Even though it ended five years ago, to this day, people still talk about Game of Thrones’ most gruesome deaths and shocking moments. From the Battle of the Bastards to the death of Ned Stark to so much more, countless scenes have taken viewers' breath away or made them exceptionally stressed and/or angry. So, on that topic, George R.R. Martin revealed the moment from the show’s source material that left fans throwing their books away, and let’s just say that when I watched the same scene, I wanted to chuck my TV too.

I’m, of course, talking about The Red Wedding – a GOT moment that truly still shocks most people even though the book it's in was released in 2000 and the episode that featured it aired over a decade ago. In both the show and the books, the absolute massacre of the Starks took fans by surprise and left them screaming, crying and maybe even throwing up. According to Geroge R.R. Martin, this sequence made readers throw their books too, as he told Rolling Stone in 2014:

In A Storm of Swords, Robb and Catelyn Stark along with many of their soldiers are murdered. It’s an absolutely gruesome scene, and thankfully, Martin understands just how horrific it is, and he even had a hard time writing it.

He noted that in the same interview, explaining that this infamous moment was something he avoided, because it was hard for him to kill off such beloved characters. However, he knew it had to be done:

While I haven’t read the books, I distinctly remember watching the Red Wedding, being so upset, and understanding the value it added to the story. It caused a massive shift in the show, and it totally changed the trajectory of the Stark family as the two running it were brutally killed.

In terms of the show, Season 3, Episode 9 – “The Rains of Castamere” – has gone down as one of the episodes of Game of Thrones with the most meaningful deaths and it’s remembered as one of the most disturbing and jarring moments in the whole show. In fact, Martin thinks the scene is “worse” in the series than it is in the books, and he explained why, saying:

Not only were Robb and Catelyn killed – marking painful deaths and the departure of two beloved Game of Thrones cast members (Richard Madden and Michelle Fairley) – Robb’s wife and child were also taken out in a brutal fashion. Overall, it’s a remarkable, unforgettable and brutal scene that left me and so many who watched the scene in shock.

So, yeah, I get why it was this moment that caused Game of Thrones readers to throw their books across the room; I would have too. Now, to go back and watch this infamous and legendary sequence from the fantasy series, you can stream GOT with a Max subscription.

As you likely remember, when Season 8, Episode 4 of Game of Thrones aired, many spotted and then couldn’t stop talking about the misplaced modern coffee cup that was in a shot of the show. There was so much chatter about it, in fact, CNBC reached out to experts to see what the value of this mistake was. Turns out, the dollar amount is huge, and according to some, Starbucks got a fortune worth of free advertising out of it, as the report explained:

Were you blown away by that number? Because I sure was. This article came three days after the episode aired back in 2019 – the episode came out on May 5, HBO responded to the mistake on May 6, and this was published on May 7. That means, this number is based on two days of data…that’s WILD!

Now, it’s been five years since that moment, and we’re still talking about the damn cup that wasn’t even from Starbucks from time to time. So, think about how much higher that number might be if we were calculating for mentions since 2019 and inflation.

The story then quoted Jones as she called this snafu a “once-in-a-lifetime collision of opportunity for Starbucks.” That’s because, the cup wasn’t even from there and this mistake was nothing near product placement, it was straight up something that was not supposed to happen.

It’s also interesting that the story notes how much an intentional product placement would cost for a moment like this. Noah Mallin, who was the head of experience, content and sponsorship at media agency Wavemaker at the time, said that if they really wanted to put a Starbucks cup there, it likely would have cost six figures.

Meanwhile, CEO of Hill Impact, Dan Hill, explained that it’s hard to attach a number to this situation, however, there’s no denying how valuable it was:

He continued by saying he assumed the attention came from the “country’s ‘gotcha culture’” not the “power of Starbucks.” However, there is something to be said about people on social media assuming that that disposable cup came from a massive coffee company.

Overall, this estimation is staggering, and it’s still wild to think about the impact this small snafu made on the internet all those years ago. Even to this day, when mistakes happen on House of the Dragon – or really any show for that matter – comparisons to this instance are drawn.

So, while $2.3 billion feels unbelievable, when you think about all the coffee cup and Starbucks chatter that came from that one Game of Thrones scene, the number kind of becomes fathomable.

To go back and see the episode that the cup was in (but is no longer in), you can stream Game of Thrones with a Max subscription.

In a recent post on his famous blog, hilariously titled Not a Blog, Martin shared some highlights from his summer travels, including a visit to London, where he had the chance to reunite with the Arya Stark actress. Though he kept most details under wraps, the visionary novelist’s comments have already left fans like myself wondering if he and the New Mutants star might be collaborating on some sort of Game of Thrones project spinoff—or perhaps on a new venture altogether. According to the mega-star writer:

As if those few cryptic lines weren’t enough, Martin has been deeply immersed in a variety of creative projects lately, including House of the Dragon (though he has aired some grievances) and a stage adaptation of the tourney at Harrenhal titled The Iron Throne, both bringing his work back into the spotlight. While this could hint at another Westeros-related project, there’s also the possibility that Martin and the former Game of Thrones cast member might be discussing something completely fresh. Given The New Look veteran’s versatility as an actress and the prolific storyteller’s ability to create rich, imaginative worlds, the thought of a new collaborative project has a ton of appeal.

Some fans are indeed crossing their fingers for a potential Arya spin-off. Williams’ character remains one of the most beloved figures in Game of Thrones lore, and her mysterious journey west at the series’ end has always begged for more exploration. While HBO has previously been cautious about revisiting original characters outside the prequel format, with the long-talked-about Jon Snow spin-off being canceled earlier this year, a creative team-up between the former The Beauty and the Beast series screenwriter and Gen: Lock series performer might be the push needed to bring Arya’s post-Thrones story to life.

Of course, it’s worth noting that while George R.R. Martin is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, he’s also written several other captivating novels that could make fantastic upcoming book-to-screen adaptations—especially with Maisie Williams in the mix. His science fiction novel Nightflyers, for example, explores themes of isolation and mystery aboard a spaceship and would be a perfect fit for her intensity and range. Or there’s Fevre Dream, a gothic horror novel set on the Mississippi River, where the Bristol-born star could easily bring life to the gritty, suspenseful world of steamboats and vampires. Another intriguing option could be Windhaven, a collaboration with Lisa Tuttle about a young woman who dreams of flight in a society where only an elite few can soar through the skies.

Williams, now 28, has a knack for portraying adventurous, strong-willed characters and could make an ideal fit for one of the Best Seller’s lesser-known but equally compelling worlds. And I would be excited to see another property from America’s Tolkien getting the big screen or small screen treatment.

For now, fans will have to settle for George R.R. Martin’s teasing blog post and revisit Westeros by streaming all the GOT content available with a Max subscription. Don’t forget to check out our 2024 TV schedule to catch the exciting shows coming up in the remainder of the year!

At a press presentation, Bloys was asked about Martin’s criticisms, and he responded (via Variety) by keeping things positive while admitting that “like any marriage, sometimes it gets rocky:”

For context, in Martin’s blog post, he wrote about how much he disliked the show for not including the youngest child of Aegon and Helaena, Maelor. It was a long post, and it was clear the author was upset about the omission.

Meanwhile, in the past, showrunner Ryan Condal has been clear about the challenges of adapting this project, noting that when they are transitioning Fire & Blood from page to screen they do a lot of “coloring in the lines that we’re given…and a lot of that color is admittedly our own.”

Now, on top of his complaint about Maelor not being in Season 2, Martin has also had specific criticisms about the dragons in the show. The Game of Thrones author has shared his general take on HOTD too, at one point writing on his blog that he does not look forward to writing about “everything that’s gone wrong with House of the Dragon.”

During this presentation Bloys did, he reiterated his point that they are still working with Martin. While it might not be all hunky dory all the time, the boss claimed that that is simply the nature of creative relationships:

Now, with Season 3 of House of the Dragon in the works, and other upcoming Game of Thrones shows – like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – on the way, it will be interesting to see if we learn more about Martin and HBO’s relationship. As of right now, though, it’s clear George R.R. Martin isn’t thrilled about House of the Dragon, while it seems like HBO is working to maintain their relationship with the fantasy writer.

With Season 3 of HOTD coming and various other projects in the works, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on the evolving relationship between Martin and the network that has put his words to the screen. In the meantime, to watch the show that caused this back and forth, you can stream the first two seasons of House of the Dragon with a Max subscription.

The Stars Don't Know Jack

Otto Hightower is one character whose future is not only unclear, but House of the Dragon never explained what happened to him in the second half of Season 2 after he was fired by Aegon and left King's Landing. Whether or not the hit fantasy show will shed much light on what went down off screen remains to be seen, and actor Rhys Ifans couldn't explain either. Speaking with Inverse, Ifans shared:

Considering that the Greens went even further off the rails after Aegon fired Otto and replaced him with Criston Cole, it should be interesting to see how Otto's loyalties have shifted... or not shifted, since it's hard to imagine him being so alienated from his family that he'd flip to support the Blacks. Alas, fans will have to wait even longer than Ifans to find out.

And even the actors who were in more of Season 2 than Rhys Ifans was don't have answers. During a New York Comic Con panel (via Variety), Tom Glynn-Carney – a.k.a. Aegon – said that he knew "Not a jot, not a letter" about any Season 3 scripts, while Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen) weighed in:

Considering that Daemon's hallucinatory arc was one of the biggest departures from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood source material in Season 2, even reading the book might not give him much insight on the next steps for his character! Fabien Frankel, who plays Ser Criston Cole, dropped more of a tease than his co-stars could:

House of the Dragon's Criston Cole was another character notably different from his book counterpart, far beyond how Season 1 changed one of Cole's kills from the source material. His arc wasn't what George R.R. Martin's called out in his grievances against Season 2, though, and Frankel didn't spoil the "things" he's heard about Season 3.

Emma D'Arcy's Fun Idea

Whether or not Emma D'Arcy knows any more than their co-stars about what the House of the Dragon team has planned for Season 3, the star has a fun idea that would be a shift from what Rhaenyra did for the war effort in Season 2. Speaking with The Guardian, D'Arcy shared what they enjoy about the show and what they'd like to see change:

While Rhaenyra hasn't stayed entirely out of the fray with the war effort, her contributions have been on dragonback. As she was reminded, the Blacks' claim rested entirely on her, so it would have been unwise for her to risk her life by flying off into battle on a regular basis. Could Season 3 find a reason for Rhaenyra to take up a sword?

Unfortunately, while Emma D'Arcy is bound to find out sooner than most, fans will remains in the dark for the foreseeable future. It's unlikely that House of the Dragon could return any sooner than 2026. For now, you can always revisit the first two seasons streaming with a Max subscription, as well as all eight seasons of Game of Thrones.

Say goodbye to the Targaryen locks of Westeros—Matt Smith has traded them in for a fierce and punk-inspired look, complete with a towering orange and blonde mohawk that just screams follicle rebellion. These first looks at the film, which also stars Austin Butler (so Academy voters, take note), show off this striking new style. Based on the popular novel of the same name, the Caught Stealing film is already shaping up to be one of the most anticipated upcoming page-to-screen adaptations, with this head of hair already being a big draw.

As if the hair wasn't punk enough, the Morbius star was spotted rocking a studded leather jacket paired with zippered tartan trousers, totally nailing the give-zero-fucks aesthetic. While we know he’ll be sharing the screen with Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, and Regina King in this upcoming film, details about his specific role as this edgy punk character are still under wraps.

In another behind-the-scenes snap, the Crown alum is locked in what looks like it could be a fiery confrontation with Austin Butler. The actor is fresh of The Bikers, but is probably best known for winning the Golden Globe and BAFTA for his portrayal of Elvis Presley, and was spotted on set with Smith in far less extreme attire.

The two were seen intensely facing off seemingly across the roof of a car, caught up in what seemed like a seriously charged moment as cameras rolled, with Smith's character appearing to have suffered some kind of cut or scrape above the left eye.

Caught Stealing is reported to center on Austin Butler as a washed-up former baseball player who finds himself in way over his head, fighting for survival in the gritty criminal underworld of 1990s New York City. Production kicked off in September, and with a star-studded cast, it’s no surprise this movie is already making waves. Allegedly drawing inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s hidden gem After Hours, Darren Aronofsky’s next big thriller is set to hit the 2025 movie schedule, and along with Smith’s fresh cut, it's one to watch out for.

Just a month prior in September, Smith was seen sporting a more toned-down version of his mohawk on set. The dramatic size upgrade we’re seeing now might hint that the movie spans a decent chunk of time. While it doesn't give away too much, it definitely has me hyped to see what the team behind this thriller has cooked up for us, and unlike After Hours, it will likely not span merely one night, unless he's got access to some wild hair-growth tonics.

As we await the film’s release, these early set photos have certainly stoked anticipation, not just for Smith’s performance but also for his bold and eye-catching look that perfectly encapsulates the anarchic world his character inhabits. Buckle up because Caught Stealing is bringing Matt Smith as you’ve never seen him before.

For now, Smith fans can revisit his Targaryen look by revisiting the first two seasons of House of the Dragon, now streaming with a Max subscription.

The Internet can be a bit of the Wild West when it comes to comments, and actors involved in highly watched and heavily talked about programs can often get the brunt end of that. And I'm not even getting into how Tik Tok and Youtube often host videos or promotional clips showing actors reacting to the things people have googled -- which is meant to open a dialogue about their experiences. Speaking about what people have said online on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Emilia Clarke was quoted saying people heavily scrutinized her and her body.

Clarke herself has been outwardly vocal about her experiences on and off of set. She has spoken out about some of the pressure she received when it came to the early Game of Thrones nudity scenes on the show. She has also shared details in the past about Jason Momoa coming to her aid when she didn't know what to expect about filming scenes sans clothing on a TV set. But it wasn't just stuff on set that happened that was really uncomfortable for her when she was still really young, or as she put it, basically still "a kid" filming Game of Thrones.

The success of HotD has reignited old discussions that were left over from its predecessor. This included conversations regarding the writing, pacing, violence, and as expected, the nudity and graphic nature of the show's content. While people like Clarke have found some fun and humor in filming nude scenes for the show, she also said it was necessary the show handled her character in the way it did.

During of the height of her success on GoT, Clarke felt anxious whenever she was approached for selfies with fans because of the public responses to her performance on the show. Clarke stated that looking at social media messed with her head, and she felt herself thinking negatively about her outward appearance. She stated that it kept her from entangling her self-worth with public perceptions. So, Clarke made the rule for herself to only do autographs and not google herself to minimize her anxiety.

While Emilia Clarke isn't the first actress of a major fandom to outwardly speak about the negative impacts the Internet has had on her mental health, thankfully she has found solutions that work for her so she can continue in the industry.

Women on Game of Thrones went through so much violence with moments still leaving us shocked today. Most notably was back in Season 6 when Sansa was raped on her wedding night by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton. Fans criticized that the scene focused too much on Theon Greyjoy’s heartbreaking reaction rather than Sansa’s reaction. Plus, that violent moment never happened in the books. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said she’d no longer watch the series after that episode and news outlet The Mary Sue said they’d no longer cover the series.

George R.R. Martin, whose bestselling books inspired the Emmy Award-winning series, spoke to Time in 2017 about the criticisms regarding the violence brought onto his female characters. The famed author admitted to being surprised by the negative fan reaction to those violent scenes:

It looks like George R.R. Martin was trying to be realistic in taking inspiration from elements of war he found in history books. It’s no wonder the kingdoms in his books were against women if he turns historical moments “up to 11.” The American author argued that culture in Westeros was no more misogynist than a similar period in real-life history. It may be brutal to watch, but true war stories from history for sure weren’t short of gruesome violence to any gender.

Another controversial moment from Game of Thrones that didn’t happen in the book series was Khal Drogo sexually assaulting Daenerys on their wedding night. George R.R. Martin revealed the original wedding night scene was very different from when original Daenerys actress, Tamzin Merchant, filmed the pilot:

According to Business Insider, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga had Daenerys and Drogo's wedding night portrayed as technically consensual, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt the transition from fear to a joyful relationship would have been too quick for TV and not make sense. Even Emilia Clarke apparently had issues with the way the wedding night scene was originally written and felt it wasn’t working for her. Instead, the adaptation showrunners felt it would be best to show Daenerys’ abusive situation from the start and see how the relationship transforms.

While Game of Thrones fans may have taken issue with seeing the female characters of Westeros endure violence, these badass characters didn’t allow themselves to be victims. Even though the trauma Daenerys went through after her wedding night wasn't fully explored, the eventual Dragon Queen slowly learned to assert power over Khal Drogo which further develops their marriage. Sansa ended up being a strong force with her Game of Thrones ending being Lady Stark, Queen in the North. Seeing these strong women go through traumatizing violence may have been heartbreaking to watch, but it's a comfort knowing they eventually found the strength and courage to take power back.

You can watch all eight seasons of Game of Thrones on your Max subscription.

What Did House Of The Dragon’s Showrunner Say About The Challenges Of Adapting Fire & Blood?

By now, we all realize that it would be extremely difficult to win every viewer over when adapting the work of George R.R. Martin for a television show. Despite its enduring popularity, there’s still controversy over how things were handled on Game of Thrones, so it’s little surprise that the same has been true for House of the Dragon across its two seasons so far.

The second season wrapped on the 2024 TV schedule in early August, and Martin was originally rather dramatic when indirectly writing about his thoughts on the many changes by describing the “gloom” of having to eventually address his feelings on Season 2. Then, Martin unloaded on HOTD about the absence of Maelor, a character who becomes very important in the narrative of his book. Now, in a conversation with HBO’s official HOTD podcast, showrunner Ryan Condal has addressed the many challenges of turning such complex material into a TV show, saying:

Condal noted that he has, since the beginning, looked at Fire & Blood with as much “reverence as possible and respect,” adding “but it’s important to draw the line between reverence and worship.” As he pointed out during his interview (and something that more casual fans who haven’t read the book might not know), the tome on which this series is based isn’t told as a narrative, but as a history that’s been documented by “three unreliable narrators.” This means that there are either purposeful holes in the historical account or places where the narrators disagree on the “how and why” of what occurred.

