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House of the Dragon preview: Episode 2 delves into further Targaryen conflict

Milly Alcock stars as Rhaenyra Targaryen in Episode 1 of HBO's House of the Dragon Season 1
Milly Alcock stars as Rhaenyra Targaryen in Episode 1 of House of the Dragon Season 1. Pic credit: HBO/Ollie Upton

Episode 1 of HBO’s highly anticipated epic fantasy series, House of the Dragon, was released on Sunday night.

Viewers finally got to check out the latest new series which is a prequel to the original Game of Thrones series.

Already, viewers are talking about it on social media, many raving about the spectacle of the first episode that introduced the main players from House Targaryen.

Previously, in Game of Thrones, the Targaryens had whittled away to a few characters.

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was believed to be the last remaining heir after her brother, Viserys (Harry Lloyd) was killed. However, it turned out she also had a nephew, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who was a secret Targaryen.

The house had descended into madness prior to Daenerys laying her claim to the Iron Throne so their stories had mostly been about their spectacular decline. Now, in House of the Dragon, we get to see them at their best.

Episode 1 revealed main players

In Episode 1 of House of the Dragon, King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), was introduced. This is a different Viserys to the one shown in Game of Thrones and the two characters are vastly different as Viserys I is a kind and fair leader.

His line of succession, though, is in doubt, and viewers were introduced to the two main contenders, Viserys’ daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), and his brother, Daemon (Matt Smith).

Rhaenyra presents as though she could rule fairly like her father but Daemon is definitely from the same side of the coin that produced the Mad King.

Now that the story has been set up in Episode 1, let’s take a look at what to expect in the next installment of House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon Episode 2 details

As yet, there has been no synopsis or even an episode title released for Episode 2 of House of the Dragon, according to its official page on IMDb.

HBO likes to be quite discreet when it comes to releasing too much information from episode to episode. This means that viewers have to wait until each episode airs in order to learn more, building anticipation regarding what to expect.

Although, in saying that, the network does release weekly trailers for their prime shows and this is also the case with House of the Dragon.

So, let’s break down what we do know from Episode 2 thanks to the newly released trailer.

Graham McTavish as Harrold Westerling, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Paddy Considine as King Viserys, Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Emily Carey as Alicent Hightower
Graham McTavish as Harrold Westerling, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Paddy Considine as King Viserys, Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Emily Carey as Alicent Hightower. Pic credit: HBO/Ollie Upton

House of the Dragon trailer released for Episode 2

The latest trailer expands on the upheaval caused by King Viserys when he sent his brother, Daemon, away in Episode 1 of House of the Dragon and declared his daughter, Rhaenyra, his heir in place of his brother.

In Westeros, thanks to the debate over Viserys’ rule, it is expected that a male heir will trump a female heir every time, no matter how close that female is to the king in the familial line of succession.

So, trouble is expected, regardless of the fact that Viserys got all of the major houses to swear their allegiance to himself and his daughter.

After all, it has already been seen that Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) has a preference for Daemon over Rhaenyra, even though he swore an oath to the king.

The latest trailer for Episode 2 now expands on this upcoming conflict and gives viewers a taste of how things may unravel when House of the Dragon continues.

In addition to this, an unrelated conflict involving the Triarchy that was also hinted at in Episode 1 is explored further as well.

House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO Max.

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