House of the Dragon Season 2: Cast, Release Date, Trailer, Latest News, and More

We're only a few months away from the return of HBO's House of the Dragon. The Game of Thrones prequel, which follows the civil war that ripped apart Westeros almost 200 years before Robert Baratheon sat on the Iron Throne, will return for Season 2 this summer. Tensions are higher than ever between the Greens and the Blacks after Season 1. And while many events from the HBO show's first season set up the family dynamics among the Targaryens, Season 2 looks like it'll bring us deep into the action.

Until it returns, you might have plenty of questions. When will House of the Dragon Season 2 air? Who will be in it? How long will it be? Here's everything we know about House of the Dragon Season 2.

Latest House of the Dragon Season 2 news

Finally! On March 21, HBO announced the exact premiere date for House of the Dragon Season 2: June 16, 2024. The network also released two new trailers, one for Team Green — supporters of King Aegon and the Hightowers, led by Alicent — and one for Team Black — supporters of Queen Rhaenyra and the Targaryens, as well as a short teaser trailer introducing the longer trailers. They can be viewed below in the trailer section.

House of the Dragon Season 2 premiere date

House of the Dragon Season 2 will premiere on Sunday, June 16 at 9/8c on HBO and Max. 

House of the Dragon Season 2 trailers

On March 21, in conjunction with the release date announcement, HBO revealed dueling trailers for Season 2, and it's really leaning into the rivalry between Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen that has fans divided down the middle (go Team Green!). The two trailers show the perspectives of Team Green (those who support King Aegon and Alicent) and Team Black (those behind Queen Rhaenyra) as the two sides battle for control of the Iron Throne, and HBO is promoting the season with the slogan "All Must Choose." A third video was also released, teasing the two trailers. That's how big this show is; it needs trailers for its trailers! 

All Must Choose teaser:

Team Green trailer:

Team Black trailer:

The official teaser for House of the Dragon Season 2 dropped on Dec. 2, 2023, and it's got plenty to unpack. The video begins with a forlorn Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), who's mourning the death of her son Prince Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). We then hear the chilling words of Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) — "There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin, and no war so bloody as a war between dragons" — as the Greens and the Blacks prepare to battle. Amid all the action in this video, we have to say the highlight is seeing Vhagar fly by. She is ginormous!

House of the Dragon Season 2 renewal

It didn't take HBO long to renew House of the Dragon for a second season. Five days after the premiere of Season 1, HBO officially gave the second season the green light, referencing the impressive audience for the first episode: the largest audience ever for an HBO show on its first night (almost 10 million), and more than 20 million viewers on linear, streaming, and on-demand services over its first five days. 

Still, as fast as that renewal was, it took longer to be renewed than Game of Thrones did. Game of Thrones was renewed for a second season just two days after the premiere in 2011. 

While there have been no further season renewals, George R.R. Martin previously said he believes it will take four full 10-episode seasons to tell the story laid out in the books that the series is based on, the two-volume Fire & Blood series.

How many episodes will House of the Dragon Season 2 be?

It looks like House of the Dragon is already going the way of Game of Thrones in its later seasons. Well, in quantity, at least. Hopefully not in quality, too. In March 2023, Deadline reported that Season 2 will run for eight episodes, down a couple from the 10 episodes of Season 1, and HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed the episode count on Nov. 2, 2023. While some may rightfully point toward HBO's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery continuing to cut costs as a likely reason for the season shortening, reps from HBO insist that the decision was story-driven. The silver lining here is that shortening Season 2 because of story also means that a Season 3 renewal is more likely, and that the series could run for four seasons to get through the source material.  

House of the Dragon Season 2 cast

Following several time jumps that saw characters age out of their actors, things should slow down as Season 2 focuses more on the Dance of the Dragons, otherwise known as the Targaryen civil war. We're also going to be introduced to a slew of characters. In April 2023, Variety reported that Gayle Rankin has been cast as Alys Rivers in House of the Dragon Season 2. According to George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood, Alys is known as the Witch Queen of Harrenhal and becomes a key figure among the Greens. In addition to Rankin, Simon Russell Beale was announced to play Ser Simon Strong, the great-uncle to Matthew Needham's Lord Larys Strong.

Meanwhile, Freddie Fox is set to star as Ser Gwayne Hightower, who is Queen Alicent Hightower's (Olivia Cooke) brother and Otto Hightower's (Rhys Ifans) son. Yes, that means he's also uncle to King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Queen Helaena (Phia Saban), and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Also joining the cast is Abubakar Salim, who will play Alyn of Hull. Alyn is "a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign," according to Variety.

