Brush up on your High Valyrian.
The hit “Game of Thrones” spinoff show, “House of the Dragon,” returns for Season 2 on Sunday, June 16 (9 p.m. on HBO and streaming on Max).
During a recent HBO press conference for the cast that The Post attended, series creator Ryan Condal said, “My anxiety in Season 1…was, ‘Is anybody going to watch the show?’ Because you’re following the Beatles, the most successful television show of all time,” he said, referring to “Game of Thrones.”
“How do you follow that? You don’t. You just try to make something good that stands on its own.”
Condal’s fears were unfounded, as the show was a hit, with around 29 million viewers tuning in weekly. Set around 200 years before the events of “GoT,” the show is about a civil war in the Targaryen family. Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and by her side, she’s got her husband / uncle Daemon (Matt Smith) as an enforcer, and her wealthy and powerful in-laws, Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys (Eve Best) as supporters.
But, her half-brother, Aegon (Tom Glynn Carney), has usurped her throne, and by his side, he’s got his fierce brother Aemond (Ewan Michell) as an enforcer, along with supporters like his mom Alicent (Olivia Cooke), grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans), and Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
Season 1 ended with Aemond killing Rhaenyra’s son, so Condal said, “This picks up a couple days later, and off we go to the next horrible tragedy.”
Cooke said that she doesn’t see Alicent as being “vicious.”
“I think she’s got a point, a lot of the time. And she’s got to manipulate, in order to steer these men away from chaos and implosion.”
She added that in Season 2, Alicent is “navigating her two full-grown sons, who are beginning to dismiss her more and more.”
Mitchell, who plays one of her grown sons, Aemond, said that because Aemond was bullied for being different as a kid in Season 1 but now has Vhagar, “the oldest, baddest, hardened dragon in the known world,” that indicates Aemond’s drive.
“You’re going to see that drive continue, and it’s going to be scary,” said Mitchell.
In Season 2, Daemon is reeling from his brother Viserys dying, Smith said.
The former “Doctor Who” star described Daemon’s experience as, “a vortex of chaos and vengeance and madness.”
He added, “He’s like a f–king crazy person, which is great. I miss Paddy [Considine] as well. So it’s life and art imitating itself.”
Smith thinks Daemon and Rhaenyra can’t “unburden themselves” from Viserys’ death.
“They sort of weaponize against each other… But I personally believe that there is a very deep sense of love between the two of them. But it’s tested because he feels unaccepted by her, I think. And he reacts as Daemon reacts.”
D’Arcy said that in Season 2, “I was interested in a character who never expected to find herself in this position…I wanted to see what it was like just to watch a person try to put on power and witness how that’s then received by people around her, to varying degrees of success… I wanted to bring imposter syndrome into fantasy.”
The “Game of Thrones” world is notorious for fan theories, which Cooke said can be “intoxicating and fun,” but she added that they have to be “loyal” to the script and can’t “let it affect your performance.”
Touissant added that he didn’t even read the book “Fire & Blood” on which the show is based.
“I chose not to look – not because of spoilers, but simply because they are two different mediums…Every so often, fans will tell me [what will happen] and I’m like ‘Well, that doesn’t guarantee anything.’ We might not always stick to the book.”
When the cast was asked if they watch the show, Best said, “I’ve never seen it…I will watch it when it’s all over. Maybe in like 10 years’ time. I’m really looking forward to it, I hear it’s amazing.”
Regarding author George R. R. Martin’s role in the show, Condal said, “He’s very busy…they want to make many more shows about this world. He’s definitely aware of what’s going on. I do keep in contact with him. But now that we’re kind of off to the races with the show, I think we’re operating on our own now, in a good way.”
He added, “But George looms large in the background.”
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