Season one of HBO’s House of the Dragon left off on a shocking cliffhanger, preparing viewers for the show’s return. With season two premiering on Sunday, June 16th, actor Ewan Michell (High Life, Saltburn), who plays Aemond Targaryen, shared some insight with Comicbook.com on what is expected for the new season and how right fans are to be excited.
Spoilers ahead: House of the Dragon season one left viewers following an intense dragon chase sequence between Michell’s character, Aemond, and Elliot Grihault’s (All that Glitters) character, Lucerys Velaryon. With Aemond threatening his nephew’s life while riding his ruthless dragon, Vhagar, Lucerys and his dragon Arrax are outmatched, with Vhagar suddenly swallowing up the two, cutting the chase to a deadly end. Throughout season one, tension twists the rivaling Targaryen and Velaryon families. However, Aemond’s actions bring this conflict to a boiling point, pushing the families towards war for not only the crown, but for vengeance. Responsible for the tragedy, Aemond, an enigmatic, dark-horse character, leaves viewers with an uncharacteristic reaction.
In an interview with Comicbook.com, Mitchell comments, “In those last three scenes of season one, I wanted to create character who was just complete darkness only to contradict that at the end of the series when you see that face of regret on Aemond, and recognizing that was a mistake. Going into season two, you are gonna see other moments like that that are quite unexpected. It’s encoded in Aemond’s DNA to a certain extent to surprise people.”
Mitchell continued that for the upcoming season, “It was about exploring that shadow side, creating a more morally compromised, gray character going into season two, seeing another angle to him, you know, the three episodes that I had with Aemond (in season 1). I wanted to create him as almost like this one dimensional black cat sort of character, [and in] season two, you are going to see other dimensions to him for sure,” via Comicbook.com.
According to a previous mxdwn article, actors returning with Mitchell for season two are Emma D’arcy (Mothering Sunday, The Talent), Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown), Olivia Cooke (The Sound of Metal, Ready Player One) and Eve Best (The King’s Speech, Lucky Man), along with new members Gayle Rankin (Men, The Greatest Showman) as Alys Rivers, Abubakar Salim (Napoleon) as Alyn of Hull, Simon Russell Beale (Operation Finale, The Outfit) as Ser Simon Strong, Freddie Fox (Assassins Creed: Origins, Informer) as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Tom Taylor (The Dark Tower, Love at First Sight) as Gregan Stark.
After season two’s debut on June 16th, 2024, episodes will be released every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and available to stream on Max via Comicbook.com.