‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Brings ‘Fire and Blood’ to Life

The first House of the Dragon season 2 trailer is here, and we get a good look at the wars to come.

It’s been over a year since House of the Dragon Season 1 came out. The show was a great entry in the fantasy genre and helped to redeem the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise after the last few horrible seasons of Game of Thrones. Since then, we’ve been waiting for a good glimpse at the second season, and when it would come out. Now at long last, we have that glimpse, with the House of the Dragon season 2 trailer. It shows off how the new season will be, from a battle of mostly words and wits to one of swords and fire.

Minor spoilers for non-book readers ahead.

Overall Info on HotD Season 2

The trailer does give us a few nice overall details on the show. Maybe the most important is some info on the release date. The second season is coming next summer, close to two years after the first. Unlike a number of other productions, HotD was not forced to pause by the recent Hollywood strikes, as it was being filmed in the UK with UK actors/contracts. Thus a summer 2024 release may have always been the plan. In addition, we should note that one of the two showrunners, Miguel Sapochnik, left the show after season one, so we may see changes as a result.

Season 2 is Bringing the War

On to the House of the Dragon season 2 trailer, however. This trailer really drives home how the show and its conflict have changed. Season 1 focused on personal conflicts and how they were fraught with diplomacy, words, and the occasional murder. However, that “peaceful” conflict ended with the death of Luke at the hands of Aemond Kingslayer.

This season is all about the real start of the Dance of the Dragons, the great civil war that will tear about the Seven Kingdoms and the Targaryens. As such, we get a lot of scenes of marching or camping troops and armies preparing for battle.  For instance, we have shots like the one above, which shows troops from houses Rosby and Stokeworth, both loyal to Rhaenyra; at the start of the Dance, it seems we’ve got some big fights coming up.

The Dragons Danced

We also got a lot of shots of dragons and their riders in this trailer. This is, after all, House of the Dragon, and one of the promises is the dragon fights. Now the House of the Dragon Season 2 trailer may have shown off more dragon riders than you realize at first glance.

During the Dance, one side gathers a group of people known as Dragonseeds, mostly bastards with some Targaryen blood, to attempt to get them to ride unclaimed dragons. The trailer seems to show some of these events, so we will have even more riders to get to know. It also seems to hint at a fair amount of dragons fighting.

That could be something of a misdirection. There really isn’t a whole ton of dragon-on-dragon combat in the Dance overall. Due to how deadly it is, any fight pretty much always ends with one or both parties getting killed. Based on what’s shown, I can only really see one major dragon fight in the season. Of course, the show may have added in more that aren’t in the books, so we shall have to see.

Blood and Cheese

The trailer also has a number of shots that seem to be from what is known as the Blood and Cheese incident. Based on the timeline, it’s likely this is going to be the first or second episode of the 8 episode season. And fair warning, brace yourself.

Blood and Cheese is likely the darkest and one of the saddest incidents in the whole story. A lot of fans were even wondering, or hoping, that it would get cut or changed. But no, it looks like it’s coming. Be prepared for the show to start with a bang.

What is Season 2 Covering?

One of the big questions people have is just what House of the Dragon season 2 is going to cover. This goes along with just how many seasons the show will get and how much of the book it will include. In Fire and Blood, the book the HotD is based on, the Dance of the Dragons takes up 6 chapters. There is also one chapter that covers the lead-up and another that covers the immediate aftermath. That seems to give the show 8 chapters to cover. There are three or four more that kind of wrap up the story of the last few characters, but it’s much less likely they will get adapted.

Season 1 adapted the first two of these chapters. It also dived slightly into the third of the 8 chapters with the death of Luke. Given that Martin has talked about at least 4 seasons of HotD, two chapters a season seems right on track. There are four main events that we can see in the trailer.

• Blood and Cheese
• The Sack of Duskendale
• The Battle of Rook’s Rest
• The mission to Winterfell
• The Red Sowing/Dragonseeds

Of these, the Dragonseeds are the latest in the book. However, those events only get us through the third and part of the fourth chapter. It’s not clear if this is all the season is covering or if this trailer really only shows the first part. However, the cataclysmic battle of Rook’s Rest, which does feature a big dragon fight, would make a good season climax. We will just have to see.

Let us know what you thought about the trailer, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.