So, along with compressing events, removing characters, etc., Condal and his team also had to choose a point of view for the story (those in the Targeryen family tree, specifically Viserys’ massive extended family) and then construct things in a way that explains the “how and why” of what happens from that POV. He added:

Basically, the writers had to choose characters to focus on and also create motivations for those characters’ actions, because those things aren’t usually spelled out in F&B. I’m sure a lot of fans are sympathetic to Martin’s position on the changes, as well as many likely feeling the same way for Condal and his team. It will be a while before we see how those differences impact Seasons 3 and 4, but we can all hope that the story continues to be engrossing even if it does veer greatly from what was previously written.

George R.R. Martin Weighs In On Season 2

Spoilers ahead for the Blood and Cheese section of Fire & Blood. Fans knew that some blunt words were probably coming after Martin's dramatic post about House of the Dragon just last week, and Season 2 delivered enough changes from the book to speculate about what got to the author. In a post that has since been deleted from his Not A Blog website, Martin went into detail about the changes to the characters involved in Blood and Cheese (up to and including Cheese not having a dog).

His biggest issue? How Season 2 cut out Maelor, the third and youngest child of Aegon and Helaena in the book, whose existence was not only part of why the whole sequence was so much more heinous on the page, but continues to affect the story beyond Blood and Cheese. Martin wrote of his conversation with showrunner Ryan Condal:

Martin went on to note that "Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made," and Helaena and Aegon's youngest child will never be born. While I won't get into spoilers here about how the absence of Maelor affects one character's game-changing decision, Martin certainly did by saying that it will happen for "no particular reason" in Season 3.

All in all, I'm not shocked that George R.R. Martin decided to delete his lengthy post about his problems with Blood and Cheese's omission of Maelor, since he was a lot blunter than I would have predicted. Still, what seemed like a minor change for practical reasons to start Season 2 will force massive changes for story reasons down the line, and reading the author's take on Maelor left me surprised that he didn't express similar sentiments about another omission this season.

First, though, HBO has a response to Martin's comments.

How HBO Responded To George R.R. Martin's Take

Martin had already deleted his post from his website by the time an HBO spokesperson responded (via Variety), but his comments were already circulating on the web. In a far more diplomatic statement than what the author expressed, the spokesperson said:

Some changes from book to screen are always necessary, and Martin had seen plenty of them happen over the years of Game of Thrones, particularly the later seasons after the show overtook the available source material. Still, as somebody who has been bothered by Daemon clobbering his first wife with a rock ever since that particular episode of Season 1, I'm certainly not one to judge about disliking seemingly minor changes.

Of course, adapting Fire & Blood is different from A Song of Ice and Fire, and not just because this particular chapter of Targaryen history has already been written in full by Martin as opposed to the unfinished ASOIAF. Fire & Blood is an in-universe history book penned by maesters in Westeros, so it's full of unreliable narrators and conflicting events.

That said, there are certain situations like the existence of Maelor – and yes, Daemon killing Rhea Royce – that aren't disputed by any of the sources in Fire & Blood, which leads to the change that I'm surprised George R.R. Martin didn't bring up in his post based on his logic about Blood and Cheese.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD for Fire & Blood. If you don't want to know what happens next, check out now and/or revisit the first two seasons of House of the Dragon streaming with a Max subscription.

What About Nettles?

The Red Sowing of Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon was used to find smallfolk with enough Targaryen blood to claim a dragon, with the same episode that dropped some info on George R.R. Martin's lost Targaryen featuring Hugh claiming Vermithor and Ulf claiming Silverwing. Readers know that perhaps the most important dragonseed of Fire & Blood is actually Nettles, who may or may not have Targaryen blood but tamed the dragon Sheepstealer by feeding him sheep.

And readers also know that Nettles and her ambiguous relationship with Daemon will push Rhaenyra to a breaking point (with no small amount of prodding from Mysaria) and eventually lead to Daemon's epic suicide mission to kill Aemond... that is, that's what readers would likely expect if the show had introduced Nettles. Instead, House of the Dragon seems to be merging Rhaena and Nettles. By George R.R. Martin's logic of how omitting Maelor will have a butterfly effect on later parts of the story, it would track if he feels similarly about cutting Nettles.

Rhaenyra snapping and ordering the death of a commoner who she thinks has seduced her husband makes sense for the Black Queen at that point in her storyline; Rhaenyra ordering the death of her niece/stepdaughter/cousin really doesn't. After all, parent/child incest is taboo even in the Targaryen family, which was a carryover from Fire & Blood to House of the Dragon if Daemon's reaction to dreaming about his mother is any indication. Surely she wouldn't believe anything unseemly between Daemon and Rhaena, right?

And as much as Maelor's absence from the show undercuts any motivation Helaena would have for leaping to her death from the guilt and madness of it all, I think a lot of readers are going to be upset if substituting Rhaena for Nettles undercuts Daemon's last stand above the Gods Eye lake.

Having read all of A Song of Ice and Fire as well as Fire & Blood, I'm confident in saying Daemon vs. Aemond is one of the most epic sequences that George R.R. Martin has ever written and would make for some spectacular television if it's adapted as closely as possible.

Only time will tell, however, and it's possible that Martin doesn't see the omission of Nettles the same way that he does Maelor. At the very least, it'll likely be some time before we find out what House of the Dragon Season 3 has in store. Variety has already confirmed that production won't start until early 2025, which likely means the next new episode won't air on HBO until 2026.

Martin closed his since-deleted Not A Blog post by warning of "larger and more toxic" twists to come if the show does go ahead "with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4," but nothing is seemingly certain at this point. For now, we can wait and see if Martin has more to say about House of the Dragon as the wait continues for his next chapter of A Song of Ice and Fire with the long-delayed Winds of Winter.

A few months back, Yarros was asked if there is a plan to “avoid an A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones situation.” By this, they mean the fact that HBO’s drama got to a point in the TV series in which there were no books left to work off of, and showrunners Benioff and Weiss were forced to make creative choices with only some input from George R.R. Martin. (The latter seasons on Thrones, in particular the final season, were less critically acclaimed.)

At the time, Rebeccas Yarros confirmed there is a full publication schedule for the Empyrean Series, and also noted there will be five books in total. A release date for the third book, Onyx Storm, is already out and is set to hit shelves on January 21, 2025. To be sure, I am extremely pumped about this, but I have another concern that ties in with Game of Thrones.

The Fourth Wing Question I Have That Also Ties Into Game Of Thrones: Will It Be Expensive Enough?

HBO’s most famous fantasy drama cost an absolute fortune to make. Some estimates have GOT spending $10- $15 million per episode, and if true, at 73 episodes in total, the Warner Bros.-owned company would have been all-in at hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps even bordering on a billion. That’s a lot of money spent.

We've heard some of the more expensive episodes like The Iron Throne cost $15 million to make, per budget reports at the time. Obviously, the cast grew more expensive over time, but Game of Thrones was constantly pricy from a fantasy standpoint, too, and that’s where my concern over Fourth Wing lies: Basically, is it going to be expensive enough to not look terrible?

Fourth Wing is a show about dragons . There are myriad battle sequences with dragons. There are other supernatural creatures and magics channeled through dragons. Dragons are also expensive to create via CGI in projects, which is a little worrisome, as we're talking way, way more dragons in scenes with Yarros' series than in GOT or its more dragon-heavy spinoff House of the Dragon. In short, there are a lot of fantasy elements that need to be achieved at scale. Some of Game of Thrones’ special effects were (often) amazing, but only because the show had the budget, and (usually) the correct scale.

Even then, there were problems and it wasn't always enough. People complain to this day about The Long Night being too dark, and that episode allegedly had a significant budget. People complain about the later seasons feeling too rushed -- they had more budget per episode later on, but fewer episodes overall. And I'm not even getting started on the GOT ending; suffice to say, there are problems.

I don't really want any of that to happen to Fourth Wing. Rebecca Yarros’ novels definitely have the built-in fanbase – in fact, they might be the most exciting book series that’s come out for me personally since maybe The Hunger Games (sorry ACOTAR, whose own project may be DOA) and they deserve a big budget retelling, which means money will need to be invested into the project. And while we don't know how they end yet -- again, the third book, Onyx Storm, is due out in January 2025 -- there is an outline for where the show is going and I'm already invested enough in the characters (OK Xaden) I want to see it done well and not just, well, done.

The show is being set up at Amazon, which is a good sign, as that streamer didn't shy away from overspending when it came to Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The first season of that series allegedly cost around $450 million U.S. to bring to the small screen, which would make it the most expensive series of all time. I'm not saying Fourth Wing will need quite that much budget, but I'd like to see it look better than lower budget fare like The Magicians or Legacies (though those shows are delightful in their own ways).

In order to do The Empyrean series justice, the streamer really needs to put a little money behind the Michael B. Jordan-produced fantasy drama, but I will say there's no project I'm more excited for coming up. Hopefully it will all be worth it.

Of course changes are required in any adaptation from book to screen, and we were never likely to get every Targaryen riding their dragon and every battle shown in minute detail. But since it seems like a very safe bet that George R.R. Martin’s issues are with how the show adapted his source material, let’s look back at what I see as the five biggest story changes from Fire & Blood.

And let’s start with the biggest, which also happens to be the one that I can’t really defend even as a fan of Season 2.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD for House of the Dragon Season 2 and George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood.

Blood And Cheese

If there was one thing that Fire & Blood readers could be fairly confident of after Season 1 ended with the death of Lucerys, it was that Blood and Cheese was going to happen early in Season 2. As a supporter of Team Black, I wondered if the tragedy about to befall the Greens would be enough for viewers to switch loyalties from one side to the other. After all, Blood and Cheese is really, really, really bad in the book.

While the murder of a young boy in his bed was still really, really bad in the show, I never imagined how much House of the Dragon would soften the incident. Not only was it presented as the assassins deciding to kill Prince Jaehaerys on their own rather than Daemon ordering it, but the actual scenario was less nightmarish.

In the book, Helaena was the mother to three children: Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor. Assassins broke into Alicent’s rooms and killed all the servants so as to take the young queen by surprise when she brought the children in. Blood and Cheese promised to only hurt one but only if Helaena chose which of her children would be killed, with the threat that Jaehaera would be raped if she took too long to choose.

Sobbing, Helaena chose young Maelor to die, prompting Cheese to whisper to the youngest prince that his mother wanted him to die before Blood beheaded Jaehaerys in front of Helaena, Alicent, and both of his siblings. It was a truly despicable act, and being forced to choose slowly but surely drove Helaena mad over the rest of her short life.

In the show, Helaena didn’t have to make a choice, and really seemed to recover from her son being murdered quite quickly. The choice to give Helaena visions of the future has been mostly interesting in House of the Dragon, but her resignation to Jaehaerys' death rather than how the character responded in the book really lessened the impact.

It didn’t help that Alicent was absent from the scene in the show and in the middle of a tryst with Ser Criston Cole instead, which brings us to…

Alicent's Affair With Criston Cole

House of the Dragon wasted no time in Season 2 in establishing that Criston Cole and Alicent started sleeping together. Neither really felt great about it, with the affair weighing on the dowager queen’s conscience and Cole was past the point of bothering with moral quandaries. As far as I recall, the only rumored partner that Alicent ever had other than Viserys in Fire & Blood was King Jaehaerys before him, and that rumor only came from Mushroom.

There’s nothing in the book to suggest that anything was actually happening between Alicent and Cole beyond his role working alongside Aegon and later Aemond. There’s certainly some hypocrisy from both of them in the act, but the question that has been bugging me ever since Alicent required some moon tea is of how much time actually passed from Season 1 to that point in Season 2.

While moon tea has been used in the show as a contraceptive, A Song of Ice and Fire proved with Lysa Arryn that it can also be used as an abortifacient to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. All of Alicent’s actions in that particular episode struck me as her attempting to force a miscarriage, not preventing pregnancy in the first place. Since Viserys didn’t die all that long ago and wasn’t really in any condition to be making babies toward the end of his life, the implication is that Alicent was pregnant via Criston Cole.

And if she was far enough along to know that she was pregnant, the timeline suggests that she was sleeping with Cole before Viserys died unless Season 2 snuck in a bigger time jump than was necessary. Is it possible that I’ve put way more thought than intended into the timeline leading to Alicent drinking moon tea? Sure, but I see it as another sign that the affair with Cole really hasn’t added anything good to the series.

Daemon's Loyalties In Question (And Visions At Harrenhal)

Daemon may not be the most morally upstanding character of Fire & Blood, but his political loyalty to Rhaenyra was never in question, and he certainly didn’t spend his time in Harrenhal considering whether or not he should try to usurp his niece/wife/queen.

Even when Rhaenyra was past the point of reason and ordered that Nettles be executed, the closest Daemon came to betraying her was helping Nettles escape alive and then going after Aemond instead of rejoining his wife. Plus, HOTD Daemon knowing courtesy of Alys Rivers where he’s supposed to die might lessen the impact of his decision to face Aemond later on, although that’s presumably at least one season away from being adapted on the show.

Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge fan of House of the Dragon stretching to tie everything to Game of Thrones and Daenerys, so I’m a bit biased, but Daemon only declaring his loyalty to Rhaenyra after getting a vision of Dany didn’t do The Rogue Prince any favors.

The show playing up the love story of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s marriage has been fine, in my eyes, but toying with Daemon betraying her to make a claim of his own goes against Fire & Blood in a way that bugged me for a lot of Season 2, even though the entire Harrenhal setting was quite impressive and I’m officially one of many fans for whom Ser Simon Strong was the MVP of the storyline. Daemon’s loyalty to Rhaenyra in Fire & Blood was one of his defining qualities, and it was lacking in Season 2.

Omitting Nettles

Technically it’s possible that House of the Dragon intends to bring in the character of Nettles but just hasn’t yet, like the delay in introducing Daeron Targaryen until his cameo with his blue dragon in the Season 2 finale. But unless Rhaena is burned to a crisp in the Vale, it certainly seems that instead of incorporating Nettles, House of the Dragon is giving a modified version of the Sheepstealer storyline to Daemon’s daughter.

And while some characters in a book as packed as Fire & Blood are inevitably going to be left out of a TV adaptation, no way would I ever have predicted that Nettles would be cut. Not only is she an example of possibly how a non-Targaryen could tame a dragon, but her ambiguous relationship with Daemon is a major plot point toward the end of the Dance of the Dragons.

Deeply paranoid after being betrayed by several of the other dragonseeds by this point, Rhaenyra came to believe that Nettles and Daemon were having an affair and demanded Nettles’ death. Not only did this set off the chain of events that ended with Daemon’s death, but Rhaenyra demanding that Lord Manfryd Mooten violate guest right to kill Nettles prompted him to flip to support the Greens.

It’s hard to imagine what Rhaenyra could be convinced of about Rhaena that she would order her death. Even the Targaryen family tree doesn’t partake in parent/child incest, which is why Daemon’s dream of his mother was a step too far even for him. I don’t have any idea what the show intends to do by merging Rhaena and Nettles (or why nobody noticed Rhaena was missing long enough for her to trek through the Vale), but I’m guessing that George R.R. Martin has thoughts.

Rhaenyra And Alicent's Bond

Rhaenyra and Alicent’s friendship was one of the earliest major changes from the book to the show, as House of the Dragon aged up Rhaenyra and aged down Alicent to make them peers and pals. It tracks that the history between them would continue to affect them as war ramps up between their two branches of the warring Targaryen family, but Rhaenyra sneaking into King’s Landing dressed as a septa was a stretch.

In hindsight, though, Rhaenyra sneaking into King’s Landing is downright normal compared to Alicent sneaking herself to Dragonstone to reveal Aemond’s plans and tell the Black Queen when she should move against King’s Landing. Alicent basically gave up Aemond and Aegon for dead so that she could escape with Helaena, which… is one way to go with her character, but my biggest bummer is that it takes away some of the triumph of how Rhaenyra and Daemon took King’s Landing in Fire & Blood. That was a major win for the Blacks, not the result of Alicent spelling out how they could enter the capital.

All of this may sound like I hated House of the Dragon Season 2, but I did enjoy it for the most part. Having read Fire & Blood, though, I can definitely see changes from the book that diverge pretty wildly from what George R.R. Martin wrote and might not sit well with him. For now, we can only wait and see what he plans to say about it, and/or rewatch House of the Dragon streaming with a Max subscription.

When Season 2 of House of the Dragon came to a close on the 2024 TV schedule, it’s safe to say that many were left with a sour taste in their mouths. While HOTD’s ending included a strong Game of Thrones connection and some epic moments, overall, it was a divisive finale. It turns out, the man behind the books all of this is based on, George R.R. Martin, is also not thrilled with the GOT prequel at the moment. However, after he dropped a dramatic post about it, fans popped off at him over The Winds of Winter.

George R.R. Martin Posted A Dramatic Statement About House Of The Dragon

As we know, George R. R. Martin is very active on his site, Not A Blog, and most recently he wrote about the Burning of Zozobra. For the most part, the post is about the history of the Santa Fe-based event, however, he also wrote about how it’s been “a pretty wretched year.” He then opened up about his travels and what he’ll write about more later.

However, notably, he also called out the fact that he’s not looking forward to writing about House of the Dragon, explaining:

He really just kind of threw that in at the end of his post with basically no elaboration. However, while the author did like the addition of the dog and praised Tom Glynn-Carney’s performance as Aegon this season, he also has specific complaints about HOTD. So, this statement isn't exactly a surprise.

Plus, considering fans disliked Daemon’s Harrenhal plot and some had complaints about the Season 2 finale being anticlimactic, I can see why Martin is not thrilled at the moment.

However, fans are not here for Mr. Martin’s dramatics either, because while he’s not happy about House of the Dragon, they’re not thrilled that Winds of Winter still isn’t finished.

Fans Are Popping Off About It And The Fact That Winds Of Winter Still Isn’t Finished 

Now, George is clearly upset about House of the Dragon, however, he didn’t elaborate on why in that post. So, naturally, in true Game of Thrones fandom fashion, many called out the fact that his book Winds of Winter still isn’t finished, and they’re still waiting for it.

For example, @shwinnypooh wondered why he was blogging instead of working on the book, explaining:

On the same wave-length, @mattglesias retweeted an X post about Martin’s HOTD take and wrote:

Meanwhile, @mbapadre is also upset that this blog post went up and we still don't have the long-awaited book:

Keeping the trend of aggressive posts alive, @Bern2688 commented about their frustrations regarding Winds of Winter and Martin’s latest blog, writing:

Again, frustration is the overall name of the game here. While Martin is clearly flustered about House of the Dragon, his fans are still angry about the fact that they can’t read Winds of Winter.

