With the calendar about to flip from March to April, we're now just under three months away from the premiere of House of the Dragon season 3, the highly-anticipated next installment in HBO's Game of Thrones universe. The hype is building, the dragons are getting ready to take the skies, and new teases and tidbits are arriving daily for what to expect when Rhaenyra Targaryen, Alicent Hightower, and all the rest of the show's cast are back on our screens.
The latest bit of intriguing news comes from Emma D'Arcy, the actor behind Rhaenyra. While attending the HBO Max launch event in the UK this past weekend, D'Arcy was asked about the Targaryen queen's journey in season 3. They didn't mince words about just how much Rhaenyra will be driving the story forward in the upcoming season of House of the Dragon:
Emma D’Arcy teases Rhaenyra’s Season 3 journey:
— 📂 (@rhaenicentfiles) March 30, 2026
“We left Rhaenyra in a position of real military and strategic strength for the first time at the end of S2. There is a momentum in her campaign that we haven’t seen before, and that will become a motor that drives us through S3.” pic.twitter.com/2sqGIY6p9L
"I do think that we're looking at a bigger scale this season," D'Arcy said in an official HBO Max Instagram video. "We left Rhaenyra in a position of...real military and strategic strength for the first time maybe, the end of series 2. And I think there is a momentum in her campaign that we haven't seen before, and that that becomes a kind of a motor that drives us through the season."
For anyone who's read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, these words should ring with truth. Yes, Rhaenyra Targaryen is now on the rise, with new dragons at her beck and call, powerful armies assembled to fight for her, and the Iron Throne nearly in her grasp. What could go wrong?
Does Alicent betray Rhaenyra?
House of the Dragon season 2 ended with Rhaenyra striking a deal with her childhood friend and now enemy, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). After a tense conversation on Dragonstone, Alicent agreed to open the gates of King's Landing for Rhaenyra so that she can claim the Iron Throne, as well as to surrender her eldest son, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). Of course, Alicent didn't know that Aegon had already snuck away from the capital because he feared his own brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who rules as regent while Aegon is bedridden.
This sets season 3 up to begin with an interesting conundrum for Alicent and Rhaenyra. We know from the trailer that Rhaenyra will inform her advisors of this meeting, and push to plan around Alicent's promise. However, her son and heir Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) is going to object.
This entire situation with Rhaenyra and Alicent has no basis in the source material, so we're in uncharted waters until we see how it plays out. That said, the board seems to be set for a truly spectacular meltdown to these negotiations. While Alicent is cutting this deal, a fleet of Triarchy pirates is headed for the Gullet, where they plan to attack Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) blockade around King's Landing.
The Battle of the Gullet is one of the bloodiest naval battles in Westeros' history, and it's slated to happen during the season 3 premiere. Without getting into spoilers, Rhaenyra and her allies will suffer some painful losses during that battle, and since it's going to happen before Alicent can make good on her word, those losses will almost certainly color Rhaenyra's view of her childhood friend.
At the same time, Aegon has fled King's Landing, which means Alicent's promise to Rhaenyra was already falling apart even as it was made. And that's to say nothing of Alicent's other children, or anyone else she might warn about what she's done. In the book, Aemond has already left King's Landing following a ruse by Daemon Targaryen to draw him into the Riverlands. The show hasn't depicted that ruse yet, but from the trailer it sounds more like Alicent may actually urge Aemond to leave, since it's extremely likely Rhaenyra would execute him on capturing the capital, especially after the events at the Battle of the Gullet.
So will Alicent betray Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon season 3? In a way. But events outside of either of their control will probably make Rhaenyra's sense of betrayal even deeper than anything Alicent actually does herself. And as D'Arcy hinted, Rhaenyra is going to take those feelings, her armies, and her dragons, and use them to propel the war forward in a way we've never seen before.
It should make for great television! House of the Dragon season 3 premieres in June 2026 on HBO and HBO Max.