House of the Dragon - Season 2

[REBerg]

‘House of the Dragon’ Renewed for Season 2 at HBO After Premiere Ratings Blowout

The 'Game of Thrones' prequel will get a second season as Sunday's first-episode ratings climb to 20 million.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I'm amazed that the show didn't have multiple-season approval right from the start.

 

[MrCHansen]

Its not uncommon for hit shows to have spin offs and them to flop. Stargate Universe comes to mind along with Babylon 5's Crusade. I get they aren't on the same level budget and viewership, but big bucks go into shows and its understandable that the studio doesn't go in long term without a few episode ratings to support the investment. I might argue that Friends was bigger the GOT (subjectively) at the time and Joey was a complete flop. Hard to say...what do you think?

 

[ctg]

“But now I am back in the salt mine, working… working on so many bloody things, my head may soon explode. Yes, Winds of Winter, yes, yes. And House of the Dragon, season two. And several of the other successor shows that we’re developing with HBO,” Martin wrote, before explaining that this summer’s tumult at HBO Max has significantly altered the plans for what we might see out of Westeros in the far future.

“Some of those are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development. None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping… maybe soon. A couple have been shelved, but I would not agree that they are dead. You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf,” Martin continued. “All the changes at HBO Max have impacted us, certainly. We are also still developing the Wild Cards tv series for Peacock, based (largely) on FORT FREAK. And I have Wild Cards books to edit. Oh, and did I forget Winds of Winter? No, of course I didn’t. But if I ever did, I know you folks will remind me.”

Beyond House of the Dragon, all we know about potential future Game of Thrones spinoffs are the aforementioned Dunk and Egg series—adapting Martin’s novellas following the adventures of hedge knight Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg, secretly Aegon V Targaryen—and a sequel series set after the conclusion of Game of Thrones following Kit Harington’s Jon Snow. Martin makes it sound like even more could’ve been on the way, but are now on the backburner. But like the author says, these things can be put on and hold and taken off at any time—and given House of the Dragon’s strong debut this year, many of the doubts that Game of Thrones’ controversial legacy could entire people back to Westeros have been proven wrong.

George R.R. Martin Says More Game of Thrones Spinoffs Have Been Impacted By HBO Max's Drama

Sweeping changes made by Warner Bros. Discovery this year have put Game of Thrones' adaptive future much further away than it already was.

gizmodo.com

 

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With House of the Dragon season 2 on the horizon though, it sounds like the Game of Thrones decision-makers want to make up for Blackwater and Euron’s relative faults and finally stage an epic battle on the open seas. This news comes from The Hollywood Reporter‘s interview with House of the Dragon stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam.

Much of the interview focuses on Irlam and his team’s superb HotD season 1 stunt work. Then, near the end, Irlam stretches his NDA as far as it will go to hint at an upcoming major battle in season 2.

“It’s not a secret that in this story there’s a battle at sea [Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, which describes the massive Battle of the Gullet]. I think that’s where we’re headed,” Irlam told THR.

The Battle of the Gullet that THR helpfully fills in the blanks on is indeed a massive one. According to the canonical sources in Martin’s Targaryen prequel Fire & Blood, it’s one of the largest known sea battles in Westerosi history (though the fictional Archmaester writing Martin’s book had not yet witnessed the events of Blackwater). Not only that but “The Gullet” refers to a geographical feature of Blackwater Bay. It’s basically the Blackwater Battle 1.0.

The Battle of the Gullet occurred in the year 130 AC and was one of the Dance of the Dragon civil war’s earliest confrontations. If House of the Dragon wants to include the Gullet, it will almost certainly have to occur in season 2.

House of the Dragon Season 2 Will Address a Game of Thrones Battle Problem

It seems House of the Dragon season 2 will attempt a spiritual do-over of an early Game of Thrones battle.

www.denofgeek.com

 

[ctg]

The first bit of news is a casting. Per Winter is Coming, compiling a report from reliable scoop site Redanian Intelligence, Amanda Collin has been cast as Jeyne Arryn. Sci-fi fans will be familiar with Collin through her role as the enigmatic and powerful android Mother on HBO Max series Raised by Wolves. Interestingly enough, House of the Dragon has also reportedly cast her android “Father” counterpart in that show, Abubakar Salim, as Alyn of Hull in season 2.

In Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire timeline, Jeyne Arryn was the Head of House Arryn and the Lady of the Eyrie through the reign of four Targaryen monarchs. As a female ruler of her region, Lady Jeyne understandably has some Westerosi bullsh** to deal with, including the fact that the fictional “historians” presented in Fire & Blood have a lot to say about her sexuality. The source Mushroom insists that she had a voracious appetite for men. Septon Eustace points to her lifelong friendship with Jessamyn Redford as an indication she was attracted to women. House of the Dragon will have a chance to answer that question, but more importantly will also get to depict House Arryn’s continuing frayed relationship with House Targaryen, following Prince Daemon’s likely murder of The Vale’s own Lady Rhea Royce.

The casting of Jeyne Arryn will be an opportunity for season 2 to spend more time with one of its most important characters: Queen Rhaenyra’s eldest son Jacaerys Velaryon. You might recall that in House of the Dragon season 1’s final episode, Rhaenyra sent her two eldest boys on recruiting missions. The younger Lucerys “Luke” was sent south to the Stormlands on what was seen as the relatively safer journey, while the older “Jace” was sent north for the more perilous route.

Unfortunately, even the “easier” task ended up costing Luke his life. How then will Jace be able to handle his northern responsibilities? The introduction of Jeyne Arryn suggests that it might go better than one might think … as does the inclusion of a region north of The Vale. And that brings us to the set photos.

House of the Dragon Season 2 Set Photos Point to a Fan Favorite Storyline

A new casting and some set photos for House of the Dragon season 2 tease a trip to The North.

www.denofgeek.com

 

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Most of the S1 main cast members are returning for S2 (those whose characters survived). And we've got some new faces in the mix: Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull; Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers; Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower; Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong; Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull; Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome; Kieran Bew as Hugh; Tom Bennett as Ulf; Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark; and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne.

The teaser opens by setting the stakes, with Alicent's father, Otto Hightower, admitting that "errors were made in the hours following King Viserys' death," and Alicent declaring, "The war will be fought. Many will die. And the victor will eventually ascend the throne." So it's definitely business as usual in Westeros. There are dragons and dragonriders, a beheading, troops gathering and getting wiped out by dragon fire, and Rhaenyra and Aemon facing off with their dragons. Clearly Rhaenyra will not heed the warning of Rhaenys: "There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin. And no war so bloody as a war between dragons."

There is also one brief scene with Aemon's sister-wife, Helaena, being held with a knife to her throat. It's already been confirmed that a particularly brutal plot point in the source material will close out S2, and this looks like it might be a reference to that infamous "Blood and Cheese" incident.

Tensions rise between Targaryens in first teaser for House of the Dragon S2

"There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin."

arstechnica.com

Summer 24

 

[Culhwch]

What's up with time lately? It keeps disappearing. Could have sworn I only just watched Season 1, but then I saw the dates on the ep threads - 2022? Are we sure? It was just on the week before last, I'm certain!

Anyway, I expect I'll blink and it'll be 2030 and the fifth season will just be ending...

 

[thunderbyrd]

i must confess: i hated it.

 

[ctg]

“Fire and blood” come to Westeros in new House of the Dragon S2 trailer

"The enemy without may be fought with swords. The enemy within is more insidious."

arstechnica.com

 

[ctg]

House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones are both adapted from the works of George R.R. Martin, but with distinct challenges: Dragon is based on a history tome, while Thrones’ plot ended up advancing beyond that of Martin’s as-yet-unfinished book series. Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal knows endings are an issue in Westeros, and he’s already thought it through. A lot.

“We do know now where where we’re going to end this particular story,” he told a group of journalists, including io9, at a recent House of the Dragon season two press day. “When I say ended, I just mean drop the curtain on it—because of course, history moves on for another bunch of decades until the fall of the Targaryen dynasty, which is really kind of the end of the story, when the Mad King falls and Robert Baratheon overthrows the Iron Throne.”

Referencing a 2022 Martin blog post outlining a four-season plan for Dragons, Condal said “I’m not yet ready to talk about how many episodes or seasons we need. You know, we need to get there. But I know now—having gone through the process of writing and breaking season two and knowing where we’re going in season three—that we have a good plan, and we know the roadmap and how to get there.”

House of the Dragon's Showrunner Knows Exactly How He Wants the Series to End

Ryan Condal also talks about the expanded POV we'll be seeing in season two of the HBO and Max Game of Thrones prequel.

gizmodo.com

 

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HBO has greenlit a new season of House of the Dragon ahead of its season two premiere.

The network has ordered another season of the Game of Thrones prequel series, though isn’t specifying how many episodes.

Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, praised co-creators George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal while announcing the pickup.

“George, Ryan, and the rest of our incredible executive producers, cast, and crew, have reached new heights with the phenomenal second season of House of the Dragon,” she said. “We are in awe of the dragon-sized effort the entire team has put into the creation of a spectacular season two, with a scope and scale that is only rivaled by its heart. We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three.”

