The Dance of Dragons is about to begin. On one side, the Black Council, with Rhaenyra at the front claiming his place on the Iron Throne. On the other, the Green Council, with Aegon on the throne, promoted by his mother, Alicent Hightower. The gap within the very broken Targaryen family is already a gaping hole accentuated by painful deaths. Tragedy unfolded at the end of the first season of the dragon housethe series that recovered the phenomenon that was Game of Thrones to tell the past of this saga of dragon assemblers. The Dance of Dragons, civil war among the Targaryens, is imminent and inevitable.
This Monday the 17th, the first of the eight episodes that the second season of the second season will have premieres on Max. The dragon house. The HBO series already demonstrated two years ago that it had inherited a good part of the power of congregation that the mother story had; You just have to remember that viral video in which the windows of a New York apartment building lit up in unison with the reflections of the images from the first chapter. Few series today can boast of retaining that power of old television for the weekly date.
The death of Luke Targaryen is the trigger for a season that begins with the characters grieving and preparing for the consequences of the tragedy. “The first season was a unique challenge because we counted 30 years of the book [Fuego y sangre, de George R. R. Martin], which we condense into 20 years that we tell in 10 chapters,” says screenwriter Ryan Condal, head of the series. “In the second season we reap what was sown in the first. The snowball is already rolling down the hill and the characters have established themselves, entrenched themselves on both sides. We already know who wants what and the weaknesses and strengths of each one. Now we want to reward the audience for continuing with us and having paid attention to the time jumps and the changes of actors and seeing the last season until the end,” adds Condal in an interview in Paris during the European presentation of the second season of the series in early June.
“We come from a peaceful and domestic scenario, centered on a single family in the same place, and we are on the brink of war, with everyone dispersed and distant. We go to a lot of different places but the characters are much more isolated,” says actress Eve Best, who plays Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. Her words preview another feature that the team advances in the new season: the space universe and characters will expand beyond the Targaryens. Without going any further, the first chapter begins at the Wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms from unknown dangers and with a well-known warning: winter is coming.
the dragon house It stands out for its strong female point of view, with two women at the center of the story, the characters played by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke. Condal explains that this feminine focus was in the very DNA of the series. “The concept revolves around Alicent and Rhaenyra. The story comes from a novel by George [R.R. Martin] published long before Fire and blood call The princess and the queen, the story of how Alicent started a war against Rhaenyra to try to replace her as heir to the throne with her first male child, Viserys’s son, which pitted these two women against each other. We have always been fascinated by the idea of these two women who live in a very, very patriarchal aristocratic society and who, no matter how privileged and powerful they are, are very limited simply by the fact of being women,” details Condal, who sees in Rhaenyra an example of “classical modern feminism” and in Alicent an example of a woman who uses her power in favor of another man, her son. “This is a story about Alicent and Rhaenyra, about two women, and their story through the Dance of Dragons, and it will continue to be that way until the end,” adds the screenwriter.
Eve Best, whose character is known as the queen who never was because, although she was supposed to inherit the throne by birth, the crown went to her brother only because she was a woman, laughs lightly at the idea of linking the dragon house with feminism. “In the post-Me Too era there is much more sensitivity, respect and interest in female characters. And we have these women in that intensely sexist environment, which is something that is very in line with our reality… I wouldn’t say that it is a 100% feminist series, but it points in the right direction,” reflects the British actress.
Be part of a production of the caliber of the dragon house It can become overwhelming. Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays King Aegon II, tries not to think about it too much. “If you get caught up in the hysteria, the expectations and the weight of responsibility, it can be overwhelming and can be detrimental to your performance,” he says. Next to him, Phia Saban, who plays Queen Consort Helaena Targaryen, agrees. “The most difficult thing for me is my own expectations, isolating myself from all that noise and focusing on the fact that in the end we are just making a good television series.”
“Physically, filming is exhausting. The hours are so long, and the scale of it all is so enormous… Gathering the courage to keep going can be a challenge,” responds Eve Best. Sitting next to her is her fictional husband, Steve Toussaint, who plays Lord Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Serpent: “I try to treat this job like any other. Perhaps the most complicated thing about series like this is the exposure it gives to the actors. But that in my case is not so much of a problem, because if you close your eyes and think about my character, you only see a big wig and a beard, very few can remember my face.”
While in the first season Ryan Condal had the help of director Miguel Sapochnik at the helm of production, this time he has commanded the series alone. He flashes a half smile when asked about the solo experience. “He is a whirlwind. Sometimes you have to take a step back to catch your breath. It is a process that absorbs you. I moved my family to Europe four years ago to do this series and my children are now growing up in a different country. It is a very satisfying experience, but it has a cost.” The filming of the new season took place over almost six months and took the team to locations in England, Wales and Spain: the streets of Cáceres and Trujillo will once again recreate the city of King’s Landing, as in the first season and in Game of Thrones.
the dragon house faces its new season with the peace of mind of having a third installment confirmed. Condal and his team of scriptwriters are very clear about how the story that George RR Martin wrote in Fire and blood. “Very early in the writing process we decide how far we will advance the plot. We have made an outline of the entire history of the Dance of Dragons to divide it into events and a timeline, and we have it as a reference when we face a new season to see what part of the story we are going to cover, how we will take each character through their corresponding journey so that they evolve and how to end in a place that not only resolves the story of the season but establishes an even greater starting point for the next. Because George is such a brilliant writer, the way the book is written and its structure gives us those peaks and valleys naturally as the war grows and becomes bloodier and bloodier and more violent and out of control,” says the screenwriter.
Why do the actors believe the dragon house that the universe of Game of Thrones has captured so many millions of followers? “It’s pure escapism. It has all the elements of a good story, love, betrayal, violence, sex, emotion, drama, and all of that is in abundance,” summarizes Tom Glynn-Carney. “It’s a combination of those incredibly complicated, crazy, obsessively fascinating characters and their stories, with that fantastic world. And dragons,” Eve Best closes.
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