Meet the new House of the Dragon actors in photos from Episode 6

House of the Dragon is about to make a major change with the upcoming sixth episode, “The Princess and the Queen.” In case you haven’t heard or haven’t seen the trailer for Sunday night’s episode, the Game of Thrones prequel will be making a 10-year time jump into the future as we follow the characters we got to know in the first half of the season all grown up. Rhaenyra Targaryen will be now played by Emma D’Arcy, Alicent Hightower by Olivia Cooke, and their children are now full-on pre-teens.

And that’s not all. Laenor and Laena Velaryon will be portrayed by new actors, and we’ll get to see how much their lives have changed in the past decade.

HBO just shared images from House of the Dragon Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen.” Let’s break them down below.

Motherhood for Rhaenyra and Alicent in House of the Dragon

As we saw in the short clip HBO released this week for “The Princess and the Queen,” Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) gives birth to her third child with her husband Laenor Velaryon (John MacMillan). Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) wants to see the baby right away, and Rhaenyra is adamant that she’ll bring him to her, despite just coming out of labor.

There’s an obvious strain on Rhaenyra and Laenor in this photo, and not just because Rhaenyra just gave birth.

Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Alicent’s child Helaena (Evie Allen) is growing up. Helaena is the couple’s only daughter, so we expect she and Alicent may have a special bond. Also, Helaena apparently likes bugs:

Criston Cole is back (and not in prison) in House of the Dragon

All eyes are on Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) as we head into Episode 6. In case you forgot (how could you?), Criston snapped last week and beat Laenor’s boyfriend Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) to death at Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding. Criston was about to take his own life in the final moments of Episode 5 until Alicent showed up and stopped him.

Fans were curious if Criston would be imprisoned for the rest of the show, but not so. He’s on Alicent’s side, presumably, and hasn’t suffered consequences for his actions. Remember, Criston and Alicent both felt betrayed by Rhaenyra. Looks like the princess has made some enemies.

Not only is Criston not in prison in Episode 6, but it looks like he’s giving sword-fighting lessons to the kids. In the two photos below, you see Criston, one of Rhaenyra’s sons — either Jacaerys (Leo Hart) or Lucerys (Harvey Sadler), and Alicent’s kids Aemond (Leo Ashton) and Aegon II (Ty Tennant). There’s also Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) in the background.

Looks like Aegon might be taunting Criston. Will he snap again!?

Daemon’s new life with Laena Velaryon in House of the Dragon

A lot can happen in 10 years. Daemon (Matt Smith) has a brand-new life and family. In Episode 6, he’s married to Laena Valeryon (Nanna Blondell) and they have two daughters: Baela (Shani Smethurst) and Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning). As you can see in the photo below, Laena is pregnant with their third child:

I’ve got to say, Laena is very beautiful and they make a really great-looking family. But this is Daemon we’re talking about. I’m not sure I believe he could ever live in peace. Plus, is he still in love with Rhaenyra? As usual, I’ve got so many questions about the prince.

I’m also really curious to see Daemon’s relationship with his daughters. Is he a good dad? In one of the photos below, Rhaena’s got a dragon egg. More dragons with this time jump, please!

The Strongs are (probably) up to no good in House of the Dragon

That leaves us with these three photos of the Strongs: Larys (Matthew Needham), Harwin, and Lyonel (Gavin Spokes). We know Lyonel pretty well. He took Otto Hightower’s (Rhys Ifans) place as Hand to the King and seems like a stand-up guy. He’s level-headed and gives really good advice to Viserys. As for Larys, we know he’s an instigator and loves to gossip. Considering we have a still of him for Episode 6, we can assume he’ll be causing trouble yet again.

We don’t know Harwin too well yet, but he has also seems like a decent guy. If you’ve read Fire & Blood, you’ll know why this character is becoming more important after the time jump. We’ll just suggest keeping an eye on him in the new episode.

Despite only having one new photo of Rhaenyra (what’s up with that, HBO?), this batch of images for Episode 6 is pretty good. We can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions when we meet these new actors this Sunday.

Don’t miss House of the Dragon Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen,” on HBO and HBO Max!

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