@Alia_MovieGirl posted a funny picture of Tom Glynn-Carney on his phone behind the scenes of HOTD (which you can see in the final slide of the actor’s original IG post embedded below) and wrote:

Overall, there’s just a lot of annoyance and bitterness going around the Game of Thrones fandom at the moment.

Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll learn more about why George R.R. Martin is mad about House of the Dragon. Then, maybe someday he’ll finally appease fans and publish The Winds of Winter.

In the meantime, I’ll provide you with something you can do right now, in preparation for HOTD Season 3, you can stream both the first two seasons as well as Game of Thrones with a Max subscription. And as we learn more about all the drama we talked about above, we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

House of the Dragon’s Season 3 renewal means fans can breathe a sigh of relief about upcoming episodes, particularly given the Game of Thrones spinoff ended on quite a few cliffhangers. While fans might be bullish about the renewal news, I think we can all agree the fantasy drama is not exactly a “fun” watch a huge percentage of the time. Filming, on the other hand, is a bit different as Olivia Cooke opened up about bringing levity to a scene about a dead kid whose head had to be fetched and sewn.

I know it feels like a lifetime ago in the House of the Dragon family tree timeline that Blood and Cheese came and assassinated young Jaehaerys in front of his mother. The death episode was harrowing earlier in Season 2, and it was even harder to watch when the next episode hit the 2024 TV schedule. That’s because the next episode featured a funeral in the streets, crowded with people, while Jaeherys was paraded around with his head sewn back on.

Series lead Olivia Cooke was a key actor in the funeral scene, sitting in the back of a horse-drawn vehicle with Phia Saban. The carriage they sat in was open air, which meant they had a direct view of the prosthetic that was built. It sounds gruesome, but per Cooke, after a time on House of the Dragon you kind of get used to the spectacle of blood and gore surrounding you at all times.

Yes, Phia and Olivia confirmed to Variety they had a sing-a-long going on in between takes of the funeral scene. I can just imagine them busting out some Taylor Swift (or whomever, she didn't clarify) and then going straight into their super-serious funeral faces every single time the cameras started rolling again. It's a weird business, TV.

Meanwhile, Phia Saban also reacted to being shown the dummy of the real-life actor and recalled how incredibly realistic it honestly looked.

Did you know that was a fake dummy person and not just makeup on the young actor? I'm not really sure I thought about it much while watching, but it really does go to show how much attention goes into the details of making sure the fantasy series looks as good as possible.

It's not a huge surprise to hear the actors look for a little levity while filming for long hours on the show. There's video of Game of Thrones actors looking silly while riding dragons, and I'm sure there are plenty of goofy moments we don't know about that took place while shooting the worst scenes in the show's history. You can't just be sad for months on end, and at the end of the day, it's just a job with coworkers like any other.

Obviously, a lot has come to pass on the series since Jaeherys was murdered, and there’s only more death and destruction to come. House of the Dragon won't be back this year, but expect tons of new updates as new episodes start coming together.

Ah, Game of Thrones. A chapter of my life that I have long since revisited several times – but you want to know what has changed? My perception of Sansa Stark. 

Let me preface this by saying that the world of A Song of Ice and Fire has plenty of characters that you either grow to hate or grow to love. Sansa was undoubtedly one of those for me. Ever since I began watching the show back in 2016, and watched it through the end, I never had the fondest thoughts about good old Lady Stark. 

But, I recently rewatched Game of Thrones for fun, and as I did, I slowly began to realize that how I viewed Sansa, as an annoying little girl at first, had changed completely. 

Maybe it was because my frontal lobe was fully developed at the time, and I finally had the sense to think about what the character had gone through. Even so, here I was…coming to a shocking realization that Sansa really…isn’t that bad. Like at all. And people need to stop hating her. 

Before We Dig Into The Character – Sophie Turner Was Fantastic As Sansa Throughout The Show

So, let’s start off by saying that I love Sophie Turner with all my heart. I have so much respect for anyone in the Game of Thrones cast, but I have even more major respect for the young men and women who began this show as children and turned into formidable actors by the end of it, yet still delivered a performance in their younger years that is nearly impossible to beat. 

Turner is one of those actors. While I do have a particular love for her, considering she’s rooted for Penn State, my alma mater, in the past, we’re talking solely about her acting skills here, and she knocked it out of the park from day one. Watching her when she was a teenager, playing a younger Sansa with that quiver and shake in her voice – it’s hard to portray that kind of emotion at such a young age. 

You can’t help but respect her. Honestly, I’ll support anything she does in the future with that amount of acting skill. 

Let’s Begin By Saying I Used To Hate Sansa

Alright, now that I’ve finished praising Turner, let’s dig into Sansa. 

I absolutely hated her when I was younger. And I think I know why. When I first watched this show, only six seasons were available, and while Sansa had gone through a lot in those six seasons, it wasn’t really until later seasons that we started to see that shift with her from a highborn lady to a natural leader. 

Then I had to wait years for the next two seasons, and I think, like D&D, that I just forgot everything she had gone through. Watching this series consistently without breaks in content allowed me to fully digest her insane character arc and how much she had survived. 

But before I had that, I couldn’t stand her. I thought she was just a privileged little lady who had everything in life and just wanted more and more. Personally, Season 1 Sansa is still that way, even on a rewatch, but boy…now, as an adult, everything changes in Season 2. 

Season 2 Is Where Things Began To Change 

Season 2 is where we really start to see Sansa fighting for her life. Her father has been killed in one of the most shocking Game of Thrones moments ever, and her brother is now warring with the Lannisters. This is the moment we see her forced to grow up. 

It takes time. A lot of time. But she’s forced to play the Game of Thrones in a way that we haven’t really seen – from the inside out, trying to look as potentially loyal as possible while attaining allies who could maybe help her escape, such as Margaery, but that doesn’t come until Season 3. We see her genuinely starting to realize the situation she has gotten herself into. 

Her privileged attitude really begins to go right out the window. Seasons 3 and 4 put this mentality to the test, where she does exactly as she’s told to do to survive, but in Season 5…it all changes again. 

Season 5 As An Adult Made Me Want To Save Her Myself And Give Her A Home

I don’t want to spend that much time on Sansa’s story in Season 5. It’s disgusting and heartbreaking, and it makes adult-me want to sob every time I watch it. When I was younger, watching this was saddening but not nearly as enraging it was now, realizing just how much this young woman had dealt with. 

Then, Ramsay had to come along and ruin everything. I’ve seen some horrible things said about this scene online, and all I want to say is that no matter what Sansa has said or done in the past, she never deserved what happened to her. I was forever grateful when Theon was able to get her out of the castle. Truthfully, now, it made me want to give her a home, too. No one should ever have to go through that. 

I Never Realized Just How Badass She Was Until Season 6

Season 6 is probably one of my favorite seasons of Game of Thrones for various reasons, but now, rewatching it, I realize it’s the moment Sansa really started to become a leader. While she doesn’t know anything about battle strategy, she has the mind of the nobles that she was forced to reside with for years on end on her side. 

She uses that to her advantage, and helps Jon Snow gain allies in order to fight Ramsey. Not only that, but she pulls a fast one and gets the army of the Vale to end the Battle of the Bastards real quick. Do you know how badass she looks as she stands there, watching as Ramsey and his men are taken down? Ugh, utter revenge; sweet revenge. 

Honestly, She Deserves The Ending She Got After Everything She Went Through And How She's Grown

I still don’t necessarily agree with how we ended some stories for Season 8 and the overall Game of Thrones ending. There are some things I still don’t agree with to this day, and even rewatching it reminds me of how much I don’t agree with them. 

However, I’ve grown to realize that Sansa deserves the title of Queen in the North. She really did everything that she could do to get her home back and show that the Starks deserve to stay in the North, showing a complete turnaround from what she was as a child – a needy lady who wanted to go south to King’s Landing. 

Sure, she can’t fight. She’s not a warrior. She doesn’t have dragons, or direwolves anymore to use as weapons. But she has her mind. She’s a capable young woman who grew up in probably some of the most traumatizing ways a girl can imagine…and for that, she earns my utmost respect, and I would support her in a heartbeat. 

I still think Daenerys should have become queen, that she and Sansa could have worked something out that didn't seem so quickly done like with Bran because, of course, it was. Still, even so, I’m glad that at least one of the mighty women that I adored throughout this series got the ending they deserved. 

While Game of Thrones is long over, House of the Dragon Season 3 is coming in a few years, and who knows? I might end up liking a character there just as much as I like Sansa now. But, perhaps another Game of Thrones rewatch is needed before we decide on that. Regardless, she’ll always be my Queen in the North. 

The Jon Snow actor and HBO fixture recently spoke with GQ to promote his role on the new season of the hit series Industry. But, of course, it was probably inevitable that the actor would be asked about his culturally relevant former TV show, which is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire storyline. More specifically, as for how the public perception of the show changed amid his stint in rehab, Kit Harington had the following to say:

With all due respect to the man’s sobriety efforts, that’s something akin to Captain America being unfrozen in the modern day and seeing all the changes. For the British actor it must have felt like one moment everyone's talking about the brilliance of "A Knight of Seven Kingdoms," and then the next everyone's taking down the final chapter and its wild decisions.

Kit Harington’s 2019 rehab visit was reported back when it had happened, but what’s interesting to note is the fact that it seems that the Game of Thrones finale wasn’t the cause, as previously speculated. Rather, Harington was working on his own personal wellness journey connected to addiction, and his stay at a Connecticut-based facility happened smack dab in the middle of the madness that surrounded Season 8’s series ender.

That note makes Mr. Harington’s continued remarks about completing rehab simultaneously more upsetting and uplifting. Further taking pride in his efforts, the Eternals cast member shared these recollections:

No matter where anyone stands on the ending of Game of Thrones, that’s not a reflection on the Beast Within star. What does show his character is his openness to discuss his rehab journey, especially in a setting as “vaguely inappropriate” as the pub that he chose for the interview at hand.

His pride is well earned, and his spot on the list of similarly proud celebrity teetotalers could certainly be an inspiration for anyone else who may be looking to face that matter personally. He may not be Jon Snow, but Kit Harington is most certainly a hero to be able to do that.

If all of this talk about the entire Game of Thrones universe has you looking to return to the Seven Kingdoms yet again, all you need is a Max subscription to do just that. As past, present, and future are all going to be heading to that very stream, it’s a journey that’s at your reach. However, don’t forget to check out Kit Harington’s role in Industry Season 3, as it unfolds every Sunday at 9 PM EST on both HBO and Max.

The actor, whose standalone GoT spinoff was shelved earlier this year, did actually reprise the role of Jon Snow for the game, and has apparently enjoyed his time with the RPG offshoot. What he doesn’t enjoy as much, however, is being roasted by buddies over exchanges with what turned out to be non-fans. Here’s how Harington explained that particular brand of awkwardness in an interview with Page Six:

To be fair to any and every one of Kit Harington's mates who have rousing chuckles over this kind of thing, it's pretty flipping funny, and the actor isn't clueless about why others are so gleeful about it. But it's assumely far less amusing (and more cold-sweat-provoking) in the moment to have allowed hubris to rear its inflated head, only to realize that others aren't asking you to share in any of their lifelong keepsakes, but rather to be an extension of the tool that makes the keepsakes happen.

Still funny for others, though, absolutely. But Harington described it with sli-i-ightly less positive language, before amusingly acknowleding that those aren't the majority of his experiences with fans. In his words:

To have a snapshot of Harington's face in the moment of realization, opposite possibly a twinge of confusion from the person asking for the picture. That's cringe art, my friends, but all in good fun, of course.

It'll be interesting to see if Kit Harington makes a return to the live-action universe based on George R.R. Martin's characters and stories, and how that might affect his future photo-taking opportunities. But for now, fans can look forward to seeing him back on HBO for Season 3 of the corporate-world drama Industry, which is available to stream with a Max subscription for its premiere on Sunday, August 11. In terms of less critically acclaimed projects, his werewolf horror movie The Beast Within hit theaters at the end of July, so keep an eye out for that.

So, here’s the deal. We’re a big House of the Dragon household. Like to the point where we typically start an episode within 5-10 minutes of it hitting Max the night of. The first six episodes of the season my husband and I watched faithfully on Sundays, but last week was a struggle and we didn’t get to the episode until mid-week. Then, when the finale hit this past Sunday we didn’t watch at all. In fact, at the time of this writing, I’m still one episode behind.

What changed? The Olympics, of course. I’ve been watching live Olympics events daily, nightly, whenever I can get a chance to throw an event on, that’s been the TV of my choice. It’s not even that I think the Olympics are better than HOTD, it’s just that in the scale of appointment TV, sporting events are tops.

For example, if pommel horse guy wins a medal, that’s going to be everywhere in the morning. If Simon Biles and a bunch of gymnasts fall off a balance beam, it’s hard to avoid that information on the Internet. I work on the Internet for a living. I can’t avoid it, but the nice thing about most House of the Dragon headlines is that they won’t spoil me to the point where I already know exactly what’s going to happen. So while I think watching the series with my Max subscription is also appointment TV, I’ve taken my foot off the gas the last couple of weekends and prioritized other content.

I just feel like I can’t be the only one skewing the numbers a bit. While I don’t know how much audience crossover there is between a very bloody fantasy drama and a series of sporting events designed to unify countries, even if there’s only a few hundred thousand people who are prioritizing the Olympics, that would surely be enough to drop the night of viewership numbers down from a little over 9 million to 8.9 million, right?

Honestly, given I still very much plan to watch “The Queen Who Ever Was” after the closing ceremony, It’s also a possibility that perhaps more people are into the show in Season 2 and are just getting to the final episodes at a delayed rate.

Ultimately, 8.9 million viewers is a solid number for any TV show, and it’s up from the Season 2 premiere, indicating people have been catching up with the fantasy drama as it goes along anyway. HBO previously confirmed this (via Deadline) though it’s worth pointing out that in Live+ ratings the show is averaging fewer viewers in its long tail (25 million) than it was during Season 1 (29 million).

Given we now have an end date with Season 4, I’m very much not ready to give up on the Greens or Blacks. Winter (Olympics) may be coming, but as long as Max doesn’t switch to a wintertime premiere date, we shouldn’t have this overlap issue again.

Now, I love Game Of Thrones, and to be honest, I’m a bit more defensive of the later seasons than most fans. There are a lot of terrific moments to be found even in Season 8 (like Arya and The Hound’s goodbye), but it’s obviously not as good as the rest of the show. Some of that is because of absolutely idiotic decisions like which character was put on the Iron Throne, but I’d argue the single biggest problem was the pacing. And that’s what has me the most concerned with this announcement.

For its first six seasons, the ones an overwhelming percentage of fans all love, Game Of Thrones really took its time moving the pieces around the board. There were, of course, a steady stream of OMG moments throughout, but they all came one step at a time. More often than not, you can point to a little moment that happened five episodes ago, which caused a character to do something four episodes ago, which led to a confrontation three episodes ago, which alerted another character two episodes ago, which led to a fork in the road choice last episode, which all conspired to create the OMG moment.

But the later seasons were different. In an effort to devote its gigantic budget to large battles, dragon CGI and bigger moments, the show condensed down to its total episodes. Season 7 only had seven, and Season 8 only had six. In fairness, that allowed for some absolutely stunning extended sequences, most prominently the battle between the Lannister and Targaryen armies in 7x4, the battle between the living and the dead in 8x3 and the final battle for King’s Landing in 8x5, but instead of a series of smaller moments that led to bigger moments, the show started feeling like a rushed hurry toward the finish line.

That’s the concern I have with House Of The Dragon. There are things I really love about the show. In its best moments, it feels as good as anything Game Of Thrones gave us, but at times, the pacing seems a little inconsistent. During the first season, I chalked that up to the numerous time jumps and all the backstory the show was trying to tell. There wasn’t room for subtleties and careful plotting when they were trying to get in more than a decade of events. But now we’re in the main plot of the story. Apart from some Daemon hallucinations that just went on and on, I was relatively happy with the pace of the show during Season 2 (even if some fans thought it was too slow), but with only two seasons left, I’m already worried about what’s to come, especially because of a Season 2 decision the showrunners made.

Remember how I complained about the episode count for Game Of Thrones in the final seasons? Well, House Of The Dragon has already gone down that road. After the traditional Season 1 of ten episodes, the show scaled back to eight episodes on Season 2. At this point, we don’t know how many we’re going to get during the final two seasons, which Ryan Condal confirmed to TV Line, but I would be honestly surprised if they went back to the full ten for each. That’s concerning.

Everyone loves to talk about the big moments in Game Of Thrones. They love to talk about how shocking The Red Wedding was or how they never saw the big Jon Snow reveal coming. I agree. Those OMG moments are what will always stick out for most people, but House Of The Dragon would be well served to remember that those moments only hit as hard as they did because we spent so many quiet moments with the characters building up to them. The show runners would be well served to remember that some of the moments that have most resonated with fans have involved a kicked dog and a foot fetish and a dinner scene with a dying man.

Yes, we need dragon fights, but we also need time to build more side characters and to humanize the people we're rooting for. If we’re only going to get two seasons and perhaps not even twenty episodes more, the writers need to figure out ways to slow things down long enough to give us that, and if they do, it'll make the OMG moments all the more meaningful.

In the wake of House of the Dragon's final episode of Season 2, the wait has officially begun for Season 3 to continue the stories of the increasingly twisted Targaryen family tree. By the time the final credits rolled, three of the riderless dragons in House of the Dragon had been claimed by dragonseeds, with Rhaena presumably on the verge of claiming the wild dragon in the Vale. The forces of the Blacks and the Greens were marching and/or sailing towards war, all setting up a huge Season 3 premiere.

But more than a day after the finale, I find myself thinking back to a much more minor moment from the episode and how it may have debunked a rumor from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood that he never gave a definitive answer for. And that is regarding Corlys Velaryon and the two bastard boys of Hull.

New Background On Alyn And Addam Of Hull

House of the Dragon hasn't really played it coy in Season 2 about who the father of Alyn and Addam of Hull is, with even Rhaenys pointing them out to her husband shortly before her emotional death. Corlys is clearly their bio dad, with Addam being more or less okay with his status as the Sea Snake's bastard. Alyn, on the other hand, had quite a speech for Corlys in the Season 2 finale. He said:

By the look on his face, Corlys clearly had not packed up his baggage to go on this guilt trip with Alyn! Honestly, with how much has happened since Season 1, it feels like the deaths that Alyn referred to – Laenor, Laena, and Lucerys – happened a very long time ago. Alyn also wasn't done with his speech to the Sea Snake:

To add insult onto injury for Alyn, only he of the two brothers seems to have inherited the white hair of the Targaryens and Velaryons, as his dragon-riding brother Addam has dark hair. All in all, this was an emotional scene between a father and his unacknowledged bastard son, and gave Abubakar Salim the chance to show off some acting range opposite Steve Toussaint, but really didn't tell us much of anything we didn't know or couldn't have guessed... regarding the show, anyway.

