House of the Dragon season 3 is promising the most epic clash yet for the Game of Thrones spinoff. The Dance of the Dragons is in full swing as the civil war for the Iron Throne tears apart Westeros and everyone has to choose a side: Team Green, headed by Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) and his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) or Team Black led by Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy).
Season 2 ended with Rhaenyra and Alicient meeting in secret to discuss a possible end to the hostilities. Alicent offered to surrender King’s Landing if her children were spared. Rhaenyra told Alicent the only chance for peace was to literally give her Aegon’s head as well, and Alicent seemed to reluctantly agree.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the show’s red carpet premiere in London, D’Arcy discussed where Rhaenyra is when season 3 begins and how that’ll play into the season.
“Well, we pick up Rhaenyra literally the morning after the night before, so at the end of season 2, Rhaenyra is in this position of kind of great confidence. She's in a really strong position, politically, militarily, and she gets this visit from Alicent, who brings this kind of extraordinary offer, which is a non-violent path to take the throne, to return home, to return to King's Landing. And I think that we meet, so we meet Rhaenyra the next morning, she hasn't slept, her sort of blood is up, and I think that, you know, that feeling of kind of great synchronicity as things in your life sort of slot together.”
“For the first time, there’s momentum in her campaign.”
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 8, 2026
Emma D’Arcy on where Rhaenyra is headed in a bloody season three of #HouseoftheDragon… pic.twitter.com/whjCX9zBam
D’Arcy continued to explain that Rhaenyra will likely feel she’s now somehow destined to win, and this is a sign by the gods she’s on the right path. “I think she has a feeling that the position she finds herself in is fated in some way, and that there is...a sort of divine predetermination about the strong position she finds herself in.”
Of course, any GOT fan knows that being so confident and filled with pride often precedes a fall. The Battle of the Gullet is going to be a huge clash between the two sides, and if Team Black loses, that’s a blow against them. Also, Alicent’s supposed agreement to the deal may be a trick for her own plots.
There’s also the tiny issue of Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Daemon (Matt Smith) being unaware so far of Alicent’s supposed deal with Rhaenyra. Obviously, neither would be willing to go along with it, and that could set Rhaenyra’s efforts back.
Still, D’Arcy insists that as the season starts, Rhaenyra feels “for the first time, there's like momentum in her campaign, and she is sort of confident, and so a character who has been kind of restrained from action for two seasons, is kind of finally on the precipice of seizing her heirdom.”
We’ll see how this unfolds, and whether Rhaenyra’s confidence and certainty of victory linger or are undermined quickly as House of the Dragon pushes its characters into bold new directions.
House of the Dragon season 3 premieres Sunday June 21st on HBO and HBO Max.
Add us as a preferred source on Google