How House of the Dragon Season 2 Fills The Gap Between Rainila and Alice's Story

How House of the Dragon Season 2 Fills The Gap Between Rainila and Alice's Story

The impending dance of the Dragon War in "House of the Dragon" Season 2 follows two opposing factions within House Targaryen — Team Black (a contingent supporting Rainila Targaryen as heir to the crown) and Team Green (her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen's claim to the Iron throne). This may be a conflict between the parties (those that support them). 

We are, of course, talking about Rhaenyra (played by Emma D'Arcy) and her former childhood friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). (Awkward!As we get deeper into the "Game of Thrones" prequel series, the relationship between 2 female Leads gets infinitely complicated, and when the new season premieres on HBO and Max on 6/19 (Sunday), it will definitely continue. 

However, in "Fire and Blood", George R.R. "Martin's novel, on which the House of the Dragon is based," both Rhaenyra and Alicent are far more passive characters on the page than on the screen — the former is basically a nominal during the war, and she and Alicent do not have the friendships established in the book. (The book Alicent is actually more than 10 years older than Rhaenyra.

"House of The Dragon" Executive Producer Sara Hess told Entertainment Weekly about the story of Rhaenyra and Alicent about how it was "profit and hardship" to fill the gap left by the book. 

"There aren't so many roadmaps out there," Hess told the outlet. "We had to flesh out all of them, but I think that's an advantage in that we don't object to what's in the book. We're not saying that Alicent did this, we're not letting her do anything else, we're letting her disappear from the story. It's really interesting to think, because women disappear from historical stories.

For either woman, it will not disappear from this story — Hess says that while Rainila starts Season 2 in a position of great weakness (like the shocking death of her son Luke, Aegon II takes her throne), Alicent is one of the great powers as the king's mother and adviser, "The story of this season is that they change places.""The focus on female characters expands the story of children, especially Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell).

So are you Team Rhaenyra or Team Alicent? HBO took part in that competition by releasing a duel trailer to promote Season 2 centered around Cooke's Alicent and the rest of the King's Landing crew, following d'Arcy's Rhaenyra and Dragonstone forces. 

To which team to whom you swear your allegiance, keep Tom's guide posted on everything related to the second season of "House of the Dragon"."In the meantime, you can catch up with Rhaenyra, Alicent and other favorite "HOTD" characters by re-watching the first season of the show with a Max subscription. 

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