House of the Dragon trailer breakdown: Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen”

After five weeks of exciting television, one of the most anticipated moments of House of the Dragon is nearly here. The show’s fifth episode featured a wedding that ended in typically brutal fashion (ah, Westeros), but the follow-up promises to break the minds of viewers in a totally different way. Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen,” features the much discussed 10-year time jump, where Rhaenyra Targaryen, Alicent Hightower, and a slew of other characters will be aged up and portrayed by different actors.

HBO has released a trailer for “The Princess and the Queen” to get us all hyped up, and my does it reveal some fascinating developments. We’re going to be keeping this as spoiler-free as possible…but the trailer does hint at some pretty prominent things from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, so we’ll be discussing those. There will be spoiler tags when necessary.

House of the Dragon Episode 6 trailer breakdown: “The Princess and the Queen”

We begin with a sweeping shot of Daemon Targaryen’s dragon Caraxes soaring over a beautiful ocean vista toward a cliffside. It looks like there could be some kind of compound or stronghold at the base of the cliff, but it’s hard to be certain:

This leads pretty well into our opening narration, which speculates over Daemon’s whereabouts and how the Stepstones have been left undefended for the past decade. It sounds like Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) is the one speaking at this Small Council meeting:

Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), Hand of the King, is concerned:

King Viserys (Paddy Considine) has heard it all before. Time has not been kind to Viserys, and I do not know how ready we all are to see him all old and decrepit like this:

This opening Small Council is a great way to introduce us to the new status quo. Alicent Hightower, now played by Olivia Cooke, is taking a much more active hand in things. She disapproves of Daemon leaving the Stepstones undefended:

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra, who is now played by Emma D’Arcy, says it’s not Daemon’s fault, since the crown never bothered to reinforce the region. Have to love that snide little “my queen,” she slips in there at the end after disagreeing with Alicent.

While the trailer gives us a good look at Alicent and Rhaenyra’s new actors right out of the gate, they’re far from the only big changes in “The Princess and the Queen.” Ten years have passed…which means we have a whole new generation of Targaryens to get to know.