With the 10-year time jump, House of the Dragon Episode 6, ‘The Princess and the Queen,’ felt like the beginning of a new season rather than another episode in Season 1. The showrunners, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, sobered the audience by showcasing how much things can change in a matter of a decade. The new episode which was dubbed a “second pilot” introduced us to a whole new generation of dragon-riders as well as set the tone for the division of the Blacks and Greens within the Targaryen dynasty. In a new featurette the cast and crew breakdowns the path forward.
The last episode concluded with Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel) being saved by Alicent, and Rhaenyra getting married to Ser Laenor. Episode 6 shows us that Ser Criston’s allegiances have changed, Frankel explains that shift as “Alicent’s the one who pulled him out at the moment in which he was at his lowest, and now he’s sworn his vows to her.” Sapochnik reveals that she told him “we must do right and remain on the side of righteousness.” Hence, he takes that as a reason and excuse to expose as much as possible of Rhaenyra’s wrongdoings, he starts by goading Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) about the parentage of Rhaenyra's children; this action, and Harwin's reaction, have a domino effect on the rest of the episode, and will undoubtedly affect much of the series moving forward.
Another ally that Alicent (now played by Olivia Cooke) has is in form of Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) whom Sapochnik dubbed as “one of the villains” in the series going forward. Larys as a villain feels reminiscent of Littlefinger's role in the original Game of the Thrones series; however, in Episode 6, viewers see the extent of Larys Strong's cruelty and the lengths he will go to, making him a particularly chilling villain. Needham explains, “He’s one of the only people who listen to her properly, and I think he feels he’s the only one who sees her truly.” Condal further explains, "When Alicent says, I wish my father would be here, Larys hears, “Go out and kill my father and my brother, so that the King doesn’t have a Hand, so you can bring your father back.” Writer Sara Hess says that by claiming he did it as a favor to her, “he catches Alicent in a net, so he gets a much bigger prize than just becoming the Lord of Harrenhal.”
Sapochnik says that Episode 6 is the “beginning of the shift” where the story starts to become about the children. “It’s just not Viserys and Daemon and Rhaenyra and Alicent. It’s also this new group of kids. It’s Aemond and Aegon and Jace and Luke. It’s multigenerational.” The new episode introduced us to the new players in this game of thrones and the ones who’ll carry the grudges of their parents and might as well fight for it. Hess reveals that “we are exploring family beef getting passed on to our children, and things that we do for our children that we maybe shouldn’t.”
In one corner we now have Alicent and Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) children, Aegon (Ty Tennant), his sister Helaena (Evie Allen), and their younger brother Aemond (Leo Ashton); and on the other, we have Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong’s children Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon (Leo Hart), Lucerys “Luke” Velaryon (Harvey Sadler), and Joffrey Velaryon. Condal tells, “Those are the children that are going to essentially fight in this coming war together. There’s a whole bunch of unsaid, unspoken drama within these families. And Viserys’ deeply seated internal family problems, come to boil over later on in the series.” The fallout for the Dance of Dragons will not only have a deep-seated effect on the family but also on the whole of Westeros for years to come. So far it has been interesting to see the beginnings of the civil war play out, and in a multilayered and fascinating way.
New episodes of House of the Dragon drop every Sunday, meanwhile, you can take a look at the featurette below: