The Big Picture

Season 2 of
House of the Dragon
ignites a fierce civil war between the Greens and the Blacks within the Targaryen family.
Steve Toussaint and Eve Best’s characters Corlys and Rhaenys join the side of the Blacks, adding naval strength to Rhaenyra’s forces while conflicts escalate from Season 1.
Toussaint and Best discuss character dynamics in Season 2 and how filming changes brought an epic “Game of Thrones-y” vibe.

After two years of a hiatus, the wait is finally over, and House of the Dragon is back. Season 2 picks up right where Season 1 left off. After the tragic death of Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) at the hands of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) on dragonback, the two factions of the Targaryen family are officially going to war. Those who support Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) call themselves the Greens, while those who support his older half-sister Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) call themselves the Blacks. With the family divided down the middle, this feud will bring the entire kingdom into war. While Season 1 sets the stage for the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, Season 2 leans full-scale into the conflict as we see dragon go up against dragon in battle and watch as families tear each other apart.

Firmly on Rhaenyra’s side, for now, is House Velaryon, whose lord is Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and his dragon-riding wife Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), who some know as the Queen Who Never Was. The Velaryons are a powerful naval force which is a great addition to Rhaenyra, whose forces aren’t nearly as strong as her half-brother’s. In Season 1, we saw House Targaryen’s conflicts with House Velaryon grow after one slighted marriage proposal led to an eventual second one between Rhaenyra and Corys and Rhaenys’ son Laenor (John Macmillan). When Rhaenyra decided to strengthen her claim to power by marrying her uncle, Daemon (Matt Smith), they led everyone (including Corlys and Rhaenys) to believe that they had a hand in Laenor’s death when they actually aided him in escaping across the sea with his lover.

We spoke with Steve Toussaint and Eve Best about the tumultuous Season 1 and what it was like splitting the cast up for the second season, which resulted in a more “Game of Thrones-y” feeling for the show. We also discussed with Toussaint Corlys’ obsession with legacy now that his heir is dead. With Best, we asked her if Rhaenys feels any guilt for leaving the Greens alive after her bombastic escape in Season 1 from the dragonpit. Then, we discussed with both actors about how their characters might react to the news that Laenor might still be alive. Watch the video interview with Toussaint and Best above, or read the full transcript of the interview below.

House of the Dragon The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.Release Date August 21, 2022 Creator Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin Main Genre Drama Seasons 3 Distributor HBO Expand

Steve Toussaint Discusses Corlys’ Obsession With Legacy
Image via HBO

COLLIDER: I have to say, you guys are one of my favorite couples. I feel like it’s very cute whenever they’re on-screen together. Steve, speaking about Corlys last season, I feel like a lot of his ambition and his goals are tied to his legacy. Obviously, Lucerys, who is his heir, is dead, and he’s lost his children. How much of Luke’s death, plus the death of all his children, is going to affect this idea of legacy for him in this season?

STEVE TOUSSAINT: Oh, interesting question. It’s very important as a motor for how he goes through Season 2 and what he chooses to do. Bereft is too strong a word because his wife is still there, but he is bereft in the sense of, “My plans have all gone. This is supposed to be how it works.” At the beginning of Season 1, he’s like, “My daughter will marry this person, my son will marry this person, and the family name will be secure.” Now, that’s all been wiped asunder. So, part of his actions in Season 2 are partly trying to reconcile that and also trying to find somebody who can take that place. There’s a point where we have a discussion about the children that are available, in terms of his granddaughters, and his first thought is, “A woman?” And then it’s like, “Well, he doesn’t know anything about ships. What’s going to happen?”

Despite the fact that he is aware that his ambition caused an awful lot of the destruction that happened to the family, he is still the same man. He still believes that the family needs to be secured. This is a world in which you can be easily wiped out, so he still feels that he has to do that, and tries to go about it.

Does Eve Best Think Rhaenys Regrets Not Killing the Greens in Season 1?
Image via HBO

Eve, there was some talk in the first episode that we’ve just screened about Rhaenys not taking the chance when she had it in Season 1 to wipe out Aegon’s line.

EVE BEST: [Laughs] Why’s everyone so bothered by that? It’s funny to me!

I’m curious if there is any regret because Lucerys is dead, and that’s a family member to her. Does she look back on it with regret, or is it like, no, she knows that what she did was right?

BEST: I don’t think she does look back on it with any regret at all. It was absolutely the right thing not to start a nuclear war. I mean, the fact that Lucerys is dead is appalling. It’s indescribable grief. At this point, though, it feels like she’s holding so much of the bigger picture for everybody else who’s going through their own private unraveling, and actually, she’s the only one pretty much through the season, who’s saying, “Look, guys, there is a bigger picture that we need to pay attention to, which is we must not have nuclear war.” The thing most hateful to the gods is a war between dragons. It’s the most devastating and dangerous, unimaginable thing that could happen, and that’s necessary to avoid — at all costs.

