House of the Dragon season 2 is currently in production, and if there’s one thing we’re likely to see more of during the show’s sophomore outing, it’s dragons. Season 1 featured around nine of the magnificent creatures, but now that the Dance of the Dragons civil war is about to kick into high gear, even more will be taking to the skies.
Creating the dragons on House of the Dragon was no small feat; one of author George R.R. Martin’s hopes for the Game of Thrones prequel series was that its various dragons would each have their own distinctive looks and personalities. House of the Dragon pulled it off.
Kirill Barybin is one of the many artists who designed the dragons for the show. Barybin recently revealed serval concept art pieces on his Instagram, and they’re pretty stunning. The latest shows Rhaenyra astride her dragon Syrax, soaring through the skies over King’s Landing:
House of the Dragon concept art shows Syrax’s majestic opening flight
These images match up with the very first time Rhaenyra Targaryen appears on screen, riding Syrax through the clouds before they swoop down into the Dragonpit. As Barybin notes, the finished show resembles the concept art pretty closely:
"When possible I tried to round off the mostly static concept shots of the dragons with some action shots, just to better visualize them in flight and give them some context.As far as i can remember the introduction of Rhaenyra riding Syrax in the show was pretty similar to the second shot, right?"
He also shared another image of Syrax, this one showing how large the dragon is in relation to a human:
Syrax is pretty large here; closer to the size she is in the later episodes once she and Rhaenyra are all grown up, rather than her slightly smaller stature at the beginning of the series. Don’t forget to swipe over to see the second image, which shows some really beautiful detailing on the dragon’s face and neck!
House of the Dragon season 2 will reportedly continue filming despite the WGA writers’ strike. Expect to see more of Syrax and the rest of the dragons sometime in 2024.
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