Highlights from the House of the Dragon panel at San Diego Comic-Con

We’re less than a month out from the premiere of House of the Dragon, HBO’s long-awaited Game of Thrones successor series. This new prequel will take place roughly 200 years before the original series and detail a civil war between rival factions off the Targaryen family. They called it the Dance of the Dragons.

Before the Dance, the Targaryens are at the height of their power, their dynasty having run unbroken for a hundred years and the sky filled with their dragons. After the Dance, well…let’s just say that the slow decline of House Targaryen begins with the story we’re all about to see this August. “It’s just before the bloom starts to come off the rose,” showrunner Ryan Condal said at this past weekend’s Comic-Con in San Diego, referencing the beginning of the end for Westeros’ mightiest ruling family.

House of the Dragon stars speak at San Diego Comic-Con!

It’s been two years since an in-person Comic-Con was held in San Diego, and House of the Dragon came out in style to mark the occasion. In addition to a very cool interactive exhibit where fans could get up close with replicas of iconic props like the skull of Balerion the Black Dread and the Iron Throne, House of the Dragon also had a panel in the famed Hall H, where many of Comic-Con’s biggest moments have happened over the years.

Cast members Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen), Paddy Considine (Viserys Targaryen), Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen), Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon), Eve Best (Rhaenys Velaryon), Fabien Frankel (Criston Cole), Emily Carey (young Alicent), and Milly Alcock (young Rhaenyra) were all there, along with showrunner Ryan Condal. Even George R.R. Martin himself made a surprise appearance after announcing only the day before that he had canceled his travel plans due to COVID concerns. The only one missing was House of the Dragon’s other showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, who did unfortunately come down with COVID just before the event. But all in all, it was a Westeros-themed party, and everyone had thoughts about the new series.

For Martin, it’s been a mixed bag of emotions to see another one of his works adapted. “It’s pretty exciting. You’re always nervous at the beginning because these books, these characters are like my kids,” the author said. “I’ve been very fortunate here. I think Ryan has done a great job of adapting the books — so far — and our cast here is amazing.”

Martin added that this was the first time he was meeting most of the House of the Dragon cast members. They all had quite a bit to say about their characters as well. Martin has seen the first nine episodes of House of the Dragon, and one actor he’s been particularly effusive about is Paddy Considine, who plays King Viserys I Targaryen. Viserys is kind of a bumbling ruler in Martin’s book Fire & Blood, but according to the author, Considine has infused the character with a “tragic majesty” that his book counterpart lacked.

“He’s a kind man who’s trying to keep the peacetime going within the kingdom,” Considine said of Viserys. “There’s great tragedy in it. He loves his family, he cares about his position. But he’s carrying something else that’s a kind of secret that’s revealed in the show.”

Whatever secret is weighing down Viserys, it doesn’t sound good. Considine teased that it “refers to the fall of man,” which sounds about right for this story.

Viserys does try quite hard to keep all his family members from fighting each other, but he doesn’t get much help. Viserys’ younger brother Daemon is constantly pushing boundaries, something that eventually leads Viserys to pass over his younger sibling as heir to the Iron Throne. “It’s a complicated relationship,” Matt Smith said. “Everything is about his brother for Daemon.”

As we’ve seen in the trailer, Viserys decides to name his daughter Rhaenyra as heir instead of Daemon. According to actor Emma D’Arcy, Rhaenyra is fueled by “that old Targaryen stuff.” So expect fire and blood; Rhaenyra is related to conquerors like Daenerys and Aegon, and it shows. Expect plenty of scenes of her riding her dragon Syrax. We’ll see Rhaenyra on dragonback both as an adult and also as a younger teenager.

As for Rhaenyra’s rival Alicent Hightower, Emily Carey said that while fans may be expecting her character to be the “villain” of the series, the situation is much more complicated. “She’s so multi-faceted — there’s so many layers to her,” Carey explained. “I never had the freedom to create a whole human being like this before.”

This led George R.R. Martin to chime in, reminding viewers that pretty much every single character on House of the Dragon is morally grey; don’t expect any Jon Snows here. “We’re not going to have anyone who’s called Lord Evil or Mister Atrocity,” Martin joked. “But there’s certainly evil. I’ve always believed the most interesting characters are grey characters.”

Steve Toussaint responds to racist backlash over his casting as Corlys Velaryon

Speaking of evil, Corlys Velaryon actor Steve Toussaint has had to deal with quite a lot of racist nonsense since being cast as Corlys Velaryon, a powerful Westerosi lord. Corlys is probably white in Fire & Blood, though aside from his proud bearing and trademark Valyrian hair color, his appearance is so nebulously described and irrelevant to the story that it’s hard to imagine how anyone could get bent out of shape about Corlys being Black in the show.

But lo and behold, people being awful, and Toussaint has been “racially abused” over the matter quite a lot. He addressed this during the panel. “[O]ther than certain people’s viewpoints about someone who looks like me playing this part, it hasn’t really played a part in the role, in my experience on the job with my fellow actors,” Toussaint explained. “As I said, there are people outside who find it a little hard to stomach, that someone who looks like me would play this part. But that’s an issue they have to deal with and I don’t have to. The issue is always the same I just have to say the lines convincingly and avoid bumping into the furniture.”

It’s good to hear that this stuff didn’t intrude on Toussaint when he was working on the show. Here’s hoping that it fades once people actually see his performance.

House of the Dragon is not “anti-women”

During the panel, George R.R. Martin also addressed another talking point about House of the Dragon when he expanded on one of the themes of the show: that the patriarchy would rather destroy itself than see women in power.

Martin was asked why Westeros seems so averse to the idea of female rulership. “I don’t think Westeros is particularly more anti-woman or more misogynistic than real life and what we call history,” Martin said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “I get inspiration from history, and then I take elements from history and I turn it up to 11. Games of Thrones is, as many people have observed, based very loosely on the War of the Roses. [House of the Dragon] is based on an earlier period in history called the Anarchy.”

Whether or not you dislike the way Westeros handles these kinds of issues, it is pretty obvious that Martin is being transparent about this: the Anarchy was a civil war that broke out in England during the 12th Century when King Henry I died and left his daughter as heir to the throne. There are a lot of clear parallels to House of the Dragon.

As for whether we’ll see Martin himself in the series, he says he’s a bit busy at the moment, so it’s probably best not to count on it. “There’s this book that I’m writing — it’s a little late.”

A lot of hard work has gone into House of the Dragon, but at the end of the day it’s still got an awful lot to live up to. Game of Thrones was a game-changing television series, and the cast and crew of its successor are hopeful. “We’re so grateful for what came before, and we just hope this has the same legacy,” said Olivia Cooke. “I just hope you like it.”

House of the Dragon premieres August 21 on HBO and HBO Max.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Entertainment Weekly