The situation with these two bastard brothers is a lot stickier in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, and Alyn's wording in his allusion to Laenor seems to settle a rumor from that fictional Targaryen history book.

What George R.R. Martin Wrote In Fire & Blood

Spoilers ahead for Fire & Blood through the dragonseeds portion of the chapter called "The Dying of the Dragons – The Red Dragon and the Gold."

Just as how Addam being able to claim Seasmoke seemed like a subtle clue that Laenor had truly died somewhere off-screen based on the rules of dragonriders from George R.R. Martin's written works after faking his death in Season 1, the latest allusion to Laenor is a lot more meaningful when it comes to Fire & Blood than just Alyn taking Corlys on a guilt trip in the show.

In the book, Addam did indeed claim Seasmoke, and the book describes the dragonseed as a boy "whose origins remain a matter of dispute amongst historians to this day." He and his brother were the bastard sons of Marilda, who gave birth to Addam at the age of 16 and Alyn when she was "barely 18." By their looks, it was clear that the boys were bastards with Valyrian blood, but Marilda didn't claim the identity of their father until the call went out for dragonseeds.

And she didn't claim that Corlys was their father, but Laenor. Martin writes:

The tale that Laenor was the father of Addam and Alyn was recorded in Fire & Blood in-universe by Grand Maester Munkun and Septon Eustace, but the cruder court fool Mushroom presented a different theory: that they "had been sired not by the Sea Snake's son, but by the Sea Snake himself." The text reads:

In the book as in the show, Corlys is clearly the much more likely candidate to have fathered the bastards, but Laenor was not ruled out. It's a different story in House of the Dragon, all thanks to Alyn recalling when he saw Corlys walking Laenor through the market when both sons were just boys. In the show, Laenor simply wouldn't have been old enough to be believable as a possible father for Addam and Alyn.

Therefore, just like how House of the Dragon settled the rumor of what happened with Daemon and Rhaenyra that led to his second exile back in early Season 1, the HBO series seemingly settled that the father of Addam and Alyn is unquestionably Corlys, with the Sea Snake not having the option of trying to sell that the young men were the product of anything other than an affair with a commoner while married to Rhaenys.

Will this matter in the long run of the series? Probably not, since everybody amongst the Blacks and the Greens probably has much bigger concerns as of the end of Season 2 than Corlys siring a pair of bastards with no different candidate as their bio father. Plus, it's pretty clear at this point that show canon and book canon diverged a while ago. Still, as a Fire & Blood reader, I enjoy getting these moments of debunking and settling.

And who knows? Maybe I'll reread Fire & Blood over the course of hiatus to see if I missed anything while watching House of the Dragon Season 2. If the break between seasons is similar to what it was last time, we may not get Season 3 until 2026. Either way, you can revisit the first two seasons of HOTD and all eight seasons of Game of Thrones streaming with a Max subscription. Plus, there are many other upcoming viewing options that you can find on our 2024 TV schedule now.

House of the Dragon has aired its last original episode of the 2024 TV schedule with the Season 2 finale, which ended in such a way that many fans may now be wishing that the second season wasn't shortened compared to Season 1. By the time the final credits rolled, armies were marching from all corners of Westeros while opposing forces were preparing for battle at sea, all with the addition of three dragons for the Blacks with Rhaenyra's dragonseeds. Some elements were quite similar to what George R.R. Martin wrote in Fire & Blood... as well as what he wrote in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga on which Game of Thrones was based.

The biggest reveals of the episode didn't really have to do with the Blacks vs. Greens conflict or even Alicent's daring move to visit Dragonstone and offer to sabotage her sons in order to escape with Helaena and Jaehaera, a.k.a. the less violent members of the Targaryen family tree. No, for me the biggest twist was that "The Queen Who Ever Was" delivered the strongest House of the Dragon tie back to Game of Thrones to date, and it was all courtesy of the last of Daemon's much-maligned Harrenhal visions.

Daemon's Vision Of Rhaenyra, Daenerys, And The Long Night

House of the Dragon continued to play coy with Daemon's loyalties through almost to the very end of the very last episode of Season 2, but one last visit to the spooky Harrenhal godswood with Alys Rivers led to a vision that showed Daemon exactly what his wife/niece/queen had tried to tell him about: the song of ice and fire. In a pretty creepy sequence directed by Geeta Vasant Patel in her post-Episode 3 return to House of the Dragon, he touched the bark of a weirwood tree and the sap that resembled blood for a trip that was... well, super trippy even by Season 2 Daemon standards!

The first shot of the vision undoubtedly means more to A Song of Ice and Fire readers than show-only fans for Game of Thrones and/or House of the Dragon, as none other than pre-tree Bloodraven made an appearance. Then, there were shots of the Night King (famously killed in one of GOT's most divisive final season twists) and dead dragons, a person walking through a field of blood and corpses, followed by what seemed to be another instance of foreshadowing Daemon's fate in this era of Targaryen history.

Things got more interesting from a Game of Thrones standpoint with the shot of a red comet followed by the naked back of a young woman with three baby dragons curled around her body, making it pretty clear that Daemon was getting a vision of Daenerys. It was so effectively shot that for a split second, I was expecting to see a cameo from Emilia Clarke as the woman sitting on the Iron Throne rather than Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra.

The vision ended with Daemon being confronted by a specter of Helaena, although it's not 100% clear if this was the real Helaena via on of her green dreams or Daemon continuing to be haunted by guilt of Blood and Cheese killing the wrong person. All in all, the sequence was as close to we've gotten as a shot-for-shot remake of part of Game of Thrones, and was also enough to convince Daemon that Rhaenyra was indeed the rightful queen and he intended to fight for her to his death or their story is complete.

The Blacks Have Bigger Problems

As much as Daemon was spooked by the vision – and as taken aback as I was that the Rogue Prince of all people was the one to utter "Winter is coming" in this episode – the final minutes of the finale made it clear that the Blacks have much more imminent problems than the White Walkers who will be battled by Dany and Jon more than a century in the future.

Because the final minutes of "The Queen Who Ever Was" checked in with the players who had been amassed over the course of Season 2 getting into place for all-out war in Season 3. Some of the reveals weren't too shocking, such as Daemon overlooking his army or Larys spiriting Aegon away from King's Landing.

Despite my status as a fan of Team Black, I'm primarily curious about what Otto Hightower has evidently been doing in captivity since Aegon dismissed him as Hand, and I'm already ready to see more of the blue dragon Tessarion now that Daeron Targaryen is leading an army from Oldtown. That said, seeing an army of Northmen marching across the Twins was a highlight of the finale for me. Once a Stark fan, always a Stark fan, I guess!

So while the Blacks had the huge Game of Thrones connection in the finale as well as the recent addition of three adult dragons (possibly with Rhaena adding a fourth in Season 3) and everybody except Aemond seems resigned to Rhaenyra taking King's Landing, armies marching and/or sailing from all over the Seven Kingdoms spells disaster for everybody. Aemond and Vhagar already laid waste to one city, and even Rhaenyra has come around to the idea of roasting some towns for the Blacks' vision of the greater good.

All in all, I think it's probably a safe bet that Season 3 could get off to an even bloodier start than Season 2, despite the second season premiere delivering Blood and Cheese. My only hope is just that the break between Seasons 2 and 3 isn't as long as the two years between Seasons 1 and 2.

As a Fire & Blood reader, I wouldn't have minded an in-universe time jump in order to age up some of the younger characters whose fates are likely to be important in Season 3, but the way Season 2 ended suggests that the story will need to pick up almost exactly where it left off. For now, fans can always revisit the full first two seasons of House of the Dragon streaming with a Max subscription, as well as all eight seasons of Game of Thrones.

I'm also considering a reread of Fire & Blood after I deliberately didn't reread it ahead of HOTD Season 2, and that book from George R.R. Martin is another option for anybody else who wants a fix of Westeros while waiting for new episodes... as long as the potential reader doesn't mind spoilers, at least.

Oscar Tully became Lord Paramount of The Riverlands following the death of his grandfather Grover earlier in the season, and while Daemon initially thinks he can easily manipulate or intimidate him in between hallucinations, it turns out he’s not so easily pushed over. Despite his diminutive stature, lack of experience and age, he’s quite thoughtful and confident, and when he speaks, people around him, regardless of their ages, listen. His whole presentation is giving heavy Lyanna Mormont vibes, and House Of The Dragon fans are loving it. I counted three different tweets comparing the two characters that all had more than 35,000 likes on X, formerly known as Twitter. Here’s an example…

Now, you could easily just chalk these comparisons up to the two being underage white rulers with black hair and eloquence when they speak, but I actually think there’s more to it than that. Each of the actors (Archie Barnes and Bella Ramsey) has an understated confidence about them when they talk. They don’t shout, but they have a presence when they speak that makes you want to listen. It’s like they lean into certain words for emphasis that really accentuate their point without being too loud about it.

In addition, they also both feel so honorable, like they’re really determined to take the right path forward, despite long odds. That’s been mostly portrayed as a feature of their larger houses too. It’s not that every character with the last name Mormont or Tully is perfect. Prior to the events of Game Of Thrones, Jorah Mormont is forced to flee after he’s caught selling slaves (for his “expensive wife”), and Catelyn Stark (nee Tully) mistreats Jon Snow, but both of them feel deeply embarrassed by their actions and like they let their families down. Some fans have picked up on this with Oscar Tully too, as seen in this comparison…

Game Of Thrones proved throughout its run that if a character resonates enough with fans, they’re not opposed to giving them a more expanded role. Tully reportedly isn’t a huge character in the books, but given what we’ve seen before, it wouldn’t be a surprise for him to get a much larger role in the war to come.

You can watch House Of The Dragon’s Season Two finale when it airs tonights on HBO or via other streaming options. The show has already been renewed for Season Three, but it’ll likely be well more than a year before we get it. So, fans should enjoy the last little bit as best as they can. 

Season 2 of House of the Dragon has ignited all-out war in Westeros, showing the destructive power of the winged creatures. Fans are trying to keep track of which HOTD dragon belongs to who, with new ones regularly introduced alongside members of the Targaryen family tree. One fan tweeted out a hot take regarding one way the prequel is superior to the original show, it reads:

Points were made. While Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons had a big presence throughout Game of Thrones' seasons on the air, they didn't necessarily have distinctive characterizations. But each of the magical creatures in HOTD have their own appearance and (more importantly) personalities. And this will make their inevitable onscreen deaths all the more devastating as more fall during the Dance of Dragons.

As the above tweet pointed out, the title characters of House of the Dragon feel like real characters, rather than just vessels for badassery and destruction. The most recent episode, "The Red Sowing" was a prime example of this, where Rhaenyra tasked smallfolk with trying to claim some of the dragons living on Dragonstone.

While Vermithor violently killed the Targaryen bastards before Hugh claimed him by standing strongly and screaming at the massive creature, Silverwing went through with things much differently. Instead, she was gentle, tossing around Ulf White before allowing him to ride her over King's Landing. Despite both of the dragons being similar in age and size, they connected with new dragonriders in very different ways.

Making the dragons into individuals with their own personalities definitely help the audience connect with each flying creature. And since the concept of House of the Dragon is watching how the Targaryen civil war ends up killing off the magical beasts, having the audience really get to know each one which likely make the death scenes all the more painful.

Case in point: Rhaenys and Melys' deaths in The Battle at Rook's Rest. The connection between rider and dragon was palpable, which is what made their final moments together so tragic. We also got to see how close Aegon and Sunfyre were before that same battle. And that's not even mentioning the sleepy diva herself Vhagar.

House of the Dragon airs new episodes Sundays on HBO. Check out the TV premiere list.

Game of Thrones is not exactly the type of show that’s filled with too many feel-good scenes. Given the number of shocking moments GOT has given audiences with its gruesome character deaths, it makes any endearing moment on the show all the more memorable. When looking back on her epic character, Gwendoline Christie spoke to Radio Times about one Brienne of Tarth moment people were surprised by:

I can understand why people were surprised to see Brienne of Tarth not hide her smile in one of Season 8’s best moments. We normally didn't see the honorable warrior light up too much. Can you blame her? She battled dark forces to protect the people she served and had been a survivor of bullying due to her muscular appearance not being one of the typical women of Westeros. This is all the more reason why Brienne getting knighted was a moment worthy of a smile, because she finally got respect and recognition for her strength and skills.

After her standout performance in Game of Thrones, Gwendoline Christie continued playing strong female characters. She joined The Hunger Games: Mockingjay as Commander Lyme, she was the fan-favorite Captain Phasma in Star Wars, and she was part of Tim Burton’s Wednesday as Principal Larissa Weems. Despite having moved on from the adapted George R.R. Martin series, it doesn’t mean Christie doesn’t still hold Brienne of Tarth close to her heart, as she said:

The HBO series truly did a great job telling Brienne of Tarth’s story to make her such a fan favorite. By the end of the series, Gwendoline Christie's character was a well-respected knight and the commander of Bran’s Kingsguard. She was a character who knew who she was and never conformed to societal pressure around her to be anything less. And I love her explanation of that smile we got when she achieved what she'd been working toward.

Gwendoline Christie admits years after Game of Thrones that fans were surprised to see Brienne of Tarth smiling the moment she was knighted. I’m sure fans smiled along with the warrior who went from suffering a tough upbringing to finally achieving her lifelong dream of being a knight. Feel free to rewatch Brienne getting knighted and other epic moments of hers in the Emmy Award-winning series with a Max subscription.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 7 of House of the Dragon Season 2, called "The Red Sowing."

House of the Dragon is quickly approaching its finale in the 2024 TV schedule, thanks to Season 2 running for two fewer episodes than Season 1. The Blacks have been in disarray for much of the season, with Daemon sulking (and hallucinating) after his arrival at the spooky Harrenhal, Rhaenys dead with Meleys in battle, and Rhaenyra stuck on what course to pursue to defeat the Greens with minimal loss of life to the smallfolk. Well, she made some very significant progress on that front in "The Red Sowing," in a story that surprisingly dropped a reveal about a Targaryen who left the game of thrones in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood book.

Or to be more specific, a Targaryen who was disinherited from the game of thrones by her father in Fire & Blood! Let's get into what "The Red Sowing" revealed about this lost Targaryen and Hugh from King's Landing. Note: light spoilers are ahead for Fire & Blood but none for the era of the Greens vs. the Blacks.

Hugh's Targaryen Mother

As was foreshadowed earlier in Season 2, the dragonseeds – a.k.a. the bastard children of various Targaryens who spent their nights in low places – have an important part to play. With some help from Mysaria, Rhaenyra realized that these bastards might have enough Targaryen blood to claim dragons... just without the Targaryen status.

And when word spread in King's Landing that the Blacks were on the lookout for smallfolk with Targaryen blood to claim dragons, Hugh and Ulf were among those tempted. In justifying his desire to go to Rhaenyra, Hugh dropped a bombshell on his wife:

While Hugh didn't actually name his mother among the women in the Targaryen family tree, there can be no doubt of her identity unless House of the Dragon invented another daughter of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne. In the show's canon, Hugh is the son of Princess Saera, who the younger sister of Baelon and Alyssa, who in turn were the parents of Viserys and Daemon.

Saera's story isn't a happy one in the pages of Fire & Blood, like the stories of most of Jaehaerys and Alysanne's thirteen children. Stubborn and spoiled, she was the ninth child overall and fifth daughter of the king and queen, with Alysanne seeing through Saera more than Jaehaerys did. The princess and two of her friends spent a great deal of time with three men, to the point that Jaehaerys in Fire & Blood eventually demanded:

Saera responded by saying that she "gave it to all three," leading Jaehaerys to say that she was "no longer my daughter." The princess was sent to stay with septas to repent, but ultimately ran away to a "Lysene pleasure garden." Saera was said to become an "infamous" but wealthy woman, and three of her illegitimate sons vied for the Iron Throne at the Great Council that eventually led to Viserys becoming king.

She chose not to return to Westeros to try and press her own claim to become queen because she "had her own kingdom" in Essos. All in all, even with relatively little conveyed in the show about Saera, it does seem that her fate is more tragic in the show as opposed to the book, since George R.R. Martin had her accumulating wealth in her own right.

The timeline is also a little fuzzy if we try too hard to merge book Saera with Hugh's unnamed mother in House of the Dragon, but that has always been the case with this show. There is some irony in the fact that the daughter that Jaehaerys declared was dead to him bore a bastard son who would go on to claim Jaehaerys' own dragon! Vermithor even roasted a bunch of other dragonseeds first.

So, House of the Dragon revealed that the Saera, the lost Targaryen princess, was the mother of one of Fire & Blood's most important dragonseeds, and I'm starting to get nervous about the Season 2 finale.

Why I'm Getting More And More Nervous

Now, Hugh claiming Vermithor and Ulf claiming Silverwing made for a pretty epic sequence in "The Red Sowing," and Aemond turning Vhagar away from Dragonstone when he spotted the two new dragons was a satisfying cliffhanger to lead into the finale. But these dragonseeds getting their dragons gives me an idea of whereabouts House of the Dragon is in adapting the Fire & Blood sequence of events, and... well, some of those are events that I'm pretty confident are going to be stressful for some of my favorites.

Just as I was pretty sure of when Rhaenys was going to die, I think fans should probably steel themselves for what's to come. Even some comments from Hugh's conversation with his wife have me at least a little on edge!

That's not to say that all of the sky is going to be falling in the Season 2 finale on August 4. I'm sure there will be a crisis or two after how Season 1 ended on Luke's death, but none of the twists that I'm particularly dreading are necessarily going to come. I do hope that the upcoming finale addresses the question of Addam's mother. While there has been enough Targaryen/Velaryon weddings in Fire & Blood that even a bastard of just Corlys could conceivably have enough Targaryen blood to claim a dragon, that didn't seem to occur to Corlys in "The Red Sowing."

Only time will tell what House of the Dragon manages to pack into its final episode of the second season, although the finale director opened up about dropping clues earlier in the season. For now, you can just plan on watching the Season 2 finale on Sunday, April 4 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO or streaming with a Max subscription. You can also find every earlier episode of Season 2 and the full first season on the streamer, as well as all eight seasons of Game of Thrones.

I get it. I’m typically a pretty patient viewer and don’t always want action and immediate gratification. Side quests are often perfectly fine with me, but even I’ve said, “We’re still doing this?” three or four times to my wife while watching the past few episodes. It’s been a slog, but I think I know why the show is progressing Daemon’s storyline so slowly, and it has nothing to do with the visions themselves. Let’s recap quickly.

In an effort to secure an army of troops, Daemon flew on dragonback to Harrenhal to claim the Riverlands in episode 2. He arrived to find nothing more than Larys Strong’s relatives hanging out, and he’s spent the last four episodes mostly seeing bizarre visions, interacting with a healer and occasionally speaking with the most powerful families who all have their own forces. It’s been giving serious House Of Black And White vibes, and fans, whether on social media or in reaction videos, have repeatedly complained about how it seems to be the same thing every week. They’re also not happy about how far Daemon seems from everything else going on.

I get all the complaints, but the thing is, I think the part about Daemon being further away from the plot is more important than the visions themselves. Now, that’s not to say everything Daemon is seeing isn’t important. It is. He’s on an emotional journey wrestling with his place in the Targaryen line, his subservient relationship with Rhaenyra and his own feelings of inadequacy. The former heir needs to come to terms with all of this, and I’m sure the showrunners feel having us watch that internal struggle will help him grow as a character and make moments down the road more meaningful. I’m sure it will.

But it doesn’t take four and a half episodes and counting to do that. That’s almost as many episodes total as we got with the younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent. No, I think the primary goal here is very specifically to advance the plot for everyone else without Daemon. We’re all annoyed about how Daemon isn’t at the small council meetings and wasn’t there to help Princess Rhaenys in her fight with Aemon and King Aegon, but Daemon has been presented to viewers as a reckless man of action who jumps into every fight. He preaches aggression all the time, and if the writers want to move the civil war along slowly, one chess move at a time, it’s easier to do that without Daemon actively in play.

I don’t know where any of this is going. I don’t read the books and have actively avoided spoilers, but from what I’ve seen of Daemon, he’s a man of action. He’s someone who tends to accelerate conflict and forward the plot quickly. So, as much as these visions every week are about him, the fact that they’re taking soooooo long is likely less about what he’s seeing and more about keeping him separate from other things happening.

There are two episodes left in the acclaimed second season. You can watch House Of The Dragon on HBO, Max and via other streaming options on Sunday evenings.

Kit Harington Returned To The World Of Game Of Thrones For A Video Game

Zynga launched Game of Thrones: Legends, and to announce it to the world, they had Kit Harington come back to talk about the game while embodying Jon Snow. While he wasn’t wearing the robes he donned when he was in the GOT cast, the dramatic performance was there, and it was very fun, take a look:

Game of Thrones: Legends is an RPG puzzle game for phones, and it “incorporates content and characters” from GOT and House of the Dragon. The announcement video features Harington dramatically playing the game as if he’s Jon Snow, and then he comedically snaps out of it and has a silly interaction with a fan.

The actor was excited about the game, and he explained that enthusiasm in a press release about its launch:

The game features missions, like working to claim the Iron Throne, and characters including Jon Snow, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Arya Stark, The Hound, Criston Cole and more. The goal is to lead your own house to victory by completing puzzles, making allies and strategically fighting.

Of course, this all sounds fun, and it’s exciting to see Harington back and in character as the beloved Jon Snow. However, it also feels like salt in the wound when it comes to the spinoff about his character that we’ll never see.

Yes, It Makes Me Even More Salty About the Jon Snow Spinoff

A little over two years ago, it was reported that HBO was developing a Jon Snow sequel series. Harington’s involvement in it was also made clear, however, in April of this year, news broke that it would no longer be happening.

As a massive fan of the actor and his character, I was stoked about this series, and I was deeply bummed when it didn’t come to fruition. So, yeah, seeing him come back and kind of reprise his beloved role for a video game ad hurt a bit, and it reminded me about what never was.

However, I’m working to get over that (because it has been hard), and I’m focusing on the positive. For example, while this spinoff never happened, there are lots of upcoming Game of Thrones shows that are, like the Dunk and Egg series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight (which is currently in production).

Along with that, Season 2 of House of the Dragon is currently airing on the 2024 TV schedule, and it’s been fabulous so far!

All around, there’s a lot of Game of Thrones content to go around, including this new game and the ad Kit Harington did for it. However, I’ll always wonder what could have been when it comes to that Jon Snow spinoff.

Rather than dwell on the past, though, let's focus on what we have. The game Game of Thrones: Legends is out now. Plus, you can always go back and watch Harington as his iconic character by streaming Game of Thrones with a Max subscription. Meanwhile, to learn about Targaryen history, you can tune into House of the Dragon every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on the streamer and HBO.

Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 6 of House of the Dragon are ahead. If you aren’t caught up, you can stream the series with a Max subscription, and then, be sure to catch new episodes as they air on the 2024 TV schedule every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

Paddy Considine’s beloved King Viserys might be dead, but he’s certainly not forgotten. Not only has his character been mentioned many times in Season 2 of House of the Dragon, but he also appeared as one of Daemon’s ghosts in the latest episode. However, I think my favorite way the lovely HOTD cast member has stayed involved with the show is by posting memes about it, and he’s back at it again with a fantastic Shrek comparison.

A few weeks ago, Considine posted a meme about Viserys’ Lego city when Aegon smashed it in an episode, and that was hysterical. Then, he was back on his A-game the day before Episode 6 aired, as he reposted a Reel that compared House of the Dragon to the animated film Shrek (yes, you read that correctly). Check it out:

In the video, which is embedded below, you can see it compare Alicent to Fiona – which is perfect considering the copious amount of green they both wear and their red hair. They also show dragons flying by castles, parallels between awkward Targaryen family meals and dinners with Fiona’s family, and of course it is all to the score of “Funkytown:”

My personal favorite moments are the lowkey 1:1 comparison of Donkey on Dragon and Rhaenys on Meleys in Season 1, the dying king frog and Viserys, and of course, the notion that Aegon is a lot like Lord Farquaad.

It’s always been clear to me that Paddy Considine has a fantastic sense of humor, but seeing him locked in on the meme culture surrounding House of the Dragon makes it even better.

We’ve spoken at length about the memes surrounding HOTD. From people reacting to Daemon’s sex scene last week to comparing Otto Hightower to Kris Jenner, they’ve been fabulous. However, my favorite ones have always been the Shrek comparisons, which have been happening since the Game of Thrones days (as BuzzFeed wrote about in 2015). They’re weirdly on point, and it’s honestly wild that the show shares so many similar visuals and archetypes with the film despite being completely tonally different.

What makes Considine’s acknowledgment of the Shrek memes even better is the fact that this felt like the soft-launch of his guest star role in Episode 6 of Season 2. Considering Milly Alcock returned as Young Rhaenyra to haunt Daemon earlier in the season, I figured it was only a matter of time before Viserys showed up to plague his brother’s visions. So, it was incredible when he finally made his appearance. The memes leading into all this were truly the cherry on top.

Hopefully, as House of the Dragon rolls into the last two episodes of its sophomore season, Paddy Considine will remain active on social media. Seeing him interact with fans and repost their memes is so fun. Plus, while King Viserys may be dead on the show, the actor who plays him is still connected to it in many ways, including this silly one.

If the Viserys actor posts more funny memes about the Game of Thrones prequel or appears in House of the Dragon again, we’ll be sure to keep you posted. In the meantime, brace yourself for more war, as the final two episodes of HOTD will air on Sunday, July 26 and August 2 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 2, called "Smallfolk."

House of the Dragon is getting ever closer to the finale of the second season, which is shorter than the first by two episodes. Readers of George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood can probably guess where the remaining episodes are going to leave off, but the show has hardly been beholden to the events of the book when it comes to the Targaryen family tree in Season 2. In the latest episode, Aemond was making moves in King's Landing to secure his rule even as Aegon woke up and the smallfolk began to riot for resources, while Rhaenyra tried to make a knight with a few drops of Targaryen blood into a dragonrider.

But it was the events on Driftmark rather than Dragonstone or King's Landing that may have confirmed the death of somebody who was quite important in the first season, and it's all because of one of the dragons of theHouse of the Dragon: Seasmoke.

Did Seasmoke Confirm A Death?

Seasmoke's earliest role in House of the Dragon was fighting Daemon's war in the Stepstones last season, as he was the dragon of none other than Laenor Velaryon. All the dragonriders of the show seem closely connected with their mounts, but Laenor had to leave Seasmoke behind when he faked his death in the messy seventh episode of Season 1. A giant grey dragon would have been a bit of a giveaway that Laenor was alive, even if he did shave off his distinctive white hair!

But Laenor was still alive, which seemed like a surefire sign that Seasmoke was out of action for the Blacks or the Greens unless he came back. After all, there's no evidence that a dragon would bond to a different rider if their previous rider was still alive, which wasn't even contradicted by Game of Thrones' divisive final season, when Jon was able to ride Rhaegal, since Dany had only ridden Drogon of her three dragons. (R.I.P. Rhaegal after Dany famously forgot about the Iron Fleet.)

By the end of the hour of House of the Dragon's latest episode, Seasmoke had seemingly been claimed by none other than Addam of Hull... or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Addam was claimed by Seasmoke. If the dragon was able to seek out a new rider, does that mean that Laenor must be dead and his connection to Seasmoke – assuming it could endure despite their separation and great distance – completely severed?

If House of the Dragon was following the lore of George R.R. Martin's books to the letter, I'd say that Addam riding Seasmoke is proof of Laenor's faraway death. Then again, Laenor didn't fake his death in Fire & Blood, so it's all a bit of a mess at this point. It's also something that may never be definitively settled, if Laenor just remains off-screen and his story is never addressed again.

Who Is Addam Of Hull?

Technically, Episode 6 ended without definitively showing that Addam of Hull was riding Seasmoke, but it's hard to interpret Rhaenyra getting word that Seasmoke and a rider were flying over Spicetown after Seasmoke pursued Addam any other way. After all, Seasmoke didn't chomp Addam or roast him like he did poor Ser Steffon Darklyn, and Addam seemingly overcame his fear to stare down the dragon. Who else could it be?

And while House of the Dragon hasn't devoted nearly as much screentime to Addam as the Targaryens of Season 2, he's an interesting character. HBO's promotional material ahead of the second season described the character – played by Clinton Liberty – as "a shipwright for the Velaryon fleet and Alyn’s brother." It's clear enough as of the end of "Smallfolk" that both Addam and Alyn are the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon, although only Alyn seems to have inherited the signature white hair of most Velaryons and Targaryens.

Based on the brothers' interactions, it seems likely that Addam would want to make the most of his bond with Seasmoke for the Blacks or the Greens, whereas Alyn doesn't want anything from Corlys. Book readers can guess what the aftermath of Addam claiming Seasmoke will be, but nothing is confirmed at this point, and Rhaenyra has some words for Addam in the promo for Episode 7. Take a look:

Interestingly, Jace seems to be against the idea of non-Targaryens riding dragons, when he himself had the idea to recruit people with only traces of Targaryen blood to join the Blacks on dragonback. It's worth noting that Velaryons and Targaryens were related by blood even before Daemon and Laena, so Addam and Alyn could qualify as dragonseeds even without being the children of Rhaenys like Laenor and Laenor.

All in all, Seasmoke's future on House of the Dragon seems tied to Addam of Hull, which may be all the confirmation we'll ever get about Laenor dying far, far away from his dragon. Of course, Season 2's run in the 2024 TV schedule isn't over just yet, and there are still a couple of episodes left to possibly get some answers about Laenor. I for one am not holding my breath, though.

Keep tuning in to HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2, and/or stream every episode so with a Max subscription.

Some spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 can be found in this story. 

The history of the Game of Thrones franchise is dark and filled with continuity (t)errors. Even most casual fans remember the day eagle-eyed viewers spotted a coffee cup in the back of a scene, and while House of the Dragon has not yet triggered a moment of such viral proportions, a fan did try to call out a mistake they caught while watching with a Max subscription. Of course, fans had a lot of thoughts. 

After last week’s big scenes at Harrenhal featuring Daemon being haunted, or kind-of, sometimes losing his mind, a fan took to social media to express what they thought was a continuity error during Season 2 of the series. The post asking “Did Alys disappear here?” went viral and has more than 6,500 likes and has been viewed more than half a million times at the time of this writing. 

But fans were quick to point out that everything at Harrenhal has been odd since Daemon arrived. In fact, the real question might be “What is going on with Alys?” rather than “Did House of the Dragon have a continuity error?” A slew of fans shared their takes on this, revealing their theories. 

• I believe she’s in His Head only. I don’t remember anyone talking to her.
• Daemon is in Harrenhal all by himself talking just to HIMSELF …and poor Caraxes is like “ broooooo we gotta go.'
• The fact that he didn't say anything like "excuse my intrusion" leads me to believe that she's not there.

While these possibilities may have merit, some fans had fun with the moment she seemed to disappear, as well, taking a more humorous bent.

• Goth girls just do that.
• Ay they did the girl disappearing behind ScarJo @ the red carpet thing

(If you are unclear what red carpet moment they are referencing, Scarlett Johansson's mom did seemingly disappear behind her in similar fashion.)

What’s clear about this whole thing is that something has seemed off about Alys Rivers since the moment Daemon saw her in Harrenhal. There's just something about the way she looks at him, and their interactions have clearly been all about trying to teach him things about himself. 

Maybe that eccentricity is because Game Of Thrones'  world is filled with weirdos and she's just the latest strange character inserted for a short run to help pull something new out of a main character. Or maybe she and her sleep teas are just a figment of his imagination and all those odd looks and mannerisms are because she's not a human being. 

That mix of reality and fantasy has happened plenty of times in the franchise's past. For example, both Arya and Bran Stark spent multiple seasons seemingly detached from the rest of the plot, as they forged their own paths and wrestled with their own forms of oddities and the supernatural. Daemon, however, is much more relevant to the A-plot of what’s happening; so, I wouldn't expect whatever is going on here to carry on forever. 

The show has dropped enough little clues in both directions that fans can reasonably argue either side. Since Season 2 is gaining momentum at a steady pace, we'll likely know where the Alys plotline is heading soon, and that may help us to figure out whether her disappearing was simply a perspective miss from House of the Dragon, or an intentional choice the director made to keep the creep factor up. 

House of the Dragon hits the TV schedule on Sunday nights on HBO and Max. 

Alyssa Targaryen, Daemon and Viserys’ late mother, appeared in one of the prince’s Harrenhal hallucinations. She noted that he was her “favorite son” as they were having sex, and that made a lot of viewers very uncomfortable, myself included. For example, @LordSnow posted:

While we’ve seen our fair share of brothels, orgies, nudity and sex in HOTD, and just one episode earlier we witnessed intense violence and major tragic deaths on the Game of Thrones prequel, there has to be a point where things go too far. This scene between Daemon and his mom seemed to be that for many fans, and it had folks like @cosmicaraline posting things like:

Viewers were already not thrilled with Daemon’s little haunted sidequest in Harrenhal, and adding this vision made things worse for some, as @ainsleyhcyes posted:

It’s worth noting that George R.R. Martin wrote that incest in the Game of Thrones universe is widely OK because of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism. This makes it socially acceptable for people to marry within their families. As young Alicent said, and @ama_4820 pointed out:

However, when it comes to mother/son relationships that’s typically not allowed. So, I think it’s fair to say that Daemon’s scene went too far, as @dancezwitwolves noted:

If there’s any sort of consolidation here, it’s that Matt Smith’s character was also seemingly thrown off by his hallucination and deeply uncomfortable. However, that’s just speculation and interpretation, he hasn’t explicitly expressed his feelings. However, I hope he was as shook as viewers were by that scene, it’d make me (and many fans) feel better.

Overall, this scene left a lot of people unsettled, and understandably so. Did it go too far? Yeah, probably. However, that also seems to be the point based on Daemon’s own reaction to realizing what was going on.

As the show continues to drop episodes at 9 p.m. ET on Sundays on the 2024 TV schedule, I’m curious to see if this sequence is addressed again, or if they’ll just push it to the side. I’m not sure which is the best option. While I’d rather not think about a mother and son having a romantic relationship, I also would like some reasoning for why this happened to Daemon and how he felt about it.

We’ll find out which road they take when House of the Dragon returns this Sunday, and you can watch it on HBO or with a Max subscription.

Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon's fifth episode of Season 2, called "Regent."

House of the Dragon Season 2 is approaching its finale in the not-too-distant future of the 2024 TV schedule, and while the Greens of King's Landing and Blacks of Dragonstone have been making moves recently, Daemon Targaryen has been all but wallowing in the spooky walls of Harrenhal. Daemon's visions have certainly been interesting from a character point of view, and book readers likely caught some foreshadowing from George R.R. Martin's source material in them. The latest vision crossed a line even by Targaryen standards with an incestuous love scene between Daemon and his mom.

House of the Dragon has delivered plenty of incest over just a season and a half so far, and Game of Thrones delivered its fair share as well, but parent/child is a new one involving a major character. So, I revisited George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood to see what he said about the Targaryens' – to quote Alicent in Season 1 – "queer customs."

What Happened In Daemon's Vision

Daemon's vision didn't immediately seem like a love scene involving his and Viserys' mother, although her pale skin and light hair certainly suggested that she was probably a close family relative. As the sex scene escalated, I thought that maybe this woman was supposed to be a younger version of Aemma, since the vision was telling him that he should have been king instead of his brother. Then, the woman uttered what I'm guessing will go down as an infamous House of the Dragon line, telling Daemon: "If only you were born first …my favorite son."

Well, now that I've moved past my knee-jerk cringing and wondering if House of the Dragon really went so far to include parent/child incest when Game of Thrones thoroughly condemned that with Craster, I can point out that the love scene wasn't a replay of something that actually happened, since Daemon was very young when his mother died. It's also not a conscious fantasy of Daemon's, but seemingly a vision concocted and implanted in his mind by Alys Rivers, who is nearly as spooky as Harrenhal itself.

But considering that we're talking about a guy whose parents were siblings, whose wife is his niece, whose father-in-law was his brother, and whose sons are also his great nephews, Daemon's vision of a love scene with his mom is reason enough to revisit what George R.R. Martin wrote about Tagaryen customs.

