HBO and Warner Media have released several new stills from the third episode of House of the Dragon.
These include shots of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson) and Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) fighting at the Stepstones.
A war council is held with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) in attendance. We actually covered the filming of this scene last September, if you want a sneak peak of what happens.
Meanwhile in Westeros, Viserys (Paddy Considine) hosts a royal hunting party. At least, I think that’s what this is. It certainly fits George R.R. Martin’s description of one and I can’t think of another reason the Targaryens would go camping.
Viserys holds baby Aegon in his arms while a heavily pregnant Alicent (Emily Carey) watches. If you look closely you can see that Aegon is clutching a toy Balerion.
Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) engages in a staring contest with Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) (or perhaps Jason Lannister, since they’re both played by Jefferson Hall) and gallops away on her horse.
Viserys and Alicent share a moment before a bonfire. When I first saw this shot in the trailer, I thought they might be standing by a funeral pyre, but in the still above of Rhaenyra riding her horse, we can see this bonfire smoldering in the background.
Rhaenyra and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) walk their horses through the forest.
Inside the royal tent, Viserys speaks with Rhaenyra and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).
Jason or Tyland Lannister presents a hunting spear to, I assume, Viserys, since we see him using it in the episode 3 preview.
Rhaenyra reads in the Red Keep’s Godswood.
Alicent holds her stomach and looks worried. In these last two photos, it’s clear they’ve made Alcock and Carey look visibly older. By the way, is that dragon statue behind her holding a flashlight?
You can check out Warner Media’s full House of the Dragon gallery here.
I am loving all of the costumes in these stills. ❤
Looking through cast photos the other day, I thought it was remarkable how much Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke resemble each other.
Don’t go after any boars, Viserys.
This episode is not written by Ryan Condal so I have higher hopes.
I’m getting concerned about these time jumps, they are covering an awful lot of ground in a few episodes. I don’t feel attached to anyone, I don’t get the love for Daemon at all, he seems like a big baby lol. I hope it slows down soon.
I didn’t like some of the costumes in the first episode (the dresses didn’t fit) but they are much better in Episode 2, and I really like these. They have a lot to live up to. I was always in love with Dany’s riding coats
We’ve only had a short time jump of six months, for now. Episode three takes place about three years later. In the mid-season, between episodes five and six, the greatest time-jump (of about a decade) will happen, which is when they’ll change actors for Rhaenyra and Alicent, among others; that’s the big time jump that’s been so publicised, understandably. Finally, there will be another one between episodes seven and eight, similar to the one between episodes two and three. After that, there will be no time jumps for the remainder of the season; OR the show, for that matter.
What I’m very curious about is how the battle at The Stepstones will be initiated from a perspective of legitimacy.
Will Corlys and Daemon outrightly defy The Crown? Or will there be a pretext? (‘Special military operation’…. ‘Tongkin incident’… ‘crusade’… ‘military exercise’…). Maybe shaping a casus belli with the Triarchy needs a lot of time and this will be part of the reason for the time jump. It needs to tie into this at least.
@Luka & @Jenny, these time jumps seem to have as a main function plot building and not character development. So I can relate to both Jenny’s concern and to Luka’s point. To do both requires quite a feat of writing and acting!
In any case: nice to leave the ‘talks in small chambers’ for once. :p
Time jumps are a huge problem but I don’t see what they can do about it really. They could’ve started the story later with already adult version of the characters where some of this back story is explained in dialogue I guess.
But the show will mostly feel like a history lession. At least until E8.
It looks like King Viserys is looking down at something or someone.
King Viserys could be holding his new born son with his re built family in front a huge Fire (and Blood)… new wife Alicent and the new Heir to Rule the 7 Kingdoms Aegon II
Will the next episode show King Viserys marry Alicent Hightower?
The images show they’ve already had a child and they have another one on the way, so I’m guessing we won’t.
Lol, I don’t entirely disagree. You have that super edgy Daemon guy who apparently can’t keep it up (nice character development), he steals a dragon egg and then just gives it back lamely when the king’s daughter shows up on a dragon. Add to that the actress playing Daemon’s girlfriend who can’t act. Is she trying to have some sort of accent?
