Filming for the third season of House of the Dragon is ongoing. The show will forge ahead adapting George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, about a brutal civil war fought between factions of the Targaryen dynasty. There are lots of characters in the mix, some front and center, some in the background. But in an ensemble show like this, any can steal the spotlight, if only for a moment.
In season 2, we were briefly introduced to a character named Lady Sabitha Frey, whom Jaecaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) met with partway through the season. Lady Sabitha is the head of House Frey alongside her husband Forrest, played by Kenneth Collard. They agreed to throw their lot in with Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and open the gates of the Twins, the ancestral seat of House Frey, to an army of Northerners on their way south; we saw that group crossing the Twins in the season 2 finale.
Now, we know that Sabitha Frey will return for the third season; it's clearly marked on the Spotlight page for actress Sarah Woodward.
By itself, this isn't a big deal; so a minor supporting character character will return, so what? But looking back at Fire & Blood, I'd forgotten how many interesting things Sabitha Frey gets up to. Without giving away too much, Sabitha always seemed more in control of House Frey than her husband, and that will become even more true later in the story. Sabitha spends time hiding from a dragon at Harrenhal, marches to war with soldiers loyal to Rhaenyra Targaryen, spends time with a character named Alysanne Blackwood, and has a good amount of input on how the Seven Kingdoms should be run after the war is over.
Will the show actually cover any of these things? It's already changed an awful lot from the book and will, so far as I can tell, not last as long as originally planned, so I wouldn't count on anything. But the fact that Sarah Woodward is returning for season 3 is a good start.
The cast and crew of House of the Dragon will be filming season 3 for a while yet. Expect new episodes to drop on HBO and HBO Max sometime next year.
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