House of the Dragon ignited CCXP Mexico with a new look at season three.
Castmembers Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Fabien Frankel excited fans at the annual event in Mexico City on Saturday with a panel teasing the HBO series’ forthcoming season that kicks off in June. The Game of Thrones prequel series also stars Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans and Steve Toussaint.
Co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal appeared in a video segment to introduce the latest trailer. “I’m very sad to not be joining you all there, but I’m back here in the U.K., putting the finishing touches on post-production in season three,” Condal said in the footage. “This is a huge season. It’s the biggest we’ve made by any margin and by a wide measure. It is dark. It’s funny. It’s action-packed. It’s emotional. And, of course, it has lots and lots of dragons. This season demanded the very best of everybody that collaborated to make it together, and I can’t wait for the world to experience it.”
The new trailer will be released online Monday and included Corlys Velaryon (Toussaint) declaring, “All that remains is for you to decide what you want from this war.”
Later in the footage, Ser Criston Cole (Frankel) warns, “Doom and ruin surround us.”
During the panel, Cooke addressed Alicent Hightower’s fraught relationship with Rhaenyra Targaryen (D’Arcy). “To hate someone, there has to be a passion that you have to set fire to,” Cooke noted. “And I think there was a great love there once upon a time. I don’t know where she sort of stands in Alicent’s heart anymore.”
Smith teased that the new season will include “a lot of battles.” He added, “This season, we’re trying to make it bigger, bolder, bloodier, more brutal, more dangerous — just get back to the nuts and bolts of what we are as a show.” The actor also promised that the season will include plenty of dragons, particularly Caraxes.
In addressing what’s in store for his own character, Frankel shared, “Now, he’s just driven to survive, so let’s see how that all plays out.”
Smith went on to praise Daemon Targaryen for playing by his own rules. “What I admire about Daemon is, he just doesn’t give a fuck: ‘I’ll do what I want, how I want, when I want,’” Smith said. “There’s something amazing about that.”
