George Martin recently visited the HotD set and shared his emotions with fans. The author was amazed by the scale of Season 2 and promised it would be “very dark.”
House of the Dragon Season 2 is growing closer by the day, and the first episodes have already entered post-production. George Martin, the author of Fire & Blood, the source material for the TV show, recently visited Great Britain to catch up with the series’s development, and his excitement from what he saw on the set was palpable.
In his famous Not a Blog, GRRM shared his journey and teased a thing or two about the upcoming Season 2 of House of the Dragon. According to Martin, fans will cry.
What Did George Martin Learn About HotD S2?
First and foremost, the writer was completely overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the show’s set. Not a stranger to filmmaking, George Martin has been involved with movies and shows for decades, but House of the Dragon Season 2 managed to shock even him. And that means something, considering GRRM’s experience!
“All I have to say about that is… ohmigod! <…> Nothing I have ever seen can compare with the Red Keep and Dragonstone sets they have built at Leavesden Studios in London. Huge, stunning, and so damned real that I felt as if I had gone through a time portal to medieval Westeros,” Martin wrote in his official blog.
Apart from visiting the set, the author got a sneak peek at the rough cuts of the first two episodes of Season 2. Despite their being incomplete, GRRM admired the handiwork of the show’s creators and teased a unique though grim TV experience.
“I thought both episodes were just great, and they are not even finished yet. Dark, mind you. Very dark. They may make you cry. I did not cry myself, but one of my friends did. Powerful, emotional, gut-wrenching, heart-rending. Just the sort of thing I like,” the writer shared.
From this quote alone, it’s safe to say that House of the Dragon intends to keep up the grimy legacy of its mother show Game of Thrones … And even more. Because we have a pretty good idea of what the first two episodes will be about.
What Will Happen in HotD S2’s First Two Episodes?
George Martin’s intriguing review of Season 2’s finale supports a theory we shared two months ago: at the start of the new House of the Dragon chapter, we’ll see the most controversial scene ever. That being, of course, an unhinged child homicide.
The Targaryens’ definition of justice is answering to violence with even more violence. As Daemon Targaryen eloquently put it in Fire & Blood, “An eye for an eye, a son for a son.” He said it before ordering a hit on a minor as revenge for the death of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s son Lucerys. This is what Season 2 will likely start with.
To avenge Lucerys, Daemon will hire Blood and Cheese, a notorious assassin duo, and order them to kill any one of Aegon’s sons. The scene will be truly heart-wrenching because the assassins will find both kids in their mother’s chambers. As a “courtesy call,” they will offer Helaena to pick which child she’ll lose.
However, after she chooses her youngest, Maelor (since he’s too little to understand anything), Blood and Cheese will do quite the opposite. The assassins will swiftly decapitate the elder son, Jaehaerys, right before his mother. This scene is going to be bloody, painful, and absolutely deranged — just the way Martin likes it.
We suspect that it’s Jaehaerys’s murder that House of the Dragon Season 2 will begin with since it falls in line with George Martin’s description of the season’s start. But even if he referred to a different storyline, you still shouldn’t relax: Blood and Cheese are still coming for Aegon’s son in Season 2. Sooner or later, but they are.
What Else Did George Martin Say in His Blog Update?
Aside from the information about House of the Dragon, the rest of the post was mostly related to Martin’s trip to London in general. It was a busy journey, mostly a work-related one; the author met with his local publishers regarding his future books, among other things, for one (but don’t get your hopes up high for The Winds!).
He also found the time for entertainment, visiting several plays, a Halloween celebration, and meeting friends, including some GoT and HotD stars. Fun and games aside, GRRM admitted that the trip had exhausted him — which didn’t mean he was going to be slacking, of course. Writing is above all for him, as always.
Overall, it seems like the journey to Great Britain proved fruitful for George Martin, and despite feeling tired, he’s ready to get back to work. Which work that would be exactly, we have no idea, but the author stated that he was still hard at writing the one notorious book his fans have been expecting for over a dozen years now.
We can only wish GRRM a pleasant and productive time in his home office. And, we bet, many of you share our thoughts and prayers — especially those itching to get their hands on another A Song of Ice and Fire book before this decade runs out.