HBO announced more Season 2 cast members in December 2023. They include 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.

Below are members of House of the Dragon's returning cast.

• Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen
• Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen
  
• Olivia Cooke as Queen Alicent Hightower
• Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower
• Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen
• Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon
• Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole
• Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria
• Graham McTavish as Ser Harrold Westerling
• Matthew Needham as Larys Strong

And this isn't necessarily House of the Dragon Season 2 news, but it is of importance to House of the Dragon fans. Milly Alcock, who wowed everyone as young Rhaenyra Targaryen in Season 1, has leveraged her star-making role into a super new gig. Variety reported in January that Alcock has been booked to play Supergirl in James Gunn's reboot of the DC Cinematic Universe, which includes her own film Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow as well as expected appearances in other DC Universe films, such as the upcoming Superman: Legacy. As far as we know, Alcock and Emily Carey, who played young Alicent Hightower, are not returning to House of the Dragon. 

House of the Dragon Season 2 behind the scenes

Just like the Targaryens, the brass of House of the Dragon is changing regimes. After production on Season 1 was finished, co-showunner Miguel Sapochnik, who also directed three Season 1 episodes, stepped down from his role. No official reason was given, but it sounds like the rigors of the job — Sapochnik worked for three years on House of the Dragon just for Season 1 after directing some of Game of Thrones' most demanding episodes — became too much for Sapochnik. Ryan Condal will remain on board as the sole showrunner, while Sapochnik will remain as an executive producer. 

To fill the void left by Sapochnik's departure, veteran TV and film director Alan Taylor is joining Season 2 as an executive producer. Taylor's directing credits include seven episodes of Game of Thrones, including Season 1's "Baelor" and Season 7's "Beyond the Wall." 

Where is House of the Dragon Season 2 being filmed?

Season 1 was filmed in several locations in Europe — Cornwall, England; Herfordshire, England; Cáceres, Spain; the Castle of Monsanto in Portugal; and more. Expect Season 2 to film in the same locations, with Spain being the only confirmed location as of October 2022.

House of the Dragon Season 1 finale recap

House of the Dragon Season 1 ended with a lot of blood and death. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) traveled from King's Landing to Dragonstone to let Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) know that one, King Viserys (Paddy Considine) is dead and two, Aegon has been crowned King by the Hightower-led Greens. Rhaenyra goes into premature labor upon hearing this news, and loses her daughter. And while Daemon wanted to jump into war immediately and fight back with dragons, Rhaenyra wished to wait — she does not want to rule over "a kingdom of ash and bone." Hand of the King Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the architect of the Greens' plan to take the Iron Throne, arrived at Dragonstone to offer peace terms on behalf of Aegon, and Rhaenyra said she would consider them.

At the same time, the Targaryen-led Blacks were making moves to gather support from Westerosi lords for Rhaenyra's claim. A sickly Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) returned from sea, and after some prodding from his wife Rhaenys declared his loyalty to Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra's son Jacaerys (Harry Collett) volunteered to deliver messages to the other lords, and Rhaenyra agreed to send him and his brother Lucerys — Jacaerys would go to the Eyrie and Winterfell, while Lucerys went to Storm's End. 

But at Storm's End, Lucerys saw that the fearsome dragon Vhagar was already there (that was your sign to leave, Luke!). Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) arrived earlier and already spoke to Borros Baratheon. The Lord of Storm's End was more interested in Aemond's offer — which included a marriage pact — and turned Lucerys away. Resentful Aemond, sensing an opportunity to further dominate the cousin who slashed his left eye, prepared to fight Lucerys and demanded he gouge out his own eye to pay his debt – a literal eye-for-an-eye proposition. But Lord Baratheon forbade the Targaryens from fighting under his roof. 

When Lucerys left on his dragon Arrax, he was followed by Aemond — who rides the much larger Vhagar. Aemond seemingly only wanted to taunt his nephew, but after Arrax spat fire at Vhagar, the she-dragon retaliated by chewing up Arrax in the air... leading to the death of sweet Lucerys, who was only 14 years old. The dragons are only under Targaryen control to a point, which is a scary thing. They're basically nuclear weapons with emotions and minds of their own, you know? 

The last scene of House of the Dragon Season 1 showed Daemon delivering the news to Rhaenyra — we did not actually hear this, but it's safe to assume this is what Daemon said. Rhaenyra shakily walked to the fireplace, turned around with a deadly glare, and the Dance of the Dragons is on!

Where to watch House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon Season 1 is available to stream on Max.