Helaena and Alicent endure tragedy on the House of the Dragon set
By Dan Selcke
Cameras have been rolling on the second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon for a minute now, but only recently have they been filming somewhere we could see it: the Spanish cities of Trujillo and Cáceres. We’ve been covering it all, and will continue to do so as things progress.
I’ll say up top that we’re going to be discussing SPOILERS for House of the Dragon below, so if you don’t want to know what fresh hell awaits our characters, best sit this one out.
Still here? Read on.
Phia Saban (Alicent Hightower) and Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) on the set of House of the Dragon season 2
The latest video was taken on the streets of Cáceres by Javi Borrega, who has been bringing everyone the good stuff during this shoot. It shows a procession through the streets of King’s Landing, with Phia Saban (Alicent Hightower) and Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) in a carriage in the rear.
Drawing on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood — the book on which House of the Dragon is based — and what we’ve already seen of the shoot, we can guess what this is: a funeral procession for Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, one of Helaena’s children with her brother-husband King Aegon, who is nowhere to be seen on set.
How does young Prince Jaehaerys die? He is killed by assassins sent by Daemon Targaryen; in the book, Daemon is wroth over the death of his wife Rhaenyra Targaryen’s son Lucerys, who we saw get chomped to bits by Aemond Targaryen and his dragon Vhagar at the end of season 1. He wants “a son for a son,” and he gets it.
“Behold the work of Rhaenyra the Cruel!”
Like pretty much everything else in Fire & Blood, Daemon’s exact motivations are somewhat obscure, as are the methods by which these assassins are hired and dispatched. The show will probably fill in more details.
One interesting note from the video is that we hear someone shout out, “Behold the work of Rhaenyra the Cruel!” So whoever actually gave the order to kill Jaehaerys, Alicent and the greens are using the young prince’s death as an opportunity to smear Rhaenyra, with whom they’re at war.
Man, season 2 sounds fun, doesn’t it? Things are about to get ugly, folks, and I can’t wait. Expect House of the Dragon season 2 to air sometime in 2024.
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