House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal recently appeared with the cast and crew of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series to talk up their work. With filming on season 3 beginning in just a few weeks, Condal also teased what fans can expect from the new episodes. "Season 2 is huge. Season 3 is huger, in many ways," he said. "There are, by my quick count on stage, four major events from the book that we get to adapt and realize in three dimensions in this season. That's really exciting on a scope-and-scale perspective, and I think it's the thing the show does really well. The things that we're building are mind-boggling."
The book is Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. Among other things, it recounts the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty. We've seen several major events from the book depicted already. What new ones are coming in season 3?
Beware MAJOR SPOILERS below!
The Battle of the Gullet
This is the only major event from Fire & Blood I'm certain we will see in season 3, and probably very early on. The second season of House of the Dragon ended with a number of armies and navies preparing to clash. That included a navy commanded by Corlys Velaryon, who fights for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, and a pirate fleet commanded by Sharako Lohar, who has allied themeselves with Rhaenyra's rival King Aegon II Targaryen. These fleets will meet in the open water near Dragonstone in the Battle of the Gullet.
The cast and crew have already been talking up this battle; in fact, it was supposed to mark the climax of season 2, but got pushed back for a variety of reasons.
The battle will be a major set piece. Rhaenyra sends her new dragonriders to get involved, and not all of them make it out alive...SPOILER INCOMING...Rhaenyra's son Jace dies in the fight, another turning point for the war.
Expect the Battle of the Gullet to come in the first episode of season 3.
Rhaenyra takes King's Landing
In the book, not long after the Battle of the Gullet, Rhaenyra decides to take the fight to King's Landing. While Aemond Targaryen and Criston Cole are away marching on Harrenhal, where Rhaenyra's husband Daemon has raised an army, she and her dragonriders invade the city and Rhaenyra claims the Iron Throne. It's a more or less bloodless affair, since much of the City Watch is still loyal to Daemon.
In the book, Rhaenyra and Alicent are rivals, but the show has changed things so Alicent will open the gates of the city for Rhaenyra. In the book, King Aegon escapes the city during this period, but on the show he's already gone.
Whatever the exact details, this is the other major event I'm sure we'll see in the third season, and probably early on, maybe in the second episode.
Butcher's Ball
After that, it becomes hard to predict which major events Condal could be talking about, especially since the show has so many major alternations to the book. But I'd bet that we'll see something big go down in the Riverlands, where there's a ton of fighting coming up.
Long story short: when Aemond and Criston march on Harrenhal, they expect to meet Daemon and his army in combat...only Daemon gives them the slip, leading his army to assist with the taking of King's Landing. So Aemond sets up shop in Harrenhal and starts burning villages loyal to Rhaenyra while Criston Cole fights the blacks in the field.
There are a number of clashes here, including very violent ones like the Battle by the Lakeshore, aka the Fishfeed. But in terms of conflicts that involve our major characters, the biggest is probably the Butcher's Ball, where Criston Cole and his army of greens are ambushed and defeated by northern soldiers and rivermen loyal to Rhaenyra. Criston challenges their leaders to single combat, but is instead shot through with arrows and dies an ignoble death.
The first Tumbleton
So far, things are going pretty good for Rhaenyra. Perhaps the season could end with her fortunes changing.
While all of this stuff is happening in King's Landing and the Riverlands, the greens fight and win battles in the Reach, putting together an army that includes Alicent Hightower's youngest son Daeron. On their way to retake King's Landing, they march on the town of Tumbleton. Rhaenyra sends her dragonriders Ulf White and Hugh Hammer to intercept them...but instead, Ulf and Hugh switch sides, burning the village alongside Daeron on his dragon Tessarion.
In the book, we learn that Ulf and Hugh switch sides, basically, because they're getting big heads and think they deserve more than just being pilots in Rhaenyra's dragon air force. I can see the show taking that route with Ulf, but I'm betting that Hugh's defection will have something to do with his wife, who on the show mentions that she wants to flee to Tumbleton.
In any case, the events at Tumbleton shake Rhaenyra, who suddenly doesn't seem as triumpant as she thought.
There's a lot more incident to come after this, so much that I wonder if the show can fit all of it into the planned four seasons, especially if it wants to have any kind of epilogue. We'll see what happens when the new episodes start airing on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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