Take an aerial tour of the spectacular sets on House of the Dragon season 2

The second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon is coming out this year! We'll soon catch up with Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her quest to take the Iron Throne from her half-brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), along with all the other colorful characters on both sides of the conflict. Here there be (so so many) dragons.

In the first season, we spent most of our time in King's Landing and on Dragonstone. As the conflict between Aegon and Rhaenyra heats up, things will expand in season 2. We've seen the cast and crew working on several new sets, most of which now lay empty since filming has wrapped up. It just so happens that the Instagram account cinematic_trip_now, which highlights beautiful places around the world, has taken an aerial tour of some of those empty sets, which you can watch here.

We see several sets in this video. One of them — the Red Keep — is familiar. We can expect to spend a lot more time in biggest castle in King's Landing as King Aegon and his allies try to shore up their power.

Others are new, including a large boat set with a couple of blue screened decks where I imagine the special effects people will insert crashing waves, howling winds, and whatever else you need when you're braving the high seas. Remember that Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), one of Rhaenyra's closest advisors, is a famed mariner, so it makes sense that boats will be involved in House of the Dragon season 2. Navies are important in a war.

Consulting the source material for House of the Dragon — Geroge R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood — there's even a major sea battle called the Ballet of the Gullet, although it's unclear if the story will get that far by the end of season 2. Still, the point stands: prepare for boats.

House of the Dragon will spend time at Harrenhal in season 2

To me, the most interesting set we glimpse is a walled courtyard with a weirwood tree growing on one end of it. This looks like the set that George R.R. Martin posed for a picture in alongside showrunner Ryan Condal when he visited the set last year:

This is almost certainly Harrenhal, the massive castle in the Riverlands where the great lords of Westeros gathered to choose a successor to King Jaehaerys I Targaryen in the prologue to House of the Dragon, in the very first episode. They chose Viserys Targaryen, and the rest is television history. Arya Stark and Jaime Lannister also spent some time at Harrenhal in seasons 2 and 3 of Game of Thrones. We'll see it again in House of the Dragon season 2, when Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) travels there to secure it on behalf of his wife Rhaenyra.

Harrenhal is also, you might remember, cursed. The lords of Harrenhal tend to die off, which happened in season 1 when Lord Lyonel Strong and his son Harwin were burned alive within its walls, They were the victims of a plot by Lyonel's son Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), who is now technically the lord of the castle. Larys and Daemon are on opposite sides of the war, so when Daemon takes Harrenhal, he's depriving his enemy of an important strategic position.

We'll spend a lot of time in Harrenhal in season 2, so it behooves the show to build a really nice set for it. New episodes premiere on HBO and Max this summer.

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

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels