Season two returning cast:<\/strong>\u00a0Matt Smith<\/a>,\u00a0Olivia Cooke<\/a>,\u00a0Emma D\u2019Arcy<\/a>, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Additional returning cast includes Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, and Matthew Needham.<\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Season two new cast:\u00a0<\/strong>Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower, Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong, Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew as Hugh, Tom Bennett as Ulf, Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark, and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne.<\/p>\n Season two credits:<\/strong>\u00a0Co-Creator\/Executive Producer, George R.R. Martin; Co-Creator\/Showrunner\/Executive Producer,\u00a0Ryan Condal<\/a>; Executive Producers Sara Hess, Alan Taylor, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Loni Peristere, Vince Gerardis. Based on George R.R. Martin\u2019s \u201cFire & Blood.\u201d<\/p>\n Matt Smith, Emma Darcy, House of the Dragon@Courtesy of HBO<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Press Conference with Actors Matt Smith, Emma D\u2019Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia and Creator Ryan J. Condal<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q : How did you choose to narrative structure for the new season? Was it easier or harder without those time jumps and flashbacks?<\/b><\/p>\n Ryan J. Condal: It was a great challenge in structuring Season 1 just because of that. How do you cover 20 years of story and history in 10 episodes of a brand-new television show and expect everybody to follow it? In Season 1, up until the very end, the episodes happen in these discrete timelines. <\/span><\/p>\n So the traditional tools that we rely on as storytellers, where you have a cliffhanger at the end of Episode 2 and then you pick up in Episode 3, you could do a little bit of that. But because they were happening in these discrete time zones, it was harder to lean on that. So these stories had to be kind of complete as formed. Season 2 is traditional serialized storytelling where it\u2019s all happening in real time and we kind of move from episode to episode. And it\u2019s exciting because it\u2019s a way of keeping momentum moving and building excitement. There were challenges definitely to Season 2, but I think Season 1 was a particular narrative pretzel, I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll need to do that again.<\/span><\/p>\n Q : Music in Westeros is very important, is there a song for you guys as actors that really helps you get into the mindset of each of your characters?<\/b><\/p>\n Steve Toussaint: For me, it depends on the scene. There\u2019s no one song that would make me feel like Corlys. But if I\u2019m doing an emotional scene with Eve, then I might look for a sad love song. Something deep possibly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Eve Best: I made a whole playlist this season. But it always started with my powerful Beyonce, <\/span>I Need Ya<\/span><\/i>, which is a really good way to start the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q : Can you talk about the process of using such specific costumes, hair styling, and props in order to shape your characters not only physically, psychologically, and emotionally?<\/b><\/p>\n Harry Collett: This season is just genuinely bigger and better. The way the costumes were done, especially this year, it just felt so immersive. As soon as I put that costume on, I just looked at myself in the mirror, I was like: \u201cDamn, I\u2019m Jacaerys now\u201d from a character perspective. Especially the whole Winterfell cloak was really, really cool. It just felt really surreal. Props are so detailed, there are scrolls that you can pick up in any room and it will be written out in Velaryon or something like that. It\u2019s just so unbelievably detailed. Little things like that, when you step on set, just help you get into character, it makes it so much easier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : And for you Matt?<\/b><\/p>\n Matt Smith : <\/b>I can\u2019t top that. It\u2019s just rich and detailed, we\u2019re really lucky to have the brilliant people who work in all those other departments do such wonderful fantastic work.<\/span><\/p>\n Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, House of the Dragon@Courtesy of HBO<\/p>\n Q : What is the most complex part of adapting such an overarching story?<\/b><\/p>\n Ryan J. Condal: There\u2019s nothing unique necessarily about this show versus other shows that are multi-point-of-view. It\u2019s just there are so many wonderful characters in the show, all of them have their own multi-dimensional stories. It\u2019s how you keep the narrative moving forward, tell character stories within, and service everybody in a way that feels deeply rich and realized, have them cross and interact with each other, sometimes even when they\u2019re not literally crossing and interacting. <\/span><\/p>\n Something I\u2019m particularly proud of this season that we found in the sort of postproduction process is, as everybody knows, Alicent and Rhaenyra are \u2013 even though they spent much of Season 1 together – they\u2019re now apart, they\u2019re literally on different islands and they don\u2019t interact with each other. But in the editing, we found ways to connect those characters. If you see Alicent going through something particularly deep and emotional and you cut to Rhaenyra, there is a kind of filmmaking connection there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : How was playing full seasons of your character? Did watching your character\u2019s younger version help you in any way for Season 2?