House of the Dragon season 2 is about "the worst civil war ever fought in the history of Westeros"

The second season of House of the Dragon premieres in just a couple of weeks, and I appreciate HBO for making sure they get the word out. They're sending out the cast members to do interviews everywhere, including on CNN, where showrunner Ryan Condal and star Tom Glynn-Carney (King Aegon II Targaryen) teased what to expect. "It's just nuclear, Glynn-Carney said. "It's a cacophony of chaos. The stakes are higher, everyone's desperate. Yeah, it's gonna go off."

He wasn't the only one to mention nukes. Ryan Condal teased "the worst civil war ever fought in the history of Westeros," something that has an impact on all the history to follow. Remember that this series is set over 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones. On that show, there were no dragons in the world, not until Daenerys Targaryen hatched three new ones. But in House of the Dragon, every white-blonde would-be warrior with an incest kink has a dragon of their very own. What happened to all of them? We're about to find out.

Condal reminds us that the war we're about to witness between King Aegon and his older half-sister Rhaenyra is later referred to as "the Dying of the Dragons." As we watch, it'll become obvious why. "It's kind of a metaphor for nuclear war," Condal said. "This is the first nuclear war since the days of Old Valyria, which was the old empire when there were thousands of dragons and dragonlords and that's what the Targaryens escaped and came to Westeros and settled there." He agreed with the host that this kind of war represents "mutually assured destruction."

If that sounds apocalyptic, it's because it is. Game of Thrones featured its own share of pyrrhic battles, especially towards the end, but House of the Dragon distinguishes itself by making the whole show essentially two sides of a conflict that end up destroying each other and themselves. That's important, because if the new show isn't different enough from the old, why bother making it at all?

Also, having five times the number of dragons helps. We'll see how all of this shakes out when House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.