For Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy, the second season of Dragon House informed by sorrow and finding a way out of the darkness.
Star of the hit HBO fantasy series attend the season two premiere at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City Friday, and the two spoke with ET about what’s in store for their respective characters when the new season picks up.
D’Arcy stars as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who struggles to ascend the throne after the death of her father, Viserys, at the end of season 1. Meanwhile, Smith stars as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra’s husband, as well as her uncle.
“We met both of them with great sadness,” D’Arcy shared. “(And) they’re two sad people who really struggle to communicate.”
“They’re not good communicators,” D’Arcy said of Rhaenyra and Daemon, “and actually, I think the dynamic means they’re unwilling to show each other weakness. That’s a fundamental flaw in them. They don’t want to appear weak.”
“So I think … it’s going to be bumpy,” D’Arcy added.
Smith felt Daemon’s motivations were fueled by a sense of responsibility and honor, but ultimately drove a wedge between him and Rhaenyra.
“We took it in a very complicated situation,” Smith said season 2. “There’s a lot of grief in the air and I think, you know, Daemon is doing things that he thinks are in the best interest of the family.
However, Smith says that Daemon’s actions and ambitions “usually create a deeper fragmentation between them”.
“In many ways, he’s on his own path,” Smith said, adding, “He’s complicated.”
“I think grief is a major motor for the show as a whole and certainly for Rhaenyra’s narrative arc in the series,” D’Arcy shared.
D’Arcy also explained that “political design has never felt more important” this season.
“I think for Rhaenyra, especially, her legacy, sitting on the Iron Throne, her name in Targaryen history, it’s all like a way to stay close to her father. late father So, sitting on the throne is a basic personal need now, as well as a political goal,” D’Arcy explained.
Dragon House is a prequel series to HBO’s megahit Game of Thronesand adapted from the novel Fire and Blood by the author George RR Martin. It tells the history of House Targaryen, a family dynasty that ruled the seven kingdoms of Westeros hundreds of years before the events. Game of Thrones.
Dragon Housethe first season completed in October 2022 with dramatic flairas an alliance is forged in the war between the Black Council – which supports Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne – and the Green Council – the conspirators who helped elevate Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) after the death of King Viserys (played by Paddy. Considine).
In addition to Prince Daemon and his niece Princess Rhaenyra, other returning players include Queen Alicent (Cooke), her father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), her children, Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), King Aegon II (Glynn-Carney) and Helaena (Phia Saban), and her faithful servant, Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) and Corlys aka the Sea Serpent (Steve Toussaint) will also return.
Additional actors joining the series are Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew as Hugh, Tom Bennett as Ulf, Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark, Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne, Simon Russell Beale as Sir Simon. Strong, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower, Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, and Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull.
Season 2 of Dragon House debuts June 16 on HBO.
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