The days are counting down before the arrival of House of the Dragon Season 2 on HBO in the 2024 TV schedule, and the Targaryen family tree is poised to get even more twisted this time around. While fans can count on fire and blood in the first new episodes since the Season 1 finale back in 2022, and the show is as – to quote Melisandre – "dark and full of terrors" as Game of Thrones before it, the stars have some fun ways of lightening things up when the cameras aren't rolling.
The first season ended with the first blood being drawn in the Targaryen civil war, with Aemond – a.k.a. a Green – accidentally killing his nephew Lucerys – a.k.a. a Black – on dragonback. Season 2 will have to pick up on the aftermath of that tragedy, and given that Daemon is involved, it seems safe to say that the story is about to get even more violent.
Whether or not the death toll for major characters rises beyond Lucerys at the end of Season 1 remains to be seen, but members of the cast shared how they keep their spirits up while filming a very dark show. Harry Collett, who plays Jacerys Velaryon on House of the Dragon, shared his approach with Us Weekly:
I play house music on set, and if anyone gets annoyed, they tell me to turn it off — but nobody gets annoyed. So it’s great. In between takes, I’ll just play some music normally on a Friday and everyone gets up and dances.
Somehow I doubt that there will be much dancing on camera when the Targaryens are back and ready to battle with the Season 2 premiere on June 16, but it's good to hear that as a way for the cast to chill out between scenes! Bethany Antonia, who plays Baela Targaryen, commented on a specific day when she was filming with Collett:
There was one day that me and Harry, we got so delirious because we’d been filming the same scene for like six days. And we just were like, ‘OK, let’s just go and do something really, really funny.’ And the first thing he did was see a trash bin and he just dove into the bin to make me laugh.
The biggest question about this bit of trivia might concern what kind of scene required Bethany Antonia and Harry Collett to spend six days filming it, but it's nice to know that they found a "really funny" way to deal with their delirium.
And they're certainly not the only stars with stories about levity behind the scenes! Steve Toussaint, who plays the formidable Corlys Velaryon, gave credit to an actor fans might not expect to be particularly funny: Rhys Ifans, when he's not actively performing as Otto Hightower. Toussaint said:
Some of the funniest things and the funniest people are involved in this show. Rhys Ifans should get much more praise than he gets because the character that he plays as Otto Hightower is so dark and he is such a light, wonderful presence.
Finding humor in the show isn't just limited to the Season 1 regulars who already dealt with plenty of darkness the first time around. Jamie Kenna joined the cast for Season 2 to portray Ser Alfred Broome, a player in the upcoming war on the Black side in support of Queen Rhaenyra. The second season newcomer said:
House of the Dragon is not a comedy, there’s a lot of darkness, there’s a lot of misery, right? So as soon as we stop rolling, there’s a lot of fun. This was such a good group of people to work with at this time of my life.
After how both Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke explained why Season 2 was more challenging than Season 1, it sounds like some BTS fun could be just what everybody needed. Fans may be in need of some fun as well, considering that HBO has been stoking the Blacks vs. Greens rivalry within the fandom ever since the release of two dueling trailers back in March.
Readers of George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood have a whole lot more inside information on top of why the factions are called the "Blacks" and the "Greens," and it seems like a safe bet that things are going to have to get worse before they can get better as House of the Dragon continues.
Tune in to HBO on Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET for the Season 2 premiere of House of the Dragon, or stream the episode via a Max subscription. You can also revisit the full first season as well as all eight seasons of Game of Thrones on the streamer now.
