The Dragon Demands

Let us considers the devils we know for now, not let our minds fly to those that we yet know not of.

I wrote up an outline for Season 2 back in September when filming wrapped, and posted it back on page 21 of this thread. The teaser trailers since then haven't altered it that much - though they were notable for their lack of much new content or characters. Now we're on the even of new announcements at CCXP Mexico tomorrow, so as we get back into gear, I figured it makes sense to repost this with some slight updates and refinements. We don't know writers only directors. These are the CREDIBLE reports, not clickbait making stuff up for attention. Episode 1 - "A Son for a Son" - Directed by Alan Taylor Prologue: Winterfell reacts to news coming in by messenger-raven that King Viserys has died (they want to hook the TV audience in that the prequel Starks are in Season 2, because otherwise they're not really prominent until starting in episode 3) Rhaenyra flies to the beach of Shipbreaker Bay and finds Luke or Arrax's corpse (this was one of the unreliable narrator moments from the book, what happened to Luke's body; they took a third option) [Confirmed by teaser trailers] Reactions to Luke's death at King's Landing - Aegon II feasts Aemond at the "Cock's Inn", which we think is in Flea Bottom. The handmaid he assaulted, "Dyana", confirmed to be working there by new BTS promo shot (also showing the trio of prominent Green lieutenants we later see at the funeral next episode) Reactions to Luke's death at Dragonstone. Luke is given a funeral at the Valyrian mountainside altar (unclear if they're just ceremonially burning his clothes because they didn't find his body just Arrax's head) [Confirmed by new promo images that accompanied teasers] Jace is present for Luke's funeral: this doesn't bring up travel issues too much like Got Season 7, as the Eyrie is about as far north of Dragonstone as Storm's Ens is south (and Harrenhal is to the northwest) -- so apparently Jace stayed in the Eyrie for at least a few days, enough time for ravens to arrive bringing news of Luke's death, so he doubles back to Dragonstone, THEN continues back North to Winterfell -- this works well enough...and potentially also opens up the possibility of having a scene where Rhaenyra tells Jace about the Song of Ice & Fire prophecy BEFORE he goes to kingdom at the frontline of the threat beyond the Wall. We're not sure if we actually see Jace in the Vale or leave that off-screen; Jeyne Arryn does at least appear by episode 7 but with other characters. Daemon takes Harrenhal. Takes a minor wound or something, and while getting it patched up meets the mysterious Alys Rivers (source: leaked casting video). Daemon might actually take Harrenhal by complete surprise by landing Caraxes on top of Kingspure Tower during a thunderstorm, then bursting in