House of the Dragon season 2 is "very challenging" for Daemon Targaryen

Mercurial and unpredictable, Daemon Targaryen was the breakout character from the first season of House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. He's a badass warrior, which appeals to a lot of fans who watch shows like House of the Dragon to enjoy a powerful escapist fantasy. But he was also eight shades of messed up, what with killing his wife and seducing his own niece. Showrunner Ryan Condal put it this way to Radio Times: "I think Daemon is the character a lot of people hook into with this series, because it's the sort of stereotypical heroic male lead. And we wanted to kind of turn that on its ear, beginning with episode 1 of season 1 and carrying all the way through the rest of his arc through the series."

Daemon will still be Daemon in season 2, but it also sounds like he'll be going through some changes. "He gets sort of softer, lazier, fatter, slower," actor Matt Smith said of his character. "And he's sort of haunted by his demons, by ghosts, by apparitions...The weight of all the bad deeds that he's done really come home to roost, so to speak. And I think he becomes more exposed."

That description of a vulnerable Daemon is sort of at odds with what we came to know about the man in season 1, although there were flashes of sensitivity undernearth all the violence and sexual deviancy. Condal wants us to roll with the punches. "I love Matt and working with him, and we challenged him quite a bit this year," he said. "I warned him early on, ‘You did such a great job in season 1, now we're gonna throw a lot at you and really challenge your range as an actor, and also what makes Daemon as a character.’

"And we really want[ed] to put Daemon through a character challenge this season – challenge expectations for him and for the way people see Daemon, for all the complexities that went through in season 1. So I mean, without saying anything about the story, because I think people should experience it live on television for the first time [in] as pure a way as possible, it's the thing that I think we’re most proud of this season, because it's very unexpected."

In season 2, Daemon will go to the cursed castle of Harrenhal to set up a military encampment on behalf of his wife Queen Rhaenrya Targaryen, who is currently battling her half-brother King Aegon for the Iron Throne. According to the reviews for the new season, he'll do some involuntary soul-searching there, so that might account for the changes Smith and Condal are talking about. "And it's very challenging to Daemon," Condal continued. "I think it puts Daemon through paces that we have not seen before and challenges him as a character and you're thus going to see different sides of him. And where it brings him to in the end, I think is a really interesting place."

Change is scary, so I'm not quite sure what to make of all this yet, but Condal's confidence is inspiring. We'll see exactly what Daemon Targaryen gets up to when House of the Dragon returns for its second season this Sunday, June 16 on HBO and Max.

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