What Would Happen if Laenor Were To Come Back in ‘House of the Dragon’?
Image via HBO

There is sort of an elephant in the room when it comes to Corlys and Rhaenys, which is the fact that they don’t realize that their son is still alive out there in the world and that he’s potentially just roaming out there. I’m curious if any of the feelings of these two characters for Daemon and also, by proxy, Rhaenyra would be different if they knew the truth about where they are.

BEST: Oh gosh, so much. I think so much.

TOUSSAINT: Yes, I think so. Because, obviously, those two are implicated in his death, so, of course, it would change in that sense. But even as you were asking the question, I was thinking, “I wonder.” Let’s imagine he came back. You might start questioning what kind of life we had created for him that meant he had to do that, had to fake his own death and leave, particularly in a family with a father who is so about duty. We have a scene in Season 1 when you say, “He’s not the type to marry,” or something like that, and I go, “Well, he’ll grow out of it,” because I don’t really care about him. I want this for my son. But yes, if he was alive, and they knew he was alive, of course, it would change how they felt about those two, but not much.

BEST: I think you’re right, actually. I agree with you. If that elephant were soothed, it would be a big deal for Rhaenyra because I think, for Rhaenys and Rhaenyra, that’s been very much an unspoken question mark between them. It would clear Rhaenyra’s name up to a point, which would be significant. But I think deep down there are some other deep undercurrents of complicated and rather murky feelings towards both of them that we both have, that I’m not sure could be just easily resolved by the return of our son. Although, it would be a start. But I don’t think their characters would suddenly be wiped clean. I don’t think the slate would suddenly be perfect.

TOUSSAINT: Not yet.

There’s definitely a lot to deal with on that front.

BEST: They’re a dodgy pair. Let’s face it.

Toussaint and Best Discuss Filming Changes from Season 1 to Season 2

As two actors who played in Season 1, you guys were there for the entire season, and you worked with the younger cast and also with the current cast now. Coming into Season 2, did you feel a shift in how the show was operating now that you guys are more stable and there’s not so much change and fluidity, or has it been largely the same?

TOUSSAINT: I think it’s been different only in the sense that for us as actors, as work colleagues, a lot of Season 1 we were all together. Season 2 has necessarily split us up because, of course, there are two factions, and they’re gonna go to war. So, we necessarily were separated from our colleagues. In that sense, I worked mainly with Eve and a couple of other new actors. I think maybe one or two scenes with Emma [D’Arcy]. But for example, Fabien Frankel], Olivia [Cooke], Matt [Smith]…

BEST: Tom [Glynn-Carney], all the Green characters…

TOUSSAINT: We never saw them. So, in that sense…

BEST: It was just a shame.

TOUSSAINT: But for people, our execs, who have seen all of them, they all say the show is much more epic and much more “Games of Thrones-y,” if that’s a word.

BEST: I think it felt like a slightly steadier ship. The first season that we were filming we had COVID, everybody was under so much pressure, and nobody knew what it was that we were making. It was a lot of fear and a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of chaos.

TOUSSAINT: That’s right.

BEST: And now, it did feel steadier in a way.

TOUSSAINT: We didn’t know how it was going to go because, of course, they’d had a pilot that they’d made as another offshoot of the show, and for whatever reason, it wasn’t successful. So, there was no guarantee that this would be, whereas, coming back into it having been a success, that’s a different kind of pressure, but as Billie Jean King said, “Pressure is a privilege.” But it was still kind of nice coming back thinking, “Oh, well, we did okay the first time ‘round,” so we’ve raised the bar.

BEST: No sitting on laurels.

TOUSSAINT: No, they’ve raised the bar.

Related ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Probably Won’t Use Flashbacks, But It Should We’re done with time jumps, but maybe we should revisit what we skipped.

Who Would Toussaint and Best Play on Team Green?
Image via HBO/Ollie Upton

That’s fantastic. Just wrapping things up, if you guys could play as characters on Team Green — you’re not Team Black — who would you pick?

TOUSSAINT: I think, for me, the most intriguing character on Team Green, and I don’t think he got enough plaudits for his performance, which I thought it was fantastic, I would love to play Otto. I just love what Rhys [Ifans] did. I love that character so much.

BEST: Does. Still does.

TOUSSAINT: Still does, indeed. What about you?

BEST: Well, I think I’d love to play any of the girls because I just love the frocks. [Laughs]

House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 on Max.

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