Will we ever see Nettles on House of the Dragon? "Stay tuned," says showrunner

The second season of House of the Dragon premieres on June 16, and we're going to meet a lot of new characters, many of them drawn from the pages of George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. We'll meet some of the most interesting new characters in the back of the season, when Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) tries to recruit more dragonriders. She puts out a call saying that anyone who can tame and ride any of the numerous riderless dragons hanging out on the isle of Dragonstone will be given lands and titles. Many answer the call, and many die or are injured. But a few succeed and go on to fight for Rhaenyra. These are the dragonseeds.

We know that three of the four dragonseeds from Fire & Blood will be introduced in House of the Dragon season 2. Clinton Liberty will play pure-hearted Addam of Hull, Kieran Bew is the aggressive Hugh Hammer, and Tom Bennett will play Ulf White the alcoholic. However, there's one dragonseed character from the book that doesn't seem like she's going to appear in season 2: Nettles, a young girl who ends up riding the dragon Sheepstealer by feeding him sheep everyday until he trusts her.

Nettles is my favorite dragonseed from the book, so I was upset when I realized that she may have been cut from the show. But maybe I'm jumping the gun. It's possible Nettles' introduction has only been delayed. Jamie Broadnax of Black Girl Nerds tried to get to the bottom of this when she asked House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal whether there was "a path" to having Nettles on the show. Condal replied:

"I'm not ready to comment on any characters that we haven't met onscreen yet, so I would just say stay tuned."

It looks to me like Nettles' role might be taken over by Daemon Targaryen's daughters Baela and Rhaena, but I really hope they reconsider, because one of the charming things about Nettles from the book is that she's one of the few dragon-riding characters who doesn't inherit that ability because she has Valyrian blood flowing in her veins; she's just a clever girl who befriends a dragon. I'm not expecting her to show up in season 2 (although I hope I'm wrong). But maybe in season 3...

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