Max (previously HBO Max) dropped two trailers for the upcoming House of the Dragon Season 2 on Thursday, asking fans to pick a side in the Targaryen civil war.
The new trailers focus on the ongoing conflict between Green and Black Councils that are fighting for King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) respectively. They showcase breathtaking landscapes, grand palaces and exotic dragons.
While the Black trailer focuses on Rhaenyra, Prince Daemon and their forces at Dragonstone, the Green trailer revolves around the King’s Landing faction led by Alicent (Olivia Cooke), her father Otto and her children Aegon and Aemond (Matt Smith).
The Black trailer begins with Rhaenyra reiterating her claim to the Iron Throne. “My father chose me, his first born child to succeed him,” her voice echoes as the camera pans to her half-brother Aegon, who has supposedly usurped her position. “I mean to fight this war and win it,” Rhaenyra sounds determined. Violence ensues as the Blacks gather forces for a fierce battle and the trailer ends with Rhaenyra voicing her anxieties.
The Green trailer begins with Alicent reflecting on the past, asserting firmly that the realm would never accept a queen. “Rhaenyra’s supporters will believe what they wish but Viserys wanted Aegon to succeed him,” she voices her thoughts. As Knight Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) observes that vengeance has superseded the greater good of the realm, we see Aegon quite adamant to retain his claim to the Iron Throne. “Plot against the King and I will pay it back a hundred times over,” his voice booms. With peace giving way to a hunger for supremacy, a bloody battle begins between the Green and Black parties.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s novella The Princess and the Queen, the second season of House of the Dragon takes place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragon Season 1, which ended way back in October 2022, followed Rhaenyra in her fight to be named the chosen heir of King Viserys I (Patty Considine). After Viserys I’s death, the family split into two factions — one led by Viserys’s wife Alicent and her son Aegon; the other supporting Viserys’s daughter and original heir, Rhaenyra, and her husband Daemon.
Fresh additions to the show’s cast include Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark, Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew as Hugh Hammer, Tom Bennett as Ulf and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne. Among the newcomers are Abubakar Salim playing Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin playing Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox playing Ser Gwayne Hightower and Simon Russell Beale portraying Ser Simon Strong.
Jointly produced by Martin, Ryan Condal, Sara Hess, Alan Taylor, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Loni Peristere and Vince Gerardis, the second instalment of House of the Dragon will premiere on the streaming platform Max on June 16.