The more I think about it, Episode 2 was a bit silly. The king decides to marry his daughter’s best friend… and after announcing it, he doesn’t understand why that could bother her. How dumb is he?
Seems like Daenerys, Jon Snow, Jaime and Tywin Lannister behave more like Targaryens should act or how I would expect Targaryens to act. Charisma, Authority and Strength
Princess Rhaenyra shows strength and leadership… Prince Daemon and King Viserys not so much…
Luka Nieto,
I was shocked to see a child in the promo, 3 years between Episodes 2 and 3 is a lot. They are going to gloss over Alicent’s marriage, and since it’s so gross (in the show) I want to know more about the early days. That will surely have a big impact on her. He isn’t a cruel man, but does she even like him? Episodes 1-4 might end up feeling like one giant prologue. Which could work well when the whole story is finished
Mr Derp,
It was the sulking as well, he just looked so petulant. I think he’ll grow on me but he is so desperate for big brothers attention. Mysaria’s accent is dreadful, I thought she was doing an offensive Chinese accent for a second. She is British/Japanese so that might be what I’m hearing. It is entirely fake, she has a British accent. A real shame because the actress is good in other things. They need to go down the Wanda route and gradually get rid of it.
I’m so weirdly excited to see the Lannisters show up! Kinda surprised by myself.
Everyone looks great! I wasn’t expecting the Lannisters to show up, but I’m excited.
mau,
The problem with adapting a “history” instead of a novel is that there is always something in the past,some more context to explain.
Starting with the Great Council of 101, set 28 years before the main action, is where the trouble begins. A Game of Thrones doesn’t start with Robert winning the crown at the Trident.
Instead of showing these background details they can be used in dialogue to flesh out the story and give characters deeper bonds and make the world feel lived in.
I suspect the time jump is why we have such a limited cast and story compared to Game of Thrones. They don’t want to highlight the fact only a few people have noticably aged. The story also needed to be bulked out with stuff that is not in the history book. Expand the Three Cities role, bring in maester conspiracy. The thing that made (A) Game of Thrones special is the massive breadth of the story.
I don’t understand why they chose this time jump structure because it isn’t to stick rigidly to the books. The dates are already well out and that is going to have a knock on effect for seemingly major characters like Aegon II and Aemond.
GoT taught us the pursuit of power corrupts and average people really don’t care who wins or loses (even though that was common sense already). It’s just a bunch of spoiled people squabbling for power. Quite frankly, they all deserve to lose. Shouldn’t we be rooting for all of them to lose?
There were these complaints about GoT and fast pacing destroying the show…
Mr Derp,
I think that’s probably the idea, that’s why they said this is like Succession in Westeros.
But so far Rhaenyra feels heroic.
The story takes place over like a 30-35 year period. Time jumps are going to occur. They don’t bother me. I don’t need 3 episodes the see the king fall in love. I don’t need a season of his new wife pregnant. I don’t care.
FAR more important things in this story to come that super cede that. This is not Game of Thrones. It is not an open world story following around multiple POVs. If you can’t connect to any of the characters because of the time jumps, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Hi everyone, long time no post!
I set no expectations for the show at all, so if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be disappointed and if I did it was a bonus. And so far…I’m really enjoying it and having fun being excited for new episodes again.
I wanna see Captain Crab go down, maybe a crab buffet like Ramsay becoming Pedigree Chum. Although he seems to have greyscale so I wonder if his gang do as well and they might pass it to some of the King’s Landing crew?
Jenny,
I saw an explanation from someone who works in tv/film costuming that demand is currently very high and the industry as a whole is working to incredibly tight deadlines. They said that the small details which really make an outfit, like elaborate embroidery and having something that perfects fits the person wearing it, just aren’t possible in the time they have available.
Mr Derp,
I am particularly keen to see Otto Hightower lose. Enjoying having characters to hate again is also part of the fun.
I am not at all bothered by the 6 mos time jump. And I doubt I’ll have much of a problem with the 3ish year jump we’re about to see.