<\/b><\/p>\n Emma D\u2019Arcy: I like to be quite a conscientious worker, understanding the job description better really suits my conscience. A lot of the work of an actor is to fill in the unseen time. In this case, I can actually just watch it. It\u2019s lovely, very unusual to have a character grounding that you can literally watch and return to. I had never shared the character with another actor, of a different age before. It does a lovely job of physicalizing, and externalizing the split self. Structurally, that was beautifully imagined here. Where you can see the younger self from the outside and see the sort of division in time, division of maturity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q : Unlike <\/b>Game of Thrones,<\/i><\/b> this is a book that you can look up and read and it\u2019s over. So you could find out how your characters\u2019 journeys may end. Have you taken a peek at that or is it more helpful to you as performers to not look ahead at that?<\/b><\/p>\n Steve Toussaint: We were given the book but I chose not to look at it at all because they are two different media. What happens is you read the book and you go: \u201cOh my God, my character does this, it\u2019s fantastic!\u201d And then Ryan goes: \u201cNo, he\u2019s not gonna do that.\u201d I didn\u2019t want to fall in love with what was on the page. Every so often fans will tell me and I\u2019m like: \u201cWell, that doesn\u2019t guarantee anything.\u201d We might not always stick to the book. I felt it be better to just play what was in the script.<\/span><\/p>\n Q : How has the loss of his brother influenced Daemon in Season 2?<\/b><\/p>\n Matt Smith: He lost everything. Emma mentioned in this meeting we had earlier that grief is the great catalyst of the season in many ways. Everything is about the death of his brother. Every single action is related to him. It allows us to see a version of Daemon that is slightly more exposed and honest because he just misses him but doesn\u2019t even know how to communicate that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : When you got the scripts for Season 2, were there some things you were excited to explore or discover about your characters on an emotional internal level?<\/b><\/p>\n Harry Collett: I was excited about having that mother\/son moment with Rhaenyra. Because we don\u2019t really get to see them have any moments like that in Season 1. And to watch them connect on the script and then finally on screen, it was just really nice because it\u2019s just very real. They\u2019ve both been caught up in various things. When they finally just sort of leap into each other\u2019s arms, I just thought that was a really beautiful moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ryan J. Condal: You guys played it so wonderfully. There was a lot of debate as to whether we wanted Jace to say words in that scene or whether we wanted to play it silently. I stuck with it because I felt like it was good to see him come and try to make this very professional report and then break in the middle of it. I watch it and it still gets me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : How many new dragons we\u2019ll see in this season?<\/b><\/p>\n Ryan J. Condal : I promised five and I think it\u2019s still correct. I said five a year and a half ago and I think I\u2019m sticking to it, so five new ones that you haven\u2019t seen before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : How was it to ride a dragon?<\/b><\/p>\n Eve Best : <\/b>I was never off my dragon. It\u2019s just exactly like riding a dragon in real life. It\u2019s desperately uncomfortable in armor and I kept shouting: \u201cBring me more cushions, bring me more padding!\u2019 You\u2019re just so uncomfortable and you\u2019re in this position with your legs up under your feet. You\u2019re wearing this tin can and they were rocking you. It was horrendous \u2013 no, it wasn\u2019t horrendous, it was amazing. I loved every second of it. Can\u2019t wait to do more. I felt rather proud of myself that I came off it alive.<\/span><\/p>\n Bethany Antonia: What I found the most exciting was that you get to see them animated already before you get on the dragon. So you get to see what it\u2019s gonna look like. And then you get on and it\u2019s like a buckin\u2019 bronco. What made me laugh was that it always comes down to a guy with a wind machine. No matter how much budget you have, how much CGI, there\u2019s always gonna be a guy with a wind machine and you\u2019re gonna be upside down. It was just the most fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q : You\u2019re playing a character who doesn\u2019t come in as the loudest person in the room, and yet wields such great power over everyone. How did you set about creating that?<\/b><\/p>\n Emma D\u2019Arcy: I was interested in a character who never expected to find herself in this position. She has a personality that is built in some way marginal in this deeply privileged royal family. She gets quite a lot of freedom because she\u2019s not expected to take on responsibility. She\u2019s not expected to be a ruling person. I was interested in the total dissolution of self that comes with being told suddenly that actually it\u2019s you. Suddenly being centered when all of your tenacity comes from being decentered. I wanted to see what it was like just to watch a person try to put on power and witness how that\u2019s then received by people around her. By Season 2 she is tired of the softer approach, that endless doublethink, a desire to do something, to choose a path of manipulation or careful persuasion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q : How has Season 2 made it a different approach for your performance with your character?