House of the Dragon, season 2, review: a soaring, roaring blockbuster to rival anything in the cinema

Doting mother, ruthless Queen: Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower
Doting mother, ruthless Queen: Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower - HBO

The second series of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon (Sky Atlantic) comes at you like a huge airborne lizard dive-bombing from the sky. It’s been two years since this enthusiastically complicated tale of courtly intrigue and giant killer reptiles last soared across the schedules – but if you were expecting allowances for those with limited memory spans, think again. It plunges straight into the action, and we are soon knee-deep in a labyrinthine tale of kings and queens, swords and shenanigans, wigs and warriors. All you can do is hold on for dear life as the huge groaning plot takes to the skies.

Game of Thrones famously made its name with a mix of gore, sex and politics. In the intervening decade, mainstream entertainment has taken a turn for the prudish – but not in Westeros. House of the Dragon, a prequel taking place centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, returns in a blur of bloodshed, nudity (largely male) and infanticide.

The story picks up immediately from where it left off. War blazes across the Seven Kingdoms. In one corner is Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (a brilliantly brittle Olivia Cooke) and her “Green” armies, centred around the capital King’s Landing; in the other, her royal rival Rhaenyra Targaryen (the quietly commanding Emma D’Arcy) and the “Blacks”, plotting away at the fortress of Dragonstone (future digs of one Daenerys Targaryen). These former teenage pals are now bitter enemies, each leading a faction with a claim to the throne of Westeros.

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen and Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon
Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen and Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon - HBO

The pace is relentless. After a slow start, the first series ended explosively as Rhaenyra’s beloved son Lucerys was killed by Alicent’s moody, broody offspring Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in a dragon-related accident. Now it’s gloves off, and the Greens and Blacks are gathering their forces across the continent.

In the North, Rhaenyra’s oldest son, Prince Jacaerys (Harry Collett), seeks allies among the ancestors of the noble House Stark. Meanwhile, in King’s Landing, Alicent and her scheming father, Otto (Rhys Ifans), struggle to control impulsive boy-king Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney, channelling the vile Prince Joffrey). Also prominent in the vast rogue’s gallery are sociopathic knight Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Matt Smith’s devilishly charismatic Prince Daemon Targaryen, an agent of chaos who has allied with his consort, Rhaenyra, but who covets power for himself and isn’t really on board with taking orders from a woman.

In certain respects, Game of Thrones has aged terribly. Its “sexposition” scenes are particularly cringe-worthy – like a Carry On film with better production values and fewer jokes. But at full pelt, it was one of the most riveting blockbusters in the history of television, and the return of House of the Dragon is a reminder of what we’ve been missing. Whether framed by candlelight or the blaze of dragon fire, it is breathtakingly gorgeous and far more epic than anything you’ll encounter on the big screen. Brace yourself, in particular, for a high-altitude battle several hours in, which is up there with the best of the original Thrones (the major difference being that dragons are commonplace in this earlier timeline).

If the show lacks something, it is an old-fashioned hero. Everyone is cruel and conniving – half have the classic Targaryen blonde look, too, which adds to the confusion – and the script cries out for a morally pure character in the mould of Thrones’s Ned Stark or Jon Snow. But these are mere quibbles. Summer is coming, and for those eager for an alternative to sunburn, football and queues at the airport, House of the Dragon has all you could require for a roaring good time.


House of the Dragon season two begins on Sky Atlantic and Now on June 17