed on as production designer. Jany Temime, known for her work on such films as Skyfall, Gravity, Black Widow, and five films in the Harry Potter franchise, was hired as costume designer. The producers tasked Emmy Award–nominated casting director Kate Rhodes James (Mr. Selfridge, Sherlock) with bringing together a gifted ensemble of actors led by Paddy Considine as the ill-fated Viserys and Matt Smith as Daemon.
In an unconventional twist, the roles of Rhaenyra and Alicent were split to accommodate the ten-year time jump the writers had scripted at the season’s midway point—a radical choice but one that was necessary to compress decades of story into just ten episodes. Because this was a generational conflict, you have to cover that twenty years from Rhaenyra being named heir to she and Alicent having kids that are grown-ups themselves and getting into conflicts with each other,
Condal says. "The story is so complex that flashbacks would have been problematic and hard