What George R.R. Martin Wrote In Fire & Blood

Warning: spoilers ahead for Fire & Blood through the chapter called "A Time of Testing – The Realm Remade."

Fire & Blood is a fictional history book of the Targaryen dynasty drawing on sources like septons, maesters, and one particularly memorable fool named Mushroom, and House of the Dragon is certainly not following the source material to the letter. Even Blood and Cheese unfolded differently on the show, and that's one of the most pivotal events of the book. So, it was interesting to revisit what George R.R. Martin wrote about Targaryen incest and compare to the show.

As a crash course on the particulars of Fire & Blood in case you haven't read it – incest between the Targaryens was allowed in Westeros due to the Doctrine of Exceptionalism, which basically stated that the Targaryens could marry their own because they weren't part of the Faith of the Seven, while the rest of the realm couldn't marry within their immediate families. The Doctrine of Exceptionalism seemed like an option for Game of Thrones to justify Jon and Dany's relationship after he learned the truth, and tracks with why pretty much nobody other than pre-time jump Alicent on House of the Dragon was disturbed by the "queer customs."

Even Viserys' objections to Daemon and Rhaenyra before the time jump seemed more to do with the fact that Daemon 1) was married at the time, 2) had ruined her while out on the town, and 3) was Daemon, not that they were uncle and niece. Who knew that Season 1 could seem like such a simpler time by this point with creepy visions in the riverlands?

In Fire & Blood, it was specifically noted that mother/son unions were not generally allowed in Westeros. Martin wrote:

The believers in Exceptionalism went with the idea that those rules against incest just didn't apply to Targaryens, and Fire & Blood doesn't get into the specifics of which – if not all – kinds were allowed within the ruling family. But the point remained that the Targaryens were not like the rest of the people of Westeros, down to "their eyes, their hair, their very bearing... and they flew dragons."

Later in the book, a Targaryen ally by the name of Septon Alfyn was recorded saying this to a man in support of Exceptionalism:

In this defense of the doctrine in Fire & Blood, the only example of permitted incest was between brother and sister. Uncle/niece was presumably a stretch, but the implication seems clear that parent/child relations were out of the question even among Targaryens. While George R.R. Martin doesn't specifically condemn what happened in Daemon's vision in Fire & Blood, even though the Targaryen family tree has fewer branches out than most, there are no marriages between parent and child.

Basically, everybody would be pretty grossed out by Daemon's vision with his mom, and he might want to vacate Harrenhal sooner rather than later if those are the kind of experiences that Alys Rivers is seemingly planting in his head. He was already enough of a wild card before she was messing with him!

Find out if Alys somehow has anything grosser in store for Daemon with new episodes of House of the Dragon on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. If you've missed any of Season 2 so far, you can revisit episodes streaming with a Max subscription. All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are available on the streamer as well.

Emma D’Arcy currently leads Season 2 of Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, and therefore could be in the running again for the Emmys and more awards in the future. While speaking to GQ, D’Arcy was asked about whether talking about de-gendering award categories has become a tiresome topic for them:

D’Arcy has taken up the mantle of being one of the few nonbinary actors in Hollywood with a lot of grace and responsibility over the years. The star started being asked about the topic after they were nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Television Actress - Drama Series category despite being gender nonconforming. At the time of their nomination, Emma D’Arcy called the nomination “beautifully ironic” along with sharing feeling “very privileged” and taking it as a step forward for for LGBTQ+ community. As D’Arcy continued in their recent remarks on the subject:

There does seem to be a burden that comes with being among "the first" for growing representation in Hollywood. They feel they are constantly being named an “expert” on their community and asked what is right, when they don’t necessarily have all the answers to such a complex industry question. D’Arcy recently went viral for being named a nonbinary icon, but that doesn’t mean they asked to be a spokesperson for all nonbinary people. Even so, D’Arcy is very much embracing their place in Hollywood right now.

During the interview, D’Arcy also spoke about Bella Ramsey as another nonbinary actor who leads their own HBO series. The Last of Us actor has gone through a similar experience of being asked these same questions, and dealing with the awkwardness of being nominated as an “actress” when they are gender nonconforming. D’Arcy said this of Ramsey:

Perhaps someday these conversations will be a thing of the past, but for now the conversation remains an ongoing one in Hollywood, as it has yet to be fully addressed and solved. You can see Emma D’Arcy’s incredible performance now on House of the Dragon with a Max subscription.

It’s been a bleak few episodes since House of the Dragon premiered on the 2024 TV schedule. We already lost a fan-favorite character in Rhaenys with foreshadowing regarding more deaths to come. While Aegon is inexplicably burned over most of his body but not dead, Aemond is taking control of King’s Landing in his stead, which led to one moment that really struck a chord with me during House of the Dragon’s most recent “Regent” episode. But to explain why the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment was so emotional we need to backtrack a bit.

The Saga Of The Ratcatcher And The Dog

A few weeks ago, you may remember that Daemon sent Blood and Cheese, a guard and ratcatcher, to murder Aegon’s son. During that episode, we were shown Cheese had a loyal canine companion – and one he didn’t treat particularly well. In fact, the episode took great pains to show Cheese mistreating his pupper, and he kicked the dog during the episode.

This actually got to the point where it garnered some ill will online, and the actor who played Cheese, Mark Stobbart set the record straight, and actually came out and ask people to “chill” about the dog’s mistreatment during the episode proper.

He had a great time on set, so much so that the show purposefully brought him back again in Season 2.

The Moment That Left Me Emotionally Torn During House Of The Dragon This Week 

After Aemond began making decisions for The Greens, one of the first things he noted was that the ratcatchers his brother had murdered should be cut down. Among them was the actual traitor Cheese. There’s a quick moment during the episode in which we see the tough task getting done and the ratcatchers getting carted away. We also see Cheese’s little dog, loyal to the end, following the cart of dead bodies as they are being taken away.

Honestly, it’s a quick shot and really relegated to the background of what’s going on at the time, so I’m not sure how many viewers really latched onto what was happening. However, I found it to be positively heart-wrenching that this poor little guy, who didn’t even have a good owner, was loyal until the very end.

As it turns out, this was a very calculated and thoughtful decision the showrunners made to pull on our heartstrings a bit. In an interview with USA Today, director Claire Kilner said the dog's return was an idea she'd planned.

George R.R. Martin had previously commented about how much he loved the addition of the dog in the HBO series. He mentioned Cheese’s pupper absolutely “broke” his “heart” while watching the episode and that it’s the rare change to his works that he was totally fine the series took creative license with. (In fact, there are more examples of issues Martin has taken with HOTD choices.) He hasn’t commented yet on the dog returning in Sunday’s episode, but that small plot within the larger world of chaos and revenge has been really emotional for me.

There’s no way the House of the Dragon creators could have known that adding a dog would resonate so deeply with fans –or Martin – while they were filming the popular fantasy drama months and months ago, but it’s an example of the awesome attention to detail that pays off for this series in spades later. As Cheese’s arc is really kind of done, this may be the end of the road for the dog, but it’s a storyline that will stick with me and reminds me that it’s the little things that often stand out most.

House of the Dragon Season 2 delivered its first big battle in the fourth episode as well as the first death of a major character since Luke’s fall at the end of Season 1. Episode 5 delved into the aftermath of Rhaenys’ death, with Criston Cole dragging the severed head of Meleys through King’s Landing in front of the commonfolk while Aegon lingered on the brink of death with his own dragon possibly dead as well. Daemon was still in Harrenhal trying to convince everybody that he should be considered “King” instead of “King Consort,” while plagued with increasingly disturbing visions.

All in all, the Targaryen family tree is a mess, and readers of George R.R. Martin’s source material are undoubtedly keeping eyes peeled for what’s to come. A lot has changed from Fire & Blood to the show, and I won’t drop any spoilers just yet about the fates that may be awaiting certain characters, but Episode 5 sent me flashing back to a conversation that I had with director Geeta Vasant Patel, who helmed the emotional eighth episode of Season 1, the third episode of Season 2 with its brothel orgy, and the eighth episode of Season 2 that will be the season finale.

How House Of The Dragon Is Building Toward The Season 2 Finale

While Geeta Vasant Patel of course didn’t drop details for how Season 2 is going to end weeks early when she broke down details of Episode 3, I did ask if there was anything she set up early that will pay off in the Season 2 finale, and the director shared.

Baela and Rhaena had of course already been present in a number of House of the Dragon episodes before the third of Season 2, before and after the time jump. But we’ve started to see more of them as individuals rather than extensions in Season 2. As of Episode 5, they have very different tasks ahead of them… and Rhaena seemingly isn’t being considered as a possible claimant for Vermithor or Silverwing as two of the biggest dragons of House of the Dragon. (Vermithor briefly appeared at the end of Season 1.)

And based on the director’s comments, the story with Daemon and Laena’s daughters likely isn’t ending before the Season 2 finale. Geeta Vasant Patel went on:

Daemon’s spooky arrival at Harrenhal and first glimpse of Alys Rivers involved what was clearly a hook to make fans wonder if his end was nigh. The last couple episodes have just gotten weirder for Daemon in the cursed stronghold, with Episode 5 featuring a vision of Daemon in bed with his own mother, which… well, parent/child incest is taboo even among the Targaryens! We’ve already seen how Daemon’s story is evolving – or perhaps devolving – separate from Rhaenyra, and per the director’s comments, it sounds like payoff could be coming.

The second season has also drawn increasingly clear parallels between Rhaenyra and Alicent, with Alicent now being denied power due to her sex just as Rhaenyra has from the very first episode. Speaking to Episode 3’s reunion of the two former friends in the King’s Landing sept, Geeta Vasant Patel said:

Patel noted that she worked with cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt for all three of her House of the Dragon episodes so far, and shared that they collaborated to “find a way to help people understand what was going to be coming going forward.” After speaking about the dragonseeds scene inspiration, Goldschmidt also told CinemaBlend that working on House of the Dragon means getting “all the scripts up front.” Patel went on:

Over the past two episodes, we’ve seen that Rhaenyra being galvanized doesn’t mean that Rhaenyra immediately turned the tide of war in the Blacks’ favor, but she certainly doesn’t have to doubt what her father had intended for the succession anymore. While Episode 5 was almost uneventful compared to the clash between Aegon, Rhaenys, and Aemond the week before, the stage is being set and I think that more deaths were foreshadowed.

So with that, let’s look at what George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood says – with spoilers.

What House Of The Dragon Foreshadows From Fire And Blood

Warning: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD for Fire & Blood. Turn back now if you don’t want to know how HOTD will end for certain characters!

Fire & Blood is George R.R. Martin’s fictional history book of the Targaryen dynasty and draws upon sources that are not entirely reliable, so the show isn’t an exact adaptation from page to screen. There are some events that I think are too big to change too much, however, even after the tweaks to Blood and Cheese, and one of them was foreshadowed in Daemon’s vision in Episode 3 with Alys Rivers declaring that he would die “in this place.”

And depending on how broad we’re going to interpret “in this place,” then Alys truly was foreshadowing Daemon’s demise. Last chance to avoid spoilers! In Fire & Blood, Daemon dies after a spectacular dragon fight over the God’s Eye lake, when he leaps from Caraxes’ back to guarantee his quarry’s demise as well as his own. The God’s Eye is adjacent to Harrenhal, so Alys’ statement in Daemon’s vision could certainly be a sign that HOTD is following Fire & Blood for the big death.

I also think that a couple of smaller moments are hinting towards the other Targaryen death above the God’s Eye: Aemond. The uncle ultimately defeated his nephew not by overpowering Vhagar on Caraxes, but by virtue of having greater experience. Aemond chained himself to Vhagar for safety in the book, which we saw him learn the importance of in HOTD Season 1 when he nearly fell off Vhagar and we saw Rhaenys do in one of her final acts of Season 2. His death in the book is at least partly due to the fact that he couldn’t get away from his uncle when Daemon leapt from Caraxes to Vhagar.

Finally, in Episode 5, Cole’s decision to have Meleys’ head dragged through the streets of King’s Landing in front of all the smallfolk didn’t have the triumphant effect he intended, as the people saw with their own eyes that dragons aren’t gods, but just meat. I’m inclined to think that this is foreshadowing the Storming of the Dragonpit, which is going to involve a whole lot of fire and blood and mark a turning point for the war.

I may not be entirely correct that all of these moments have been foreshadowing, although I think it’s hard to read Alys in Daemon’s vision in any other way. Still, it’s safe to say that the early episodes of Season 2 have dropped some major clues for the finale, even if we won’t know what they are until that finale eventually airs.

For now, keep tuning in to HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2, and/or stream the full series so far with a Max subscription.

Game of Thrones was a huge show, with an even bigger Game of Thrones cast, and of course, spinoffs came after that. So far, we have had one successful one – House of the Dragon, with its large Targaryen family tree, incredible dragons, and more.

However, HOTD is only going to last so long, with two complete seasons, as it only covers one part of the 300+ year history of Westeros after Aegon Targaryen (the first) conquered all of it.

Now, in this next spinoff, titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we are going to dive a little deeper into the story of Dunk and Egg. But what is this story? This is what we know.

What Is The A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Premiere Date?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set to release at some point in 2025, according to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024, which means it will come out as part of the 2025 TV premiere schedule.

The article above from The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed that this season—which, apparently, is marketed as the first season—will only be six episodes, making it a “tighter opener” rather than the usual ten-episode first season runs of both GOT and HOTD.

The A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Cast

The cast for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is filled out already. We have the entire list here for you that comes straight from HBO:

• Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall
• Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg
• Finn Bennett as Aerion Targaryen
• Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen
• Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle
• Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon
• Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen

And then, in August 2024, Variety confirmed several other additions to the cast. These are:

• Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway
• Henry Ashton as Daeron Targaryen
• Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate
• Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion
• Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway
• Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer
• Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree

As Variety commented on, the Daeron Targaryen that will be in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be a different one from the character we have heard about in Season 2 of House of the Dragon, just to clarify.

The House of the Dragon cast itself felt huge in the first season, and so did the one for its parent show, so I would not be surprised if we kept getting announcements as the show comes closer, but for now, this is who we can expect to see!

In fact, George R.R. Martin had commented on the cast, mainly Claffey and Ansel regarding their portrayal of Duncan and Egg, saying it’s been like they “walked out of the pages” of the book for the show in a statement he released to The Hollywood Reporter in August 2024:

I mean, this just makes me more excited.

What A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Is About

I’m sure that if you’re reading this and you have no idea what The Hedge Knight is, you are completely clueless as to what this series could be—aside from the title and the fact that knights will be involved. Well, I am here to educate you.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Is Based On the Novella, The Hedge Knight

According to HBO, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on the George R.R. Martin novella, The Hedge Knight, which is only about 160 pages long. The series takes place only a century before the events of GOT, when the Targaryens are still the rulers of Westeros.

In this series, there are no dragons, but there are the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, a knight, and his lovable squire, Egg, as mentioned above. The show will follow their story as they travel across Westeros, taking on “powerful foes” and experiencing “dangerous exploits.”

For a GOT show to not focus entirely on political warfare or backstabbing might be a shock to some viewers. Still, honestly, after two shows of nonstop fighting, I think a little show about a knight and his squire going from place to place in Westeros is precisely what we need.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Will Have A “Different Tone” Than Game Of Thrones

While this might be obvious, George R.R. Martin confirmed that this series is going to be very different from Game of Thrones. Martin posted about it on his personal blog in May 2024, saying that it will have a “different tone” but this is still the world of GOT, so no one is ever really “safe:”

Keep in mind this was before the title change to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, so he is talking about the same show!

Owen Harris And Sarah Adina Smith Directed The Six Episodes

While we know there will be six episodes of the series, HBO also confirmed that they will be directed by two different directors—Owen Harris will direct three, and Sarah Adina Smith will direct the other three.

Harris has directed several shows, including one of the best shows to binge-watch on Netflix, Black Mirror, and one of its Emmy Award-winning episodes, “San Junipero.” Sarah Adina Smith is responsible for several other shows, like Looking for Alaska, Lessons in Chemistry, and more.

Production Has Ended

The last thing we know is that production for the show has officially ended. In the blog post from Martin, he shared a Reddit video of Dexter Sol Ansell getting his head shaved off for filming in May 2024:

However, Ansell himself shared on Instagram in August 2024 that they had officially wrapped on the show, saying that filming was over with a “bye bye, Belfast:”

Now this just makes me excited for that 2025 release.

What are you the most excited for when it comes to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? I know that I’ll be sitting on my couch, ready to watch when this comes on my screen – if not just to break my own heart with beloved character deaths all over again.

House Of The Dragon fans are riding high after a fantastic fourth episode of the second season. “The Red Dragon And The Gold” has a double-take worthy 9.6 fan rating on IMDB and is one of the most acclaimed in the entire history of the larger franchise. Author George RR Martin himself gushed about how good it turned out, saying he doesn’t think we’ve ever gotten a better dragon battle in any TV show or movie. He heaped praise on everyone involved in a recent blog, except when it came to one minor detail.

George RR Martin, always one to speak his mind honestly and openly, is not happy with the sigil the show is using for The Targaryens. More specifically, he’s not happy with the fact that the dragon depicted on the banners of our leading family has four legs, not two. According to him, that is absolute nonsense, and he gave us a multiple paragraph write-up on his website explaining why.

Apparently Medieval heralds were quite fond of drawing dragons, but since no one had ever seen a dragon in real life, there was plenty of variance in the drawings. Some people drew them with two legs and some people drew them with four. As things became more standardized, they started calling the ones with two legs wyverns and the ones with four legs dragons. From Martin’s vantage point, however, that’s ridiculous. Both dragons and wyverns should have two legs because birds have two legs and two wings, as do flying dinosaurs. 

During the first four and a half seasons of Game Of Thrones, the show depicted the dragons on the Targaryen sigil as having two legs, but those involved in the show later changed it to four legs, which House Of The Dragon has continued using. Here’s a portion of Martin’s analysis…

Now, you might be saying, why is he so worked up about something as minor as what’s on a flag? On the one hand, you’d be right. It’s a bit unusual that we were just given one of the greatest episodes in the history of the franchise, and days later, Martin is complaining about something so seemingly innocuous. On the other hand, however, Martin’s complaint here is a microcosm of why Game Of Thrones is so freakin’ good. Everything is mapped out in such vivid detail and planned out so far in advance that it all logically fits together. The same drive that pushes him to care about the flag is the same drive that pushes him to add minor details that can be called back to multiple seasons later, which is why fans are always nervous or frustrated when Thrones/ HOTD departs from the source material (even if sometimes it's a positive).

