The second season of House of the Dragon is still months away. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when it airs on HBO and Max in 2024, and yet…
House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood. The first season followed the story set out in that book fairly faithfully, and we expect the second season to do more or less the same thing. Also, we have seen quite a bit of what the cast and crew have been filming behind the scenes.
So while we may not know precisely how the next eight episodes of House of the Dragon will play out, by this point we can make some pretty good guesses. Let’s do that now. Here, by my estimations, is exactly how the second season of House of the Dragon will play out, episode by episode.
Oh, and be forewarned: there will be SPOILERS in this article. Lots and lots of SPOILERS.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 1: “The Storm Broke”
Without getting into all the details immediately — there will be time for that soon enough — the second season of House of the Dragon will have a lot going on. We’re talking betrayals, deaths, battles on the ground and in the air, heartbreak, friendship and deep unremitting despair. It’s gonna be wild.
But not just yet. House of the Dragon is a complicated show and we’re going to need a minute to reacclimate ourselves. Just who are these people again? How is Daemon related to Rhaenyra related to Jaecerys related to Baela related to Aegon to Helaena and so on? Where are we in space? We’re gonna need a minute.
I think the first episode will be a fairly slow-burning affair where we catch up with all of our main players. At the end of the first season, Rhaenyra Targareyn learned that her son Lucerys Velaryon had been killed by her half-brother Aemond Targaryen, and she was right proper pissed. We need to see Aemond explain what happened to his mother Alicent, his grandfather Otto, and the rest of the green council. (And won’t that be an awkward meeting?) And we need to see how Rhaenyra and her husband Daemon will react.
In the book, Daemon reaches out to Mysaria, his paramour from years ago, and puts a revenge plot into motion. That will happen in Episode 1. After that, he’ll mount his dragon Caraxes and head to the castle of Harrenhal, which he’ll take bloodlessly in the name of his wife and queen Rhaenyra. Harranhal is in a crucial strategic location in the Riverlands. Daemon will spend a lot of time there in season 2.
Meanwhile, Rhaenyra’s son Jacaerys will travel north on his dragon to the Vale and win the allegiance of its ruler, Lady Jeyne Arryn, as he does in Fire & Blood. And in King’s Landing, we’re going to have to spend some time with King Aegon, Rhaenyra’s half-brother and her rival for the Iron Throne, and his family: sister-wife Helaena and their two children Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, whom we briefly glimpsed in season 1. (In the book, they also have a baby named Maelor but it’s possible he’s been cut from the show as we haven’t seen anything of him.)
Oh, also, it’s past time we cut away to Oldtown and meet Daeron Targaryen, the youngest child of Alicent Hightower and King Viserys Targaryen. There’s a lot to fit in.
Ending moment: We watch Helaena Targaryen play with her children in the Red Keep, unaware that danger is coming for her. But we know someone’s watching…