Photos taken on the set of House of the Dragon Season 2 leaked on Saturday, giving fans a glimpse at the upcoming Targaryen civil war. The pictures, published by The Daily Mail, included looks at Olivia Cooke as Lady Alicent Hightower, Phia Saban as Queen Helaena Targaryen, and Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole. As far as we know, the season should be wrapping up filming soon and on track for its original premiere date in 2024.
Set photos were apparently taken during a scene in King’s Landing where the queen and her mother were escorted through the city streets in a golden carriage surrounded by knights. Both wore their usual regal finery – notably, Helaena wore the green of House Hightower rather than the red and black of House Targaryen – and both wore veils over their faces. The man directly behind them seems to be Ser Criston Cole, although his outfit is a bit of a mystery. Cole is a member of the Kingsguard who usually wears ornate white armor, and as we saw in the Season 1 finale, he is even its Lord Commander now, meaning he should be dressed more finely.
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It could be that the helmet simply obscures the actor’s face too much to determine who he really is. In any case, the photos provide an interesting peak at the set and how much of it is built practically versus how much is created using CGI. Many of these candid photos seem to show the actors out of character between takes, so they likely won’t be seen in the show itself.
House of the Dragon raised controversy this month when it opted to continue filming in spite of the writers’ strike. Showrunner Ryan Condal remains on set, claiming that he can carry out his role as an executive producer without violating the WGA strike guidelines. Many writers have criticized him on social media and raised questions about this compartmentalization, but author George R.R. Martin seemed to defend Condal in a blog post. He claimed that the writing was done early and carried out very thoroughly specifically for a situation like this.
“The second season of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON started filming April 11 and will continue in London and Wales,” Martin wrote. “The scripts for the eight s2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began, Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. There will be no further revisions. The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew… and of course the dragons.”
At the time, a report by Deadline said that there were only 19 days of filming left on the schedule, so House of the Dragon Season 2 should be nearing completion. It is scheduled to air in the late summer or autumn of 2024 on HBO and Max. For now, Season 1 is streaming on Max and Martin’s books are available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