‘House of the Dragon’ Renewed for Season 3

HBO has renewed the hit fantasy series for a third season.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Dave]

i must confess: i hated it.

I watched the first episode of Season 2 yesterday and have been thinking about what to say. I loved Game of Thrones, and that had just as much explicit sex and violence. That, itself, isn't a problem. I'm not shocked by it. However, in House of the Dragon everyone is so morbid and miserable, and none have any redeeming features that make me wish to care. In GoT, many of the characters were evil bastards too, but at least, for some, you could say that it was a product of their unfortunate circumstances, and of poor childhood experiences. If they were having a really difficult time, at least they were actively seeking to improve that. A few of the main characters had arcs where they grew from outcasts to rulers. In HotD, the downtrodden are totally downhearted and disconsolate, and without any hope, while the eccentricities of the powerful are even more weird and extreme; but to what effect? HotD is disturbing and unpleasant, seemingly for no other reason than to be more disturbing and unpleasant. I think I said this after the first episode of Season 1, but it's as if the producers said 'people loved the blood, gore and perversion, so you need to give them twice as much again'. That wasn't what made GoT successful at all.

I'll probably watch some more of this, (but only because I enjoyed GoT) but it has to improve or I'll turn off.

 

[Culhwch]

So George has had a bit to say about Season 2, and future plans for the show:

Beware the Butterflies | Not a Blog

This is an archive link, because the blog post came down very soon after it went up.

I get that, as the author, George has a right to feel miffed at these changes. But having sold the rights and agreed to an adaptation written by others, in my opinion this is not the best look from him. And to undercut future seasons by basically all but saying the showrunners don't know what they're doing is pretty unprofessional.

 

[ctg]

According to Martin, events like the Bitterbridge scene and Helaena’s death by suicide wouldn’t have the same impact or narrative power without Maelor. It’s not so much that Maelor is uniquely important as it is that the people connected to him are likely to be affected by his exclusion from the series.

And yet, Martin’s arguments would be much stronger if he also acknowledged the limitations that House of the Dragon faces, especially when compared to Game of Thrones. HBO’s parent company isn’t under the same leadership it was back in the Thrones days. Under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s tenure, the company is a lot less interested in creating art for art’s sake than it is making as much money as possible off of existing IP, as evidenced by how much of their own content they’ve essentially erased off of the internet. WBD is also struggling financially under the new regime, leaving less money to spare for epic (and expensive) fantasy series like House of the Dragon. Stock is tanking and the company is 38 billion dollars in debt according to their most recent earnings report.

Martin’s argument’s may be valid, but they are missing the point of the greater conversation happening around House of the Dragon. He doesn’t take into account the bigger picture of what’s happening behind the scenes, missing the point entirely.

George R. R. Martin Misses the Bigger Picture with House of the Dragon Complaints

The Fire & Blood author has some valid arguments about HBO's House of the Dragon, but he also misses important context.

www.denofgeek.com

Like I said in the episodic thread, George is the wrong person because he's digging holes, where there are no holes. I am not miffed about the HBO taking liberties in the Blood & Cheese episode by changing the sword swing to a sawing action, and omitting out the fact Haelena had 3 kids, and she tried to hide the heir.

Instead, just like GoT's last seasons, he should've focused on the bigger picture and telling them that's not how he'd planned to end it. It's just I remember from earlier GoT that the exec writer/producers told the audience that George had explained them of how it all would go down in the end. So he could have got involved more into the production, especially in the writers room as a consultant to make sure that broad and minor strokes will fit his world.

JMS avoided that during the B5 runs, because he saw the clashes that he decided to take the production in his own hands and produce the scripts for the latter seasons. All for the sake of visions and keeping it all together.

I'm not saying that House of the Dragon is going in the wrong direction, but the audience is quite clear, they want to see the action, not just costume drama at Small Council Table. They know that the armies and there's a clear diving line between the Blacks and Greens. The audience also knows that there are a lot of grey areas in both parties, and neither one of them are pure good guys.

If I take as an example Kirkman's world and how AMC painted it real, is the Kirkman only worked as a consultant and mainly wrote the comics, editorials, and answered fan questions. But he made sure that TWD world painted so that it became clear that the humans are the worst. No matter who you looked at, they were all dirty one way or another.

George has made clear that his Westeros is modelled after medieval Britain/Western Europe just before the renaissance, even though in parts on his world the renaissance is brewing in the background. He's too old to make it reality, unless some gives him anti-ageing drugs and puts him back on the keyboard. But the thing is, the bloody and somewhat turmoil period comes across on both series, and it's more present in the House then what it was in the Games.

