As we see in the new promotional stills taken by photographer Ollie Upton, this Sunday’s episode of House of the Dragon, “Lord of the Tides,” takes us several years forward—for the last time; this is the final time jump, not just of the season but of the whole story. “Lord of the Tides” is reported to jump six years forward, which means new cast members play the children characters we met in the last few episodes… except they’re children no more, but teenagers and young adults!
Years might have passed yet we find ourselves again at the Velaryon seat on Driftmark. Lady Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) sits the Driftwood Throne, which may not bode well for Lord Corlys (as teased by the episode preview.) At her side you’ll find someone whose appearance may ring a bell, even if her face does not; that’s Baela Targaryen, eldest daughter of Daemon and Laena and, as we saw last episode, Lady Rhaenys’s choice for inheriting Driftmark. While Shani Smethurst played her as a child, as an adult Baela is played by Bethany Antonia:
In his home at Dragonstone, we find another familiar character with an unfamiliar face: Rhaenyra’s eldest son, Jacaerys Velaryon. Harry Collett has taken over the role from Leo Hart, who played 9-year old Jace the past two episodes:
Several photos show yet another feast at the Red Keep—apparently at the Small Council room, or one very similar to it. We can only hope this one ends better than the wedding feast a couple of episodes ago… though, judging by the episode trailer, probably not. Thankfully, though it’s been only a few weeks for us, the characters have had about sixteen years to recover. So, you know, maybe they’re itching for another blood-letting? These stills feature Ser Otto (Rhys Ifans) and Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). You may also notice one of the Kingsguard twins we’ve yet to properly meet, Ser Erryk or Ser Arryk Cargyll, standing guard in the background, so he must be either Elliott Tittensor or Luke Tittensor:
We also see Alicent’s sons, Aegon Targaryen and one-eyed Aemond Targaryen. Prince Aegon, played as a 13-year old by Ty Tennant, is now played by Tom Glynn-Carney; Aemond One-Eye, who Leo Ashton so memorably brought to life as a 9-year old, is now in the able hands of Ewan Mitchell. While Aegon was never truly imposing, he was the taller of the children, as the only teen (played by Ty Tennant, who was quite a few years older than his character), but with all of them grown up it seems Aegon’s stalled, and looks quite sulky. Meanwhile, Aemond has grown to be pretty imposing… the eye-patch and the scar help, of course:
It seems we’ll have a meeting at the throne room with most of the show’s characters together. We see Lady Rhaenys Targaryen addressing the court, accompanied by Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Princess and Heiress Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), and their respective younger daughter and son, Lady Rhaena Targaryen and Prince Lucerys Velaryon. Phoebe Campbell has taken over Eva Ossei-Gerning’s role as Rhaena; and Elliot Grihault is now playing Luke, a role performed by Harvey Sadler the last few episodes:
Ser Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson), the younger brother of Lord Corlys who was so memorably nicknamed the ‘Master of Complaints’ by his nephew, arrives in court, probably to complain some more, with Rhaenys and Baela behind him:
Although not released today, we also have these three promo photos from long before the season aired. Based on the costumes and the scenes in the preview, these belong to “Lord of the Tides”: Daemon retrives a dragon egg at Dragonstone and stands on the throne room; and Rhaenyra and Alicent face each other again.
If you’ve read Fire and Blood, you might have a good idea of what should happen in this episode. Even if you haven’t, it’s still pretty clear things are about to go bad, with the tension building over the past several episodes but especially that last one. With no spoilers (unless you tag them as such with our coding,) what are you looking forward to the most? Personally, I’m eager to meet the kids all grown up.
UPDATE: Several new photos have been released!
Around Dragonstone’s painted table, we see Rhaenyra and Daemon, and Jace and Maester Gerardys (Phil Daniels), who we briefly saw last episode:
Rhaenys, with her granddaughter Baela (Bethany Antonia) at her side, receives Vaemond while seated on High Tide’s Driftwood Throne:
We briefly met Alan Caswell (Paul Hickey), Lord of Bitterbridge, in “The Princess and the Queen”, and on “Lord of the Tides” he welcomes Rhaenyra and her family into the Red Keep. This also offers our first look at little Jofrey, who was born a few episodes ago but should be about six after this final time jump:
A the Red Keep’s gardens, Rhaenys meets Rhaenyra and Rhaena (come on, George!):
Queen Alicent, now wearing a prominent Seven-Pointed Star:
Rhaenyra and Daemon in private at the Red Keep:
A Green-dominated Small Council convenes:
Throne room drama with pretty much every cast member!
And, of course, family dinner drama:
I don’t remember specifically what happens next, even though I read the book. I genuinely don’t, and I’m very excited to see it play out.
Sooo..
omg, I am getting such bad vibes from Aemond!
omg, I am getting such bad vibes from Aemond! Why does he look older than Aegon?
P,
Yes!
Jenny,
Growth spurt!
Luka Nieto,
Nice, i was starting to worry about them jaja
Daemon: “You’re just a cheap fucking knockoff.”
Aemond: “No… I’m the upgrade.”
More murky images. The first photo of Aemond holding the glass is shown exposed well. The same image later is poorly exposed. Who decided to do this?