<\/b><\/p>\n Matt Smith: You see a lot happen to Daemon in quite a short time. It\u2019s still a vortex of chaos and vengeance and madness and weird signs all coupled together. It allowed for a good deal of unraveling.<\/span><\/p>\n Harry Collett, Emma Darcy, Oscar Eskinazi, House of the Dragon@Courtesy of HBO<\/p>\n Q : How the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra has developed now that Viserys has died?<\/b><\/p>\n Emma D\u2019Arcy: The fact that they can\u2019t communicate proves an obstacle in the series. IIt\u2019s the working of grief. I don\u2019t know that either of them can find solace with each other, I don\u2019t think that they can share that. I don\u2019t feel that Daemon can share his experience of losing his brother. There\u2019s a dislocation taking place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matt Smith: I agree. They can\u2019t unburden themselves from this shadow. The way he died was so horrendous and they were right there next to him. There\u2019s this elephant in the room constantly that they refer back to, that they weaponize against each other. It\u2019s quite uncomfortable for both. I believe that there is a very deep sense of love between the two of them, which is challenged in many ways. It’s tested because he feels unaccepted by her, and reacts as Daemon does.<\/span><\/p>\n Q : What were the main challenges faced while filming this season?<\/b><\/p>\n Eve Best: It was sad that we weren\u2019t all together so much as we had been in Season 1. That feeling of camaraderie in the face of awful shit that was going on. It was very nice to feel that we were all coming together. This season we were all separated, that was a big challenge for me.<\/span><\/p>\n Q : Was that the same for you, not getting to film as many scenes together?<\/b><\/p>\n Steve\u00a0 Toussaint: Yes, it was. With Corlys there are only two places where he is completely comfortable and himself. One is at sea and the other is alone with his wife. When he\u2019s in the small council he has to put on a front and he feels he\u2019s better than everybody there. But in those two situations, he\u2019s completely honest. In Season 2, things that he has to confront his past, he has to deal with it. And they put this sacred relationship under strain for him. And I think for the first time he\u2019s aware that he could lose this precious thing, his wife. It was an interesting journey.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q : Daemon is such an incredibly complex character. Is there one particular aspect of his personality you love delving into?<\/b><\/p>\n Matt Smith: What do I quite like about Daemon? He flies by the beat of his own drum. His moral compass is his own, I admire that about him. I admire his conviction in his mistakes and his actions. For better or worse, he does them anyway, this he\u2019s gonna roll. I like feeling that spirit of chaos and bravado, it\u2019s like walking on a piece of glass. I like the tightrope that he\u2019s defined for himself.<\/span><\/p>\n Q : Games of Thrones<\/i><\/b> has a huge black fanbase. But in the original show, the black characters were more like black background dancers. IN House of the Dragon, you get to be royalty, you get to be in the thick of things. Why that is important?<\/b><\/p>\n Bethany Antonia: It was so important to me to be in a franchise of this scale because I didn\u2019t get to see that when I was younger. When you\u2019re that age, that\u2019s when you start to develop what your dreams are going to be and what your aspirations are gonna be. And if you don\u2019t see it, you can\u2019t believe it. I wanted to be in something like this so that I could have somebody to dress up like. It\u2019s one privilege that we just didn\u2019t have. It\u2019s a joy that you get to do when you go to these conventions. And so even if just for that, if one person gets to see it and go wow, that\u2019s somebody who is like me, it was worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n Steve Toussaint: <\/b>I second that. If you\u2019re used to being represented, representation doesn\u2019t mean as much because you\u2019re used to it. When I was a kid there would be science fiction programs and there were very few, if any, people who looked like us. Me and my friends used to joke about it: \u201cThis is set in the future and we\u2019re not there. What did they do to us?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n I can\u2019t tell you the number of people who have contacted me \u2013 and not just people of color \u2013 through social media or letters and said how pleased they are to see this representation in this world. We are living in a world in which everybody is here. Everybody has a right to be represented: people of different races, genders, people of gender identity, and so forth. That is the world we should be striving for.\u00a0 There are voices out there that would argue against that. But for those of us who want to see that world, I think history is on our side.<\/span><\/p>\n If you like the article, share your thoughts below!<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of Adriano’s articles.<\/a><\/p>\n Here’s the trailer of the series.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"House](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/House-of-the-dragon1.jpg\")
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Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, House of the Dragon@Courtesy of HBO<\/p>\n![\"House](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/harry-collett-emma-d-arcy-oscar-eskinazi-1.jpg\")
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