After a long two-year wait, "House of the Dragon" is getting ready to roar its way back onto our screens with an action-packed third season that series creator Ryan Condal has already teased will be "goddamn huge." And series stars Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy are expanding on that intel and how the season's "big bloodbath" will impact their characters Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, respectively.
The "Game of Thrones" prequel series returns on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, June 21, and ahead of that premiere, the actors gave some behind-the-scenes scoop while attending season 3's world premiere in London's Leicester Square this Monday. Per The Hollywood Reporter, D’Arcy is looking forward to finally seeing some "momentum" in Rhaenyra's campaign for the Iron Throne after the deal the Targaryen queen struck with Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower last season.
“There is a feeling that the position she finds herself in is fated in some way … [It’s a] character who has been kind of restrained from action for two seasons [who is] finally on the precipice of seizing her end,” D’Arcy said. Bigger action means a bigger production, the actress added: "There is an increased ambition to the set pieces, but also to the narrative drama. It’s really a conflict that’s been building for two seasons, [it] suddenly ignites, and there is stakes, therefore, everywhere. It’s exciting when you feel there’s been a bar raise. I think you want to meet it, and I think certainly the acting company felt like that at the start of last year.”
With the previous seasons' simmering political tension boiling over into outright war between Team Black (the contingent that supports Rhaenyra as heir to the crown) versus Team Green (those that back her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen's claim to the Iron Throne), Smith concurs that the drama has been turned up in terms of "scale, blood. It’s a big bloodbath, really, this season,” he told THR, “which is absolutely where it’s needed to go. I think that’s when the show is actually operating at its best in many ways — particularly for Daemon.”
Fittingly, "House of the Dragon" will have an extra-large ensemble for its third edition: Along with D'Arcy, Smith and Cooke, fellow returning cast members include Fabien Frankel, Steve Toussaint, Harry Collett, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell. They'll be joined by franchise newcomers such as James Norton as Lord Ormund Hightower, Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly, Tom Cullen as Ser Luthor Largent and Tommy Flanagan as “Winter Wolf” leader Lord Roderick Dustin.
Tom's Guide will keep you posted on all things "House of the Dragon" season 3, including new teaser clips, plot details, casting news and more. In the meantime, you can catch up on the fantasy drama's first two seasons on HBO Max.
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