That said… I’m wondering about the effects of the next time jump on the war in the Stepstones. Did Corlys and Daemon really sit around for 3ish years after their Ep 2 scene. Or has the war been going on for 3ish years? Either situation seems off.
I read “Fire and Blood” back in 2019 and don’t remember what happens. So maybe it is a war that drags on?? But that seems so improbable since one side has nukes and the other side has hammers and crustaceans.
mopfer,
I haven’t read Fire and Blood, so I don’t know what’s coming. I know that there is a civil war but I don’t know any details. So the show has to move the plot along and introduce characters for those of use who aren’t anticipating the big stuff. These early episodes are really important. The time jumps have been fine so far, but I am curious and a bit concerned about the 3 year and 10 year jumps. But it could be totally fine.
I do really like this idea of Fire and Blood being told by unreliable narrators, and this show showing the true events. They cut away from Daemon so that we don’t know if he said ‘heir for a day’. That’s fun. I like listening to podcasts who get into those comparisons, even though I haven’t read it yet
What do you mean? That’s clearly Ser Hugh of the Vale, the Immortal Knight… until he meets a Mountain 😛
It’s a long war. In Fire & Blood the war lasts 4 years (honestly, it never truly ends, continuing past Daemon’s involvement), so it seems we’ll be seeing the final year of the war. Fire & Blood doesn’t really get into the details of the war so we don’t know how the Triarchy resisted Caraxes and the Velaryon fleet for years, but I imagine it’ll be a lot of guerrila tactics, hiding in caves and forests, evading the fleet, that kind of thing. The greater power doesn’t always win, especially when outside their comfort zone.
This is a generational war. There will be many time jumps. It’s perfectly fine. I like the style of this new series. It’s good that it is different from GOT yet in the same world.
But I am sad because de the departure of Sapochnik 🙁
L
Luka Nieto,
Got it. This sounds like a great opportunity for the small council to fill us in one why they didn’t manage to solve that problem for so long. Weak King Viserys not wanting to send the dragons? Crabfeeder smarter than he looks? Cuz right now I’m getting orc vibes from that one. Sadistic but dumb.
Also curious which dragon is in the preview. Didn’t look like Caraxys’ signature neck but it was a quick flash. Maybe with baby Aegon around they’re ok sending Rhaenerya.? Or Rhaenys would be cool. So far, we’ve only met three dragon riders, yeah?
I am liking Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra, e.g., in this scene from S1e2 (Princess Rhaenyra confronts Daemon):
https://youtu.be/XkU8YyEplew
After the mid-season time jump, I hope Emma D’Arcy can capture the charisma that Milly Alcock brought to the role.
Maybe King Viserys doesn’t want to use his military resources against the Crabfeeder because he is paranoid about King Aegon’s The Song of Ice and Fire dream?
King Visesrys probably wants to hold on to Kings Landing and all of Westeros military resources to fight the Doom King Aegon saw in his ASOIAF dream coming from the North… and he thinks The Darkness could happen at any time.
JenStar Runner,
The dragon who burns the Triarchy’s line of archers on the cliff, in the trailer? That’s Seasmoke.
Luka Nieto,
“Seasmoke”?
That was the name of my Deep Purple cover band.
“Smoke on the water,
Fire in the sky.”
https://youtu.be/F7ZF2xaNhyw
Deep Purple, “Smoke on the Water”
I’m more excited about episode 3 than anything so far but I have a couple of nagging doubts firstly with the time jump and secondly with the overall pacing. I’m looking forward to the battle at the step stones but I wish they’d take their time to build it up so we have some emotional investment in the characters instead they seem to be introducing new ones. The crab feeder looks really menacing but if he’s killed off it’s a missed opportunity. Likewise why don’t we get a big royal wedding instead this is being skipped and instead we are getting a pregnant Alicent? The show could easilly split this over a couple more episodes for character development.
Overall I am genuinely excited.
I wish the entire first season was the back story then do the time jump at that point. The main Damce can play out over seasons two and three comfortably with no rush.