House Of The Dragon is in the middle of its second season. You can catch new episodes on Sunday nights on HBO, Max and various other streaming options in other countries.

Spoilers ahead for the A Song of Ice and Fire book series.

George R.R. Martin famously has not yet finished The Winds of Winter as the sixth installment of the seven he has planned for his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, and July 12 marked the 13th anniversary of when A Dance with Dragons was published as Book 5 back in 2011. The book hit shelves just months after the Game of Thrones pilot aired, and at the time, there was no reason to worry that the show would end before Martin would finish the next book. Those were the days, right?

Well, I've had Westeros on the brain lately with House of the Dragon Season 2 airing new episodes on HBO, and seeing that July 12 marked thirteen years since A Dance with Dragons set me flashing back to when Game of Thrones adapted that novel... or, more specifically, didn't really adapt that novel in its later seasons. As the wait continues for The Winds of Winter, I really find myself wishing that one ADWD plot hadn't been cut from the show: Aegon Targaryen.

The Prince That Was Promised (In The Books)

Now, when I mention "Aegon Targaryen," I'm not talking about the show establishing that Aegon was Jon Snow's real name at birth, or any of the many Aegons from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. The character I'm referring to in fact may not truly be a Targaryen, but he certainly was set up in A Dance with Dragons by players like Varys as a legitimate claimant to the Iron Throne. Notably, his place in the Targaryen family tree would rank him ahead of both Daenerys and Jon in the Targaryen line of succession.

And that is because this Aegon is purportedly the eldest son of Rhaegar Targaryen and his wife Elia Martell, who survived the sack of King's Landing as an infant at the end of Robert's Rebellion after Varys smuggled him to freedom and replaced him with the son of a commoner. This Aegon is also known for his alias of "Young Griff" that had been used to protect his identity and the fan nickname of "fAegon" among those who believe he's a fake. He was raised in Essos with all the training and education needed to make a pretty great king, all things considered.

Is Aegon A True Targaryen And Jon's Older Brother?

I don't want to get too far into the weeds about whether or not ADWD's Aegon truly is the firstborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and therefore Jon Snow's elder brother, although it's worth noting that the odds are good that he's actually a Blackfyre – a.k.a. born of a bastard Targaryen line – whether he knows it himself or not. It arguably doesn't even matter whether he's truly a Targaryen or not.

What matters is if enough people believe and support his claim, and as of the end of A Dance with Dragons, Aegon was convinced by Tyrion to land in Westeros to begin his invasion while Dany – who is currently the only confirmed surviving Targaryen in A Song of Ice and Fire – was still stuck in Meereen. (The books technically haven't established that Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon just yet, let alone settled whether or not Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia to make Jon his true heir.) If nothing else, Aegon has a head start on Dany, which could make a big difference.

A Possible Daenerys Vs. Aegon Plot

A Dance with Dragons set up a potential clash between Dany and Aegon, and I so wish that Aegon hadn't been cut from Game of Thrones to make the story impossible on the small screen. Would this story on screen have made Daenerys admit to herself that she's seeking the Iron Throne by conquest rather than birthright, since she would be behind Aegon (and Jon) in the Targaryen line? Would Cersei have been knocked out of the game of thrones earlier than the end of the last season if Aegon was around? If Dany is going to roast King's Landing at some point, would a conflict with her purported nephew have set it up better than what happened on HBO?

And would Game of Thrones have a stronger legacy than its divisive series finale if it had lasted as long as George R.R. Martin wanted and included Aegon vs. Dany? Alas, we'll never know. As a Stark fan who generally prefers the first three A Song of Ice and Fire books to A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons as the fourth and fifth, I've historically always been more bitter about Lady Stoneheart being cut from the show than anything from the most recent two novels, but I'm starting to rethink that.

Was Aegon The Worst Cut From Book To Show?

Just as Catelyn Stark's resurrection as Lady Stoneheart could have made Jaime and Brienne's stories in the later seasons much more interesting, Aegon's inclusion could have made for some great development for Dany and perhaps even another Dance of the Dragons. An Aegon interlude also could have helped the end of Thrones feel less rushed and maybe let the Night King march south for more than a few episodes.

Sure, this undoubtedly would have been a very expensive plotline to produce for TV, but dang it, I would have loved to see it. While we won't know for sure how important this Aegon Targaryen – or fAegon of Blackfyre descent, depending on your point of view – actually is in the grand scheme of George R.R. Martin's saga until The Winds of Winter comes out, I think it's safe to say that Game of Thrones' last few seasons would have been quite different if the character hadn't been cut.

Just imagine if we'd gotten to see a Targaryen (or Targaryen pretender) who actually had the training to be a good ruler, and how Dany might have reacted! I was always way more invested in the Stark-adjacent storylines – see: why I'm still bitter about Lady Stoneheart – but Aegon in the mix could have made Dany's story a lot spicier on Game of Thrones.

For now, I can only wonder what might have been... and perhaps cross my fingers again that The Winds of Winter could be ready for publication sometime in the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, George R.R. Martin at least confirmed that he doesn't intend to write any more Dunk and Egg stories until after he finishes Winds, but given that this is the author who once expressed hope that he'd have the book ready by 2016, I find it's best not to get one's hopes up too high without proof.

If you want to revisit Game of Thrones, you can find the full series streaming with a Max subscription now, as well as every episode of House of the Dragon so far. New episodes of Season 2 are currently releasing weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO in the 2024 TV schedule.

House of the Dragon Season 2 hit its halfway point with a lot of fire and blood for both the Blacks and the Greens, and it's hard at this point to imagine any other actors playing the key roles than the current cast. As it turns out, however, there was once a different vision for a character that would have had him looking more like Game of Thrones' Khal Drogo than what fans are watching in the 2024 TV schedule. Fabien Frankel shared that House of the Dragon originally wanted somebody like Jason Momoa for the role of Criston Cole!

If Criston Cole seemed like an important character in Season 1, the second season so far proved just how much trouble he can be for the Blacks in the field of battle as well as how messy he can make life for the Greens back in King's Landing. (See: Alicent drinking moon tea in the most recent episode.) Speaking with The New York Times before the end of the first season, Fabien Frankel shared how his character could have been quite different:

It certainly sounds like Frankel's audition process was different from what Emma D'Arcy's was, which involved three months of auditions, a wig, and an four-hour audition in person at the end... and then waiting. I have to wonder if he did ever get his answer about what changed that he was cast as Criston Cole instead of a Jason Momoa type, but I for one think that Frankel's build works better for the role than Momoa's would have.

Young Rhaenyra picking him to join the Kingsguard might have seemed like less of a gamble to Otto Hightower if the character was played by somebody built like Khal Drogo, and seeing Cole best Daemon in the tourney was more of a surprise than it would have been otherwise, since Frankel and Matt Smith have similar builds. If anything, he felt like Daemon's most obvious foil up until the biggest Season 1 time jump brought young adult Aemond into the fray.

Interestingly, Jason Momoa didn't immediately become a star in the entertainment industry after playing Khal Drogo, despite his character arguably being among the most memorable of the entire series. The actor shared that he couldn't even get a meeting for another job until years after his season, and that he and his family were "starving after Game of Thrones." Considering that House of the Dragon was pretty much guaranteed to be a big hit as the first Thrones spinoff and George R.R. Martin's source material meant that Criston Cole wasn't gone after one season, Fabien Frankel's story should go differently.

See more of Frankel as Ser Criston Cole with new episodes of House of the Dragon on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. You can always revisit every season of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon (so far) with a Max subscription.

Ever since Game of Thrones hit HBO back in 2011, it's been a wildly popular franchise that is quintessential water cooler talk. While the GOT finale was controversial, fans returned to Westeros with the prequel House of the Dragon, which is streaming with a Max subscription. Season 2 of the series is so fun, but my social media algorithm Is officially spoiler capital of Westeros.

House of the Dragon Season 2 has been a wild ride so far, with fans trying to keep track of who has which dragon as war begins. I've been loving Season 2, and it's been a thrilling expansion after all the set up of the first season. But there's only one reason: my social media accounts like Twitter feel determined to spoil the series for me.

I never read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, so the events of HOTD are a total mystery. But the algorithm in my Twitter for you and Instagram explore have picked up that I'm a super fan. Ahead of Episode 4 "The Red Dragon and The Gold", I saw tweets and posts about The Battle at Rook's Rest, where it was made clear that my favorite character Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon Meleys were doomed. 

In the Game of Thrones universe no one is safe, and it was clear that Episode 4 of House of the Dragon Season 2 was going to be a bloody one. Rhaenys' death scene was gorgeous and emotional, but it would have packed an even bigger punch for me if my socials were filled with folks speculating whether or not she'd perish as she did in the book. And at this point I think I'm going to have to either avoid social media altogether on Sundays before new episodes air, or start disliking posts about HOTD in order to try and dodge spoilers. 

I didn't read the books that corresponded with Game of Thrones until after I'd passed their events, which helped each twist and turn of the HBO series hit me like a ton of bricks. The deaths of House of the Dragon have been brutal so far, as we've seen two dragons, Lucerys, and the already infamous murder of baby Maelor. So far Rhaenys' death was the only one spoiled, but clearly I am going to have to rethink the way I use social media moving forward. 

The toughest part is that I don't go out searching for House of the Dragon at all. And I really don't blame GOT super fans who read the books and want to discuss what might go down on the HBO series. We'll just have to see what happens in the final four episodes of Season 2.

House of the Dragon airs new episodes Sundays on HBO. Check the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch. 

While House of the Dragon Season 2 airs on the 2024 TV schedule, a tweet has been going viral about the fact that there’s a basketball court in Dubrovnik that has a perfect view of the city. @KenniMiddleton posted a gorgeous photo of it, and they joked that King's Landing apparently has a basketball court:

Now, over 60 million people have viewed the post, and thousands have interacted with it. Considering how meme-able every episode of House of the Dragon is – fans were literally just dragging Criston Cole and comparing Otto Hightower to Kris Jenner a few weeks ago – it makes sense that GOT and NBA fans couldn’t wait to joke about this realization.

Beginning this round-up with the show that started it all, this fan joked about how if they had been at Oberyn Martell's (Pedro Pascal) final battle, they would have been yelling at him like this Golden State coach was on the sidelines:

Others were cracking quips about what would happen if Jon Snow wasn’t selected for the all-star team, using this viral clip of Isaiah Thomas to illustrate the point:

One fan decided to poke fun at King's Landing regular, Joffrey, and his legendary death scene. Using a clip of a Spurs player casually taking a drink of blue Gatorade, they posted:

Moving over to House of the Dragon, NBA fans had some stellar jokes for that crew, especially after the brutal fourth episode. For example, when it comes to the Targaryen family tree, we’re drafting Aemond and Vhagar in the first round, as this hilarious tweet pointed out:

Meanwhile, in another comment, fans were noting how they’d be trying to trip, foul and generally mess with Criston Cole:

Although let’s be real here, if Cole were in a game, he’d foul himself out immediately. Homeboy cannot regulate his emotions and impulses that well, and he’d 100% get a foul for hanging on the rim for too long or faking a fall.

All around, these jokes about the NBA and Game of Thrones are hilarious, and the fact that they were inspired by the basketball court that’s actually in the real King's Landing makes it even better.

While you sadly can’t see this basketball court in Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, you can see all the characters we’ve discussed by streaming the entire OG series and the first two installments of its prequel (which airs new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET) with a Max subscription.

House Of The Dragon is the type of show you should definitely pay close attention to, but for me, sometimes that close attention drifts from the foreground to the background. That’s the consequence of having really elaborate and beautiful set design and also, of having candles everywhere. I’m a big time candle guy, and this show literally has thousands. It turns out they’ve caused some unintended consequences too.

Set Decorator Claire Nia Richards recently sat down for an interview with TV Line to talk about all those candles, and apparently, the actors have mixed feelings about them. There’s, of course, the danger element given all the long hair, wigs and chemicals near open flames, but there’s also the temperature element. Thousands of lit candles in a combined space are collectively pretty hot, which the actors discovered while shooting a key scene in Season 1. Here’s how Richards described it…

In order to improve things for the actors in Season 2, the crew was able to add in some high-end extractor fans. That allows them to suck out all the fumes to make everyone a bit more comfortable. It reduces how much everyone feels those gases and flames and keeps people from “boiling.”

A little heat, however is actually a good thing for the actors. It’s a slippery slope, of course, but a lot of the show is shot in Watford, England, which can make the sets a little drafty and cool, especially during the spring and fall months. That’s why, despite the candles sometimes getting too hot, Richards thinks they ultimately would rather have them around. Here’s a portion of what she said…

I know my opinion doesn’t matter because I’m just a lowly viewer, but for the record, I am absolutely pro thousands of candles in the background of every shot. I’m happy for the actors that the show is finding ways to make them more comfortable, but mostly, I’m still enthralled with how amazing the set design looks every week. The candles really help brighten up the show, and they feel really on theme, as they blend danger and beauty very well.

On a related note, if you’re a Game Of Thrones fan who still hasn’t forgiven the show for the final season and isn’t watching House Of The Dragon in protest, that’s your loss. Everyone involved has really delivered so far, and this most recent episode was widely praised as the best so far of the spinoff series. You should consider getting on board. If you do, just make sure you take the occasional glance to the background and admire the candles.

The 37-year-old Game of Thrones alum is starring in Slave Play at the Noël Coward Theatre, which is located in London’s West End. Said production just kicked off its run, and it’s expected to last for three months. Conceived by Jeremy O. Harris, the production focuses on multiple interracial couples who participate in "Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy." As part of that process, they must conduct role play while on a fictional slave plantation. Joining the ex-Jon Snow actor for this presentation of the play, which originally debuted in 2018, is Olivia Washington, the 33-year-old daughter of Denzel Washington.

An insider recently spoke with The Sun, providing details on how Noël Coward is seeking to prevent the sex scene from leaking. Per this unnamed individual, the theater is putting stickers on play attendees’ phones in order to stop from filming. Not only that, but the news outlet also reports that anyone who does whip out their phone in an attempt to film video could face prosecution. As for the scene itself, the source had the following to say:

Although this may sound like a lot, it definitely makes sense as to why the theater company would enact such measures. A major reason is that Kit Harington is very famous and still widely known for his role on Game of Thrones (which is streamable with a Max subscription). As Jon Snow, the British actor became a pop culture icon, to say the least. So it’s very plausible that more than a few people might want to capture some footage of his bare body and send it to the interwebs. And, if you don’t believe that, then you should know that there’s precedent for this kind of situation.

Jesse Williams got naked for a play, Take Me Out following the conclusion of his full-time stint on Grey’s Anatomy. The Broadway revival of this early 2000s production had strict rules for audience members, though some did record with their phones. As a result, footage of Williams in the buff went viral. Although the clips hitting the web was unfortunate, Williams himself was game for the nude scenes themselves, arguing that audiences need to be “confronted” with the reality of the human body.

For his part, Kit Harington, is reportedly taking everything in stride like the Grey’s actor. The source provided further alleged details on the Eternals actor’s approach to the work:

While these details can’t be officially verified, it’s honestly not surprising to hear that Kit Harington would be a pro about all of this. The GoT alum has, after all, proven himself to be an artist who’s dedicated to his craft. Let’s just hope that the theater can protect his privacy so that Harington doesn’t have to suffer for his art in any way.

War within the Targaryen family tree may have been inevitable on House of the Dragon after Luke's death and accelerated with Blood and Cheese, but the fourth episode of Season 2 truly delivered on the words of House Targaryen: "Fire and Blood." The first big clash between the Blacks and the Greens involving dragons on both sides happened over Rook's Rest, and not all of the show's major players survived to make it to Episode 5 next week. The biggest death was sad enough to be a tear-jerker, and how it went down had me crying in a way that I hadn't since Ned Stark's iconic execution in Game of Thrones.

No, I wasn't sobbing, but the emotions certainly started flashing me back to Episode 9 of Game of Thrones' first season in a very particular way. First, though, let's look at what went down for the Blacks and Greens that ended in fire, blood, and death this week!

Losses At The Battle Of Rook's Rest

While Daemon was busy stewing in the spooky Harrenhal (and having another vision featuring Milly Alcock as young Rhaenyra), Criston Cole was taking castle after castle and growing the Green army in the process. He set his sights on the small but strategically important Rook's Rest, scheming with Aemond on how to best take the castle directly across from Dragonstone.

But it wasn't so simple as Cole using his forces and Aemond using Vhagar to take Rook's Rest without any losses, because Rhaenyra was finally ready to take advantage of her greatest asset: dragons. After Rhaenyra initially intended to fly into battle herself and then shot Jace down when he suggested that he go, Rhaenys said that she should go on Meleys. She had the most experience on dragonback of any of the Blacks, arguably including Daemon even if he'd been there. So, off Rhaenys went to Rook's Rest.

Even with Rhaenys and Meleys roasting soldiers right and left as they tried to assault the castle, Cole had a secret weapon: Aemond waiting for a signal to attack on Vhagar, unbeknownst to anybody else. The problem for the Greens arrived when Aegon, with wounded pride and a belly full of wine, flew up on Sunfyre – one of the dragons in House of the Dragon that hadn't appeared yet – and engaged Rhaenys and Meleys.

And there was no contest. Rhaenys was the better rider and had decades more experience on Meleys than Aegon did on Sunfyre. Even if Aemond and Vhagar hadn't showed up to interfere, it's safe to say that Rhaenys would have felled Aegon. But Aemond did show up, prompted Vhagar to shoot fire at his brother to knock Aegon out of the sky, and eventually lunged out at Meleys to grab the red dragon by the throat, killing her and sending Rhaenys falling to the ground and her death.

R.I.P. to the Queen Who Never Was, whose death was both devastating and quite well done, to the point that I can't even be mad that I was flashing back to poor dead Ned and his execution as I watched Rhaenys fall.

Why Rhaenys' Death Had Me Crying Like Ned Stark's

As a reader of Fire & Blood, I was pretty convinced that Episode 4 was going to be the end for Rhaenys and Meleys (among others). The timing was right for Rook's Rest, and the promo that featured a bloody battle as well as Meleys, Sunfyre, and Vhagar made it clear enough that fire and blood was definitely coming, and that would be the end for Rhaenys.