Westeros is not a happy place to live. Not even on the other side of the Narrow Sea. If GoT is the end for that era, it really encapsulated the feeling of everyone wanting to have peace at the end, instead of centuries of madness, gore and a general feeling of downfall. House however encapsulates the feeling that it's all going down the drain, because the Greens were too greedy to let go off the throne to continue Vizerys 70 years of peace.

All that was good is gone. All that's rushing forward is turmoil and death. And at the centre of is the House of the Dragon, the mostly blond haired family that rules the world at the back of the dragons.

To me, personally, neither of the series are bad. I'd have said so or stopped writing.

 

[Dave]

If you look at Star Trek as an example, yes the canon is shot to hell and all sorts of odd, conflicting things are going on, but it was still reasonably true to the Gene Roddenberry vision because there was a writer's/ director's "bible" for TNG and later shows, originally written by David Gerrold and Gene Roddenberry himself. GRRM would be better off creating the equivalent for GoT and tHoD and aKftSK instead of fire-fighting little fires and complaining no one understands his vision, when very clearly no one does understand his vision. It can't be the case that no one cares, they are just clueless, and sorry, but that has to be his fault.

 

[ctg]

“I stand behind the adaptation of how the plot unfolded,” Condal said. “I have talked about this quite a bit, but I will just say it in plain text: the children that we had in the story were simply too young to be able to construct that narrative exactly as laid out in the book. Period. I have lots of experience working with very young performers. To ask two four-year olds to play through that level of drama, it’s just not a realistic expectation.”

He continued: “There’s also a practical element around the things that you can expose young children to on a film set. Yes, you can do clever cutaways, and dummies, and all those things. We wanted this to be a very visceral, subjective experience, not something that was very cut-y, and with closeups. And when you start actually breaking apart what happens in that room, and the things that are said, and the things that are done, it became such a challenge to think about and mount that we started looking for—what are the base elements of this story, that Daemon and Rhaenyra send assassins into the Red Keep, and as a result the king’s child and heir [is] murdered—and how do we dramatize that in a way that’s exciting, and visceral, and horrifying, and do it in the best way possible?”

After discussing how difficult it would be to directly stage the gruesome murder in Martin’s book from both a technical standpoint and from the perspective of unnecessarily traumatizing child actors, Condal also addressed Martin’s gripe with the show’s postponing of Maelor, the third child of Aegon II. The heart of Condal’s argument for why the show postponed Maelor’s arrival—as Martin put it—was to prevent a problem the showrunners ran into in season one with the recasting of its younger stars.

“And Maelor, if he were born yet in this version of the the television timeline, would have been an infant because of the age of Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Frankly, this goes back to our first season and trying to adapt a story that takes place over 20 years of history instead of a story that takes place over 30 years of history. We had to make some compromises in rendering that story so that we didn’t have to recast the whole cast multiple times, and really lose people,” Condal said. “It was a choice made. It did have a ripple effect, and we decided that we were going to lean into it and try to make it a strength instead of playing it as a weakness.”

House of The Dragon Showrunner Defends Blood and Cheese Change After GRRM Blog

This whole charade truly is Game of Thrones' Kendrick vs Drake beef.

gizmodo.com

 

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Now, it seems, Martin’s decided he’ll stop weighing in on House of the Dragon entirely. In a Hollywood Reporter story charting various concerns swirling around pop culture’s current biggest fantasy series—Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and HBO’s Dragon—Martin was asked to comment on the Dragon kerfluffle. According to the trade, he chose to speak about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO’s next Game of Thrones spin-off, instead.

“I visited the set in Northern Ireland in July and loved what I saw,” THR quoted him as saying. “Great cast. [The lead characters] Dunk and Egg look as if they walked out of the pages of my book. My readers are going to love them. I certainly do. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is doing a great job.”

Reading between the lines, you can surmise that Martin is ready to move on from talking about House of the Dragon—at least for now; season three is on the way, and who knows how he’ll react to that. As the THR story notes, Martin’s outspoken criticism could very well be a holdover from his frustrations about how HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation, which earned great praise at first but stumbled in later seasons, was handled. “The previous series looms silently over this,” THR points out. “Martin is understandably passionate and protective about the world he created. He has imagined precisely how pivotal scenes would ideally play out onscreen and gamely stayed mum for years when Thrones took liberties with his material that he didn’t agree with.”

George R.R. Martin Is Apparently Done Talking About House of the Dragon

He will, however, excitedly give his opinion on another Game of Thrones spin-off.

gizmodo.com