Warning: Full spoilers observe for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2.
In the second episode of House of the Dragon Season 2, Team Black and Team Green aren’t simply coping with the emotional fallout of the devastating homicide of Prince Jaehaerys. No, after all the kid’s demise results in much more strikes and counter-moves by the 2 teams as they vie for management of the Iron Throne.
I spoke to the celebs of the present in regards to the newest developments on this week’s episode, together with some massive strikes by Ser Criston Cole, Daemon’s dramatic departure from Dragonstone, and the extraordinary and emotional duel between the dual brothers Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk.
Battle of the Twins: Ser Erryk vs. Ser Arryk
By the occasions of Episode 2, Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk, performed by real-life twins Elliott and Luke Tittensor, have discovered themselves as divided as Team Black and Team Green. But after Jaehaerys’ homicide, Ser Criston concocts a revenge scheme that ends tragically for each brothers.
Fabien Frankel, who performs Criston, says that his character is “genuinely very upset” in regards to the demise of the kid.
“I feel he actually thinks it is his fault,” he says. “He wasn’t there. He ought to have been there. He was with the queen when that occurred. And I feel he feels an excellent burden of accountability. And so it is like a child, whenever you inform a child they’ve carried out one thing flawed they usually simply need to repair it, no matter it’s, they usually cannot actually perceive the nuances of learn how to repair it in a approach that is rational. So they repair it by simply doing one thing that feels rapid.”
And so he sends Arryk to kill Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), however Erryk intercepts his brother. In the tip, Erryk kills Arryk, and Arryk instantly commits suicide in his grief.
“It’s clearly very unhappy,” continues Frankel. “I do not need them to die in any respect. They’re my two favorites. … Everyone’s going to hate Cole a lot after that. Jesus Christ.”
D’Arcy was on set through the duel between the 2 knights, as Rhaenyra barely escapes Arryk’s blade earlier than his brother intercedes.
“I simply watched the work,” they recall. “The stunt coordination is astonishing. It occurred over days and days. Luke and Elliott labored terribly laborious, as laborious as I’ve ever seen individuals work on digital camera, I feel. I do not need to converse for them and I hope they’ll talk about this sooner or later, however I feel that the entire sequence had a deep private resonance.”
The Changing of the Hand
Meanwhile, King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has changed Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) with Ser Criston as his new Hand. We noticed within the season premiere that Larys (Matthew Needham) was scheming, as all the time, as he met with the king, and it appears that evidently now we all know what seed he was planting. I requested Needham if his character’s plan was to develop into the Hand himself finally.
“I feel it is simply altering the board,” he says. “The board’s continuously altering, and eliminating Otto, that is an enormous participant out. I do not know whether or not he immediately thinks he will fill that area, however any person will. And then that would probably change once more. So I do not assume it is take away and take over.”
Frankel provides that Criston will likely be extra of “a person of motion” as Hand than Otto was.
“He’s going to do what he desires to do and he will do it at the price of no matter it takes to realize what he thinks is true,” says the actor. “But I feel, to be sincere, he simply desires to get out of the fort. I feel he is been trapped there for thus lengthy. He’s been there because the starting. He by no means will get out and he is immediately put able the place he can get out and he can hatch a plan to get him out and get Aemond out and resolve what we really feel is a battle that is taking too lengthy to finish. There’s an excessive amount of speaking and it is simply received to some extent the place it is like, what number of extra of those video games are we going to play? Let’s simply go and repair it.”
When Rhaenyra realizes that Daemon (Matt Smith) was behind the homicide of the younger prince, the 2 have a falling out which ends up in Daemon taking off on his dragon for elements unknown.
“He’s like, ‘Bye! Fuck you! That’s sufficient,’” laughs Smith. “I discover it so petulant.”
Several different characters react to the Blood and Cheese killing in memorable methods, together with Aegon, who just isn’t solely thirsty for revenge, but additionally seen simply crying by himself at one level.
“It additionally exhibits [the king is] able to love,” says Glynn-Carney of his usually chilly character. “I hear lots of people make these comparisons with Aegon and Joffrey [from Game of Thrones]. I disagree with that as a result of Joffrey is a psychopath and I do not assume Aegon is. He’s far more advanced than that.”
Ewan Mitchell, who performs Aemond – the unique goal of Blood and Cheese – says that his characters sees the civil battle between Team Black and Team Green as inevitable at this level.
“It’s both them or it is us. And Aemond chooses them, I feel, one way or the other. You even see it in Episode 1, the Shadow Council, this concept that Cole and Aemond, they’re form of manipulating the Council to what they need to, to their form of imaginative and prescient of how issues are going to go. They need to take the reigns.”
But what do you consider what went down in Episode 2? Let’s focus on within the feedback…