Interesting thing is that the actor playing Aemond is actually 7 years younger than the actor playing Aegon, despite looking older on the picture. I guess some people remain more baby-faced.
Looks like Jace is standing behind his mother as well in picture 8, the one with the big group in the throne room.
RMK,
Good eye! Baela should be behind or next to Rhaenys, too.
Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,
I tried and I never found a birth year for Mitchell. Is he really only 20?
HLLeRoy,
I edited the photo to look better for the header; the others I shared them as HBO released them. And yeah, they’re generally too under-exposed.
Yeah I can’t wait to see the kids grown up. There is going to be so much drama.
And Aemond is giving a toast 👀
I keep reading this as “Lord of the Flies,” but that happened last week. 🔪
I find Rhaenys’ choice of outfits at court really interesting. She seems to be playing up a “non-threatening granny” look. And she’s got her hair down now, which is a big contrast from her former, kind of intimidating, up-dos. She seems a little more herself in the scene at High Tide. Wonder if she and Vaemond are going to be playing a kind of good cop/bad cop game here.
In any case, based on what’s in the trailer, this will be about as fair as Tyrion’s trial.
Well, I’ve been double-checking now and there’s no official confirmation in what year he was born… two web pages are listing him being 20 years old, putting his day of birth at March 12th 2002, another one is actually listing him being 28 years old (no date of birth there, just 1994), a third one mentions him being born in 90s… but there’s no credible source to any of these. So I guess we don’t really know how old he is.
Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,
I never would have guessed, the guy playing Aemond looks so much older in that costume. I thought he was pushing 30
I think Ewan Mitchell is older. He’s been in The Last Kingdom for the last five years and he didn’t look like a teenager at the beginning.
Well, I later said in my other comment that I actually can’t find a credible source regarding his age so he may be well into 20s. Then again, some people look older at young age and other way around. I know one girl who is 21 and looks like she’s well in her mid-to-late twenties. My girlfriend on other hand is 27 and she still gets confused for late-teen/early 20. When I was in early 20s myself, I was also confused for a teen several times… I’m not even sure how old I look now, as I’m close to 27 myself.
Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,
I did some more research and several sites assume him to be in mid-20s. I kind of don’t feel they would cast an older actor than for Aegon but who knows.
When I was 16 people commonly thought I was in my late 20s, pushing 30.
My daughter is 32 and gets carded more often than not.
Faces are interesting.
Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,
It wouldn’t be surprising if they did, there are plenty of examples in Hollywood. Sean Connery played Harrison Ford’s father and there was only 12 years between them. It only matters if it’s noticeable. To me, Aemond does look older, but i’m only basing that on pictures. I’m sure that the actors will do a good job
I’m 36 and I still get asked for id when buying alcohol. I’m not complaining though!
Rhaenys is my favorite character. I think she’s going to stick up for her granddaughter’s inheritance of Driftwood, as well she should in the absence of her possibly dying husband. Her granddaughters who are her only heirs, are being undercut by their great uncle who wants them to be bypassed because they are female AND by their stepmother and their own father who only care about Rhaenyra’s ascension to the throne and Rhaenyra’s children AND their children together.
If their grandmother doesn’t look out for them, NOBODY will. Rhaenyra’s talk about changing things for women when she becomes queen was just that, talk. She only cares about consolidating her own power for her and her progeny. Which is fine. She’s a momma dragon.
But if her main goal is securing property and wealth for her second, son at the cost to Baela, then Rhaenys needs to step in on behalf of her dead daughter to protect the rights of her grandgirls. After all, how fair is it to say that Rhaenyra is correct to protect the rights of her sons but it’s greedy for Rhaenys to fight for her Baela and Rhaena?
And no, I’m not Team Green. I just grow weary of people behaving as if Team Black is filled with nothing but righteous folks who do nothing but righteous things.
Well, Rhaenyra is obviously pregnant, I’m going to assume with her last child based on the photos, but I guess we’ll see.
“A the Red Keep’s gardens, Rhaenys meets Rhaenyra and Rhaena (come on, George)”
LOL. Remember when “Asha” had to be Yara because Osha was Osha, yet Yara is similar to Arya and no one cared that Robb/Robert blah blah blah….
Pigeon,
Yep. She seems to be pregnant with the child who is the ancestor of Daenerys and Jon Snow. Probably the reason Daemon is seen procuring a Dragon’s egg. I wonder if there will be much foreshadowing that this child is important and special. I expect so. I guess we are also supposed to be very amused by the fact that as a teen, Rhaenyra complained about the concept of squeezing out heirs and yet here she is now, Fertile Myrtle.
I think that in a departure from the books, either Baela or Rhaena or both are gonna flirt with The Greens, just to get back at Daddy. Why else are they making it appear that Daemon has barely met his daughters? There is a distance there that I think is on purpose. He seems to care only about the MALE children of the woman he’s always been obsessed with and their children together. I think the show is setting up an estrangement between him and at least one of his daughters that their grandmama will exploit. After all, despite being a Targ herself, she probably holds Dae/Rhae at least partially responsible for the deaths of both of her children.