Dead bodies litter the House of the Dragon set for big battle scene

Filming continues on the second season of House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series. Season 1 ended with Aemond Targaryen killing Lucerys Velaryon, which didn’t please Luke’s mother Rhaenyra Targaryen — who also happens to be Aemond’s half-sister — one bit. Previously, Rhaenyra was trying to keep a lid on open conflict between herself and her half-brother Aegon, who has been installed on the throne she considers her birthright. But after Luke’s death, all bets are off. War is afoot!

Game of Thrones was famous for its battle scenes back in the day. We got one battle early on in the first season of House of the Dragon — Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon fighting the Crabfeeder in the Stepstones — but it was a pretty low-stakes affair. The Crabfeeder wasn’t a well-developed character — he never even had a line — and the battle was more about developing Daemon’s character than entertaining us with a true-to-life military conflict. And the bit where Daemon charges solo into enemy lines was ludicrously silly, although very fun to watch.

But season 2 of House of the Dragon will give us some proper battles. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the latest behind-the-scenes photos, which show piles of dead prop bodies, human and horse alike:

These pics are from a set at the Roman Bridge in the Welsh village of Dolwyddelanin.

What battles will we see in House of the Dragon season 2?

Going by the text of George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, there are a couple of big battle scenes we’re likely to see in House of the Dragon season 2. One is the Battle of the Gullet, which will likely come towards the end of the season. That’s a battle at sea, though, so it’s probably not what we’re looking at in these images.

A more likely candidate is the Battle at Rook’s Rest. We won’t give out too many spoilers here, but it involves fighting both on the land and in the air between dragons. Again, no spoilers, but Lucerys’ death was just the beginning. This is a Game of Thrones show, so expect some characters to die.

We also got some nifty images of Rhaenyra’s war banners, which bear the traditional black-and-red Targaryen colors. Aegon’s dragon sigil is gold, which matches the color of his dragon Sunfyre:

Filming will continue for a while. If all goes according to plan, the second season of House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO and Max sometime in the summer of 2024.

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