And I had no expectation in the slightest that the death of Rhaenys would remind me of Ned's fate on Game of Thrones. After all, Ned was executed after giving a false confession, and his death was the catalyst to truly begin the War of the Five Kings. Rhaenys would die in battle on dragonback. I cried for Ned Stark, but didn't expect to be much more than bummed about Rhaenys.

I clearly didn't account for the skills of director Alan Taylor, who helmed the episode with Ned losing his head in Thrones as well as Episode 4 of House of the Dragon with Rhaenys losing her life. The clash between the dragons for Rhaenys' death wasn't pure spectacle, nor as sudden as poor Lucerys' in the Season 1 finale. It didn't feel like it was for the purpose of shock value.

We got to see Rhaenys choose more than once to fly back into the fray despite the odds being stacked against her. There was no way Meleys could have taken Vhagar down on her own without dying in the process if it came to a 1:1 fight, and she was already injured after the encounter with Sunfyre. But Rhaenys chose to keep fighting. The quiet final moments before her death reminded me of Ned's final moments in Game of Thrones, when he'd accepted his fate but just wanted to make sure that Arya wasn't going to see him beheaded.

Like Sean Bean, Eve Best delivered a poignant performances without any histrionics, and I knew I was a goner as soon as Rhaenys exchanged one final look with her dragon. The music, the direction, the performance... was I not supposed to find parallels to Ned and start tearing up?

And my Ned Stark-induced tears have never involved sobbing uncontrollably. Even when I first watched Game of Thrones Season 1 without having read the books to know his end was nigh, I was crying both because it was sad and because it was done so damn well. I couldn't not appreciate how the twist played out on screen.

I remember immediately rewatching Ned's full death sequence through my tears back in 2012, because I couldn't help but appreciate how everything came together for Sean Bean's sendoff. Now, circa 2024 with the Game of Thrones prequel, I immediately rewound Rhaenys' death after she fell to rewatch it. It was done that well.

Game of Thrones had a knack for powerful deaths in its earlier seasons, and I would name Ser Rodrik Cassel's gruesome demise and Theon Greyjoy's death in defense of Bran as the two that came closest to capturing the beauty and tragedy of Ned's death sequence up until Rhaenys in House of the Dragon. I cried for HOTD this week because it was so sad but so good, and that was the first time I did so quite like this since 2012.

The Aftermath Of Rook's Rest

Rhaenys of course wasn't the only casualty at Rook's Rest, although the episode ended before we got to see the Blacks get the news about her death. We did see the aftermath of the battle from the perspective of the Greens on the ground, where it was clear that there were heavy losses even though they ultimately took the castle. A lot of men were dead.

And then there's Aegon. He and the once-beautiful Sunfyre weren't looking great at the end of the episode, but the dragon at least was still alive. Since Aemond had his sword drawn as he approached his brother's body, it seems that House of the Dragon hasn't fully killed off Aegon, which could be tricky for Aemond if the king regains consciousness and remembers that it was Aemond and Vhagar who blasted him and Sunfyre out of the sky.

See what House of the Dragon has in store for the aftermath of Rook's Rest with new episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, and revisit earlier episodes of both HOTD and Game of Thrones streaming with a Max subscription.

The writer recently took to his personal blog on Friday to sing the praises of the HOTD team for adding a canine companion to one of the series' most despised characters. He wrote:

In the gruesome Season 2 premiere of HOTD, we see Cheese, the ratcatcher, and Blood, a thug hired by Daemon, infiltrate the Red Keep with the intent of killing Aemond Targaryen. These two cannot find the eyepatch-wearing baddy, so instead, they devastatingly turn their attention to killing Helaena and Aegon’s son, Jaehaerys. Throughout the entire episode, Cheese's loyal pup never leaves his side. In a moment of frustration on their way to commit the murder, Cheese kicks his devoted pet, and fans lost it. In the follow-up episode, when the rat catcher and all the others in the city are wrangled up and hanged for the crime, the final shot lingers on the dog, forlornly looking up at his owner, who is gone for good.

It’s a heart-wrenching addition that Martin acknowledged, highlighting the unexpected emotional depth it brought to the character. There is a reason House of the Dragon is easily one of the best fantasy series streaming today.

The 75-year-old New Jersey native isn’t usually thrilled when screenwriters tweak his original work by adding characters, but even he had to admit, the dog was an excellent addition. He continued:

We were all pretty ticked off at Cheese after he kicked the dog. But here’s the real kicker: George R.R. Martin himself admitted to being envious of the creative choice. He added:

This acknowledgment from a master storyteller like George speaks volumes about the subtle genius behind the show's adaptation choices. Still, the series has been praised and critiqued for its departure from the source material. For example, the showrunner skipped a lot of the lore about the North, giving us a bad feeling about the shorter season 2.

Overall, it's fun to see Martin's take on the show and his reactions to change, and I have to admit that his latest thoughts surprised me in the best way.

House of the Dragon Season 2 airs on HBO and is available to stream with a Max subscription every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET. I'm eagerly looking forward to the new episodes, especially if they keep adding sweet, scruffy dogs to the cast.

When King Viserys died, and Aegon was (wrongfully) crowned king of Westeros, I would have laughed in your face if you said I’d care about the young ruler when House of the Dragon Season 2 returned on the 2024 TV schedule. However, here we are. I have found myself fascinated by Tom Glynn-Carney’s character in these episodes of the Game of Thrones prequel. Plus, considering I’ve hated all the young despicable characters that came before him – like Joffrey and Ramsay – I’m genuinely in shock over this revelation.

This all comes down to the idea that somehow, I feel empathy for Aegon. While I don’t necessarily think I should, he’s been developed in a way that I do. Also, we keep learning new information about him, and the actor behind him is a master. Therefore, unexpectedly, this evil little king has become the most interesting character in House of the Dragon.

We Know Aegon’s History

Through the Targaryen kids’ stories this season, I’ve fully realized why it was so important to take us through so much Targaryen family tree history last season.

If Alicent's children – specifically Aegon, Aemond and Helaena – wouldn’t have been introduced when they were legit kids, I don’t think I’d feel an ounce of sympathy for them. However, we saw them struggle as Viserys slowly died and we witnessed them and Rhaenyra’s kids – specifically Jacaerys and Lucerys – growing up together and being neglected, in a way, by their parents. All of that added so much depth to the younger HOTD characters, and it made them tragic three-dimensional figures rather than simply evil ones.

So, when Aegon was crowned king, I felt the dread that an immature child had taken over, but he did too, and that sparked this interest.

We See Aegon As More Than Just A Ruler In Season 2

Aegon never wanted to be king, and in Season 1, he even said:

However, he’s forced to take the crown, because the Greens, and specifically Alicent, believe that’s what Viserys wanted. So he does, and what follows is confused chaos.

Throughout the first three episodes of Season 2, we’ve seen Aegon toggle between a confused kid reeling with this new power, a maniacal ruthless ruler and a degenerate drunk dude. The guy contains multitudes and it makes for fascinating television.

On one hand, I agree with the King’s council when they roll their eyes at Aegon and try to manipulate him. However, when his kid died and we saw his genuine grief or when we witnessed Alicent not going to comfort him as he broke down, I couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of sympathy for him. I could never say that about Joffrey and Ramsay.

This unexpected empathy I feel for the king is shocking to me, and I’m here for it. However, there’s only one reason why I’m capable of thinking this at all, and it’s because of how Tom Glynn-Carney plays the king.

Tom Glynn-Carney Is Giving Us A Masterclass Of A Performance

Tom Glynn-Carney plays Aegon as this damaged man who is trying so hard to be as big and macho as the other guys, and he’s been raised to believe that war and dominance are the best way to do that.

So, he makes Criston Cole his hand and he wants to go into battle on his dragon like the other HOTD characters, and it clearly bothers him that he can’t. There’s a lot of pent-up aggression, yes, but confusion too in Aegon, and Glynn-Carney makes that abundantly clear. George R.R. Martin had a similar view on the actor, as he wrote in a recent blog post:

From his seemingly genuine care for that peasant who wanted help with his sheep to the deep sadness he felt over the death of his child, I know Aegon has feelings, he’s not a total villain (even though he's always a pain). However, he’s also erratic and demanding, as shown in the council scenes and that ruthless moment in the brothel with his brother. That duality is played brilliantly and believably by the actor behind the king, and that’s why I’m loving his storyline so much.

When I saw the official trailer for HOTD Season 2, I wrote that Aegon looks like “a bomb waiting to explode,” and that remains true. He’s unpredictable, and the fact that he’s a reluctant ruler who is trying to embrace his title is intriguing to me. The choices he makes and the steps he takes to try and do what he thinks is right are never what I anticipate, and that’s why the king captivates me so much.

To see Aegon in action in House of the Dragon, you can stream new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO or with a Max subscription.

Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 3 of House of the Dragon are ahead! If you aren’t caught up, you can stream it with a Max subscription. Then, make sure to catch new episodes as they air on the 2024 TV schedule every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.

When the dark gray robes and light gray head coverings come out on a Game of Thrones show, it’s hard not to be immediately and viscerally swept back to the infamous “Shame” scene. Hannah Waddingham wearing that outfit as Septa Unella as she walked a nude Cersei through the streets of King’s Landing is hard to forget. So, it made sense that she popped into the comments to hilariously point out that Emma D’Arcy wore the same septa outfit in Episode 3 of House of the Dragon Season 2.

For some context, in Episode 3 of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra snuck back to King’s Landing to talk with Alicent. In an effort to prevent an all-out war, she took a risk going back, but she wore a septa uniform, which disguised her and made her almost unrecognizable because you couldn’t see her long silver Targaryen hair. HOTD’s Instagram posted about this massive moment by using a photo of Emma D’Arcy in the infamous costume, as you can see below:

Of course, seeing D’Arcy in this outfit took me right back to the days when Hannah Waddingham was in the Game of Thrones cast, and the Ted Lasso actress had a similar reaction, as she commented on the post:

I must say, she’s right. That is her outfit, which is unforgettable after you see the shocking Game of Thrones moments between her and Cersei. While the gruesome GOT deaths are truly terrible, I think this “shame” scene is one of the hardest moments to watch in the fantasy series. Plus, shooting Waddingham’s storyline was no walk in the park either.

The Emmy-winning actress has explained that she liked that her character looked like she’d “been dug up,” and she’s been open about how hard her Thrones scenes were to film. She even explained how being “actually waterboarded” during a scene on the show led to her having “chronic claustrophobia.”

Plus, while Hannah Waddingham is better known for Ted Lasso these days, her time on Game of Thrones does not go unforgotten. In fact, that “Shame” scene has led to wild fan interactions over the years.

So, I think Waddingham’s passionate and hilarious comment was warranted. However, I also loved how they used the costume in House of the Dragon, and it was cool to see it utilized in such a prominent way. Rhaenyra’s big move to approach Alicent was a massive deal, and I thought her sneaking into the church in the nun’s outfit was the perfect way to do it. Plus, it was a fantastic nod back to the show that started it all.

Overall, this interaction brought me so much joy. I love Hannah Waddingham so much, and it’s always fun to see her talking about her time on Game of Thrones. To see her as Septa Unella in Seasons 5 and 6 of GOT and to watch D’Arcy in House of the Dragon, you can stream both series on Max.

The next spinoff set in the world of Westeros received its title just over a year ago, with George R.R. Martin announcing that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would be based on his Dunk and Egg novellas. In the months since, Peter Claffey of Wreck and Dexter Sol Ansell of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes were announced as playing Dunk and Egg – a.k.a. Ser Duncan the Tall and Aegon Targaryen – respectively. Now, along with releasing the above first look at Claffey as Dunk, HBO confirmed these additional Targaryen castings:

• Finn Bennett (True Detective) as Aerion Targaryen
• Bertie Carvel (The Crown) as Baelor Targaryen
• Sam Spruell (Fargo) as Maekar Targaryen

Also joining the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms cast are Daniel Ings (Sex Education) as Ser Lyonel Baratheon and Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things) as Tanselle. It's no surprise that casting announcements are finally happening beyond the two leads, as HBO has also confirmed that production began on the new show in Belfast, Ireland.

That in itself feels like a throwback to Game of Thrones, if you ask me, as that series often filmed in Northern Ireland. In fact, the infamous coffee cup that made it into GOT's final season was from a Belfast-owned store instead of Starbucks. The events of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will also take place chronologically a lot closer to Thrones than House of the Dragon. The newest installment in HBO's expanding world of Westeros will be set just a century before the War of the Five Kings, whereas House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years back.

That said, for as much as fans of George R.R. Martin's universe may have come to associate Game of Thrones with dragons, nobody should go into the series expecting to see any of the magical creatures. According HBO's description, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set "in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory."

So, the dragons in House of the Dragon fighting for the Greens or Blacks won't be around by the time of Dunk and Egg, and Dany's dragons will still be a century away from hatching. There will be metaphorical dragons with the Targaryen dynasty still going strong, but literal dragons won't have a part to play. The focus on the show will be on the brave but naive Ser Duncan and his young squire, Aegon. The pair will have all manner of adventures without requiring any fire-breathing creatures on hand, and the first season is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "The Hedge Knight" novella.

As of February, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was expected to premiere in late 2025, so there's still a long wait ahead. It remains to be seen if George R.R. Martin will have published The Winds of Winter in the interim after his recent comments. For now, you can always revisit every episode of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon so far streaming with a Max subscription.

Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of House of the Dragon are ahead!

Don’t get me wrong, watching new episodes of House of the Dragon as they air on the 2024 TV schedule is so stressful. However, the second after they end, the internet is overflowing with memes about everything that just went down and it’s hysterical – for example, after Episode 2, it was all about hating on Ser Criston Cole and comparing Otto Hightower to Kris Jenner. Now, former HOTD star Paddy Considine is getting in on the fun following the scene where Aegon destroyed Viserys’ model city, and his post about it was A+.

How Paddy Considine Reacted To Aegon Destroying Viserys’ ‘Lego Set’

Sadly, Paddy Considine isn’t featured in House of the Dragon Season 2 because his character King Viserys died toward the end of Season 1. However, the actor is still engaging with HOTD fans, and of course, he had to react when his grandson (and the now-king) destroyed Viserys’ model city that he’d been working on for ages. So, the actor took to Instagram to repost a meme about Aegon smashing his late grandfather’s “Lego set,” and it’s hysterical:

I love the shade thrown via meme. Viserys is 100% looking down on his family shaking his head in disapproval. While the impending Targaryen civil war and the crowning of the wrong king are two big things he should be angry about, understandably his Legos getting smashed also required a response.

Honestly, I can’t think of a better way to react to this moment in HOTD. In Season 1, Viserys put so much time and effort into that model city, and to see it smashed to bits in seconds by his grandson was actually painful.

What makes this whole situation even better is that after Considine posted this wonderful meme to his Instagram, his on-screen grandson, Tom Glynn-Carney, responded.

Aegon Actor Tom Glynn-Carney Replied To Paddy Considine In The Best Way

Between Aegon handling the death of his child and naming Ser Criston Cole his hand after learning about him sending Ser Arryk to kill Rhaenyra (which resulted in both him and brother Ser Erryk dying), the king had a lot on his plate, and I wouldn’t say he was handling it well. Amid the grief and the chaos he also smashed his grandad’s Legos, so all around Aegon was not having a good time.

However, Tom Glynn-Carney was having a blast in the comments on social media. After seeing Considine’s post about his moment in HOTD, the Aegon actor wrote:

Ummmm…Mr. Glynn-Carney I think you’re wrong. Obviously, he’s joking. However, let us make it very clear that Viserys’ Lego set was seriously impressive, and I bet he is looking down from the afterlife in disapproval at his grandson.

Honestly, this whole interaction had me cracking up, and I love that the cast interacts with the online discourse about House of the Dragon. If more reactions like Paddy Considine’s come up as Season 2 continues to air, we’ll be sure to let you know about it.

In the meantime, you can continue to watch new episodes of House of the Dragon every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO or with a Max subscription.

You know, when House of the Dragon returned on the 2024 TV schedule, the last show I expected to compare it to was The Kardashians. However, here we are. We’re talking about the similarities between Otto Hightower and Kris Jenner now, and the thing is, the fans who pointed this out are hilariously on point.

Yes, you read that correctly, following the second episode of Season 2 – which saw Otto trying to work his PR magic to save the Greens following the death of Rhaenyra’s son in the Season 1 finale and the assassination of Aegon and Helaena’s kid in the Season 2 premiere – the man is being compared to Kris Jenner. The parents really work around the clock to build an empire, and in Otto’s case, he was using the death of his son’s child to make The Greens look better amid the impending civil war. So, I think @_AngelicaJ9 was pretty on point when they posted this:

Otto Hightower is collected and calculated, which is pretty similar to how Kris Jenner runs her show. And while the Kardashians’ mother is not dealing with murder and war crimes to build up her empire with her kids, the creative way she goes about managing is not totally dissimilar to the former hand of the king, as @itshelenwhat posted:

Also, like Kris Jenner, Otto’s whole business involves his family. His empire has been carefully constructed because of how he’s positioned his daughter in the castle and his relationships with his grandchildren. To that point, I think @Targ_Nation made a hilariously great point when they posted:

Otto Hightower really was working all the PR angles in this episode, and sadly for him, it didn’t work out. His erratic grandson ended up firing him and hiring the hated Ser Criston Cole as his hand. One fan made the connection between Rhys Ifans' character and the Jenner-Kardashian matriarch by posting this amazing GIF from Otto’s conversation with Aegon:

Now, with Otto out as hand to the king, it’s unclear what his next move will be. However, one thing is for sure, he’s going to work really hard to scheme his way back to the top and use his A+ managing skills to reclaim power. Will it work? I don’t know. However, if he’s anything like Kris Jenner, he’ll continue to manage, parent and play the long game. As @OdunEweniyi said:

With Ser Criston Cole being a major wild card in the show now and the man who took Otto’s job, I imagine Alicent’s father will be coming for him. He’s a master at manipulating his kids and ultimately scheming to get what he wants. Like Kris Jenner’s kids, the Targaryens’ seem like a wild bunch who can be hard to manage, however, she makes it happen and Otto will too.

To see how Otto’s status as the ultimate momager of Westeros evolves, you can catch new episodes of House of the Dragon every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. To keep up with Kris Jenner and the Kardashians, you can stream new episodes of The Kardashians every Thursday with a Hulu subscription.