‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Drops Dueling Trailers

House of the Dragon season two dropped dueling trailers Thursday, prompting fans to choose between the black trailer, focusing on Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), or the green one, which puts Alicent (Olivia Cooke) at the forefront.

Rhaenyra’s trailer focuses on her, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) and their Dragonstone forces, while the green puts King Landing’s team of Alicent, Otto (Rhys Ifans) and her children — King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) — at the forefront. This season of the Emmy-nominated show will begin the Targaryen’s civil war, also known as the Dance of the Dragons.

Max also announced a June 16 release date for the eight-episode second season of the Game of Thrones prequel that picks up where the first season of the Emmy-winning show left off. The series is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood and takes place 200 years before the events of the hit HBO series that ended in 2019.

Eve Best as Rhaena Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole and Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria round out the returning House of the Dragon cast, which also includes Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall and Matthew Needham.

New castmembers include Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower, Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong, 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 and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne.

House of the Dragon season two will have eight episodes, instead of 10 like its first installment. Director Clare Kilner previously chatted with The Hollywood Reporter about the shortened season.

“There are eight wonderful episodes with so much happening in every episode, and we have trouble, at times, bringing them down to one hour,” she said. “[Showrunner] Ryan [Condal’s] decision was to give it a good opening and a good ending, and they’re jam-packed with emotional and visually exciting events.”