House of the Dragon Season 3 is almost here. And, before the season, we had a chance to attend three press conferences: one with Team Green, one with Team Black, and one with showrunner Ryan Condal. As we prepare for the season, we’ll be sharing some snippets from all three, starting with the members of Team Black discussing what their characters’ Season 3 journey looks like.
Starting, of course, with Harry Collett (Jacaerys Velaryon), “I think through the past, through the whole way, you’ve seen Jacaerys, he’s just been boiling and boiling up. And now he’s reached a boiling point, and he’s very determined. He knows what he wants, he knows what he has to do, and he is not gonna let anyone stop him.”
Not concerning at all, nah. No book spoilers here, but it’s okay to be worried.
Bethany Antonia, meanwhile, was a little more introspective. “I think up until now, we’ve seen Baela is just trying her absolute hardest to carve out some sense of family and community. And it seems like every time she gets close to people, they’re taken away from her.” I mean, this is House of the Dragon.
“And she’s trying to find out where she fits in this family when the people that she looks to the most seem to let her down quite consistently. And I think in this season, we see her really grappling with the idea of maybe having to change tactics and having to set her own path and maybe realizing that the things that have been preordained for her aren’t the things that she stands by and agrees with.”
That actually sounds quite interesting. We’re fans of Baela Targaryen.
And Rhaena too, which is why we were very excited when Phoebe Campbell teased that in this season, “what we really see is the inner struggles of Rhaena. She’s really trying to prove something to herself more than anything. And that is hard. That is hard when she hits a lot of roadblocks. But as I say, you know, God loves a trier, and she’s trying.”
Let’s not forget that at the end of Season 2, Rhaena basically runs away from the convoy that’s taking her to the Vale, tracks down the wild dragon Sheepstealer, and looks to be on the verge of claiming it. Nettles who? “She has a strong sense of duty, and I think by the end of season two, we see her really being like: ‘What is me? What does that mean?'”
Everyone’s having issues this season. For example, Abubakar Salim, who plays Alyn of Hull, will find himself in the middle of a complicated relationship with his father, Lord Corlys. Oh yes, and war too.
“I think we left Season 2 with Alyn very much vulnerable and open and raw with Corlys. And so Season 3 really is kind of exploring that wound and kind of seeing what it means. It’s almost like… I threw a challenge to him and was like, if you’re going to, if you really truly see yourself as a father, well, let me see that.
“And I think Season 3 really kind of dives deep into that; it dives into what makes these people human rather than necessarily seeing themselves as these titles and gods, you know? And that’s what’s really exciting about this season anyway. And especially, you know, with Alyn and where he also sees himself fitting into this huge sort of political mess.”
On the other side of that, there’s Corlys, who just lost his wife but is still an essential piece in Queen Rhaenyra‘s army. Steve Toussaint teased that, in Season 3, “he’s still going through these changes, still grieving, but also having to… for the first two seasons at least, he has been very clear about who he is, and he’s been very intransigent and very lacking in patience for other people outside of his wife. Now his wife is gone, and he is kind of rudderless.”
That’s an interesting place for him to be, of course. “He’s having to show humility and vulnerability, which he’s never done before outside of with his wife. So he’s had to do
that, but at the same time, a lot of the season is tied up in his rage, what he perceives to be
the sacrifices that he’s made for this cause, and the fact that he doesn’t think that he has
been justly rewarded.
“Not monetarily, he’s not worried about that anymore, but it’s about the legacy that he can have for his children, and he feels like he’s not being rewarded for what he’s sacrificed.”
All of that seems like all of these things will, of course, affect the two main characters in Team Black: Rhaenyra and Daemon.
For Matt Smitt, Daemon has “been trying to raise an army for some time, and finally that addiction is about to be sated. He’s about to enter the period or the element of his life where he feels most alive, which is war, violence, and chaos, really. And generally, he’s sort of an agent. I’ve always seen him as an agent of chaos, really.”
But what does Daemon want? “What’s strange is, there’s not a huge amount of time that’s passed between Season 1 and now, actually. And so, to transform someone completely is always… I’m always sort of at odds with that idea. Because fundamentally, the kind of situations around them change, but the people, the essence, the idea of him is pretty similar to that which it was in Season 1.”
Is that good or bad?
For Rhaenyra, who some criticized for being indecisive in Season 2, maybe it’s good. “The delight for me is that she’s sort of finally in a position of confidence and power, both personal, political, and strategic,” Emma D’Arcy shared about their character. “And so, a
character who we’ve seen in a sort of reactionary position for the majority of two seasons
is finally positioned to act. And some of the sort of restraints have finally been lifted, I think.”
So, basically, be careful if you’re Team Green.
“I think there is a great clarity to her thinking. I think she has a sort of growing
religiosity, I think that she’s leaning increasingly on her faith. I think she believes hers is a
Holy War. I think she believes she has a divine mandate to rule. And with that, comes a
reduction in doubt. And yeah, so, I think we are primed to see quite a different side to her
character.”
We can’t wait. The war is finally here in earnest. And we will see it all when Season 3 of House of the Dragon premieres on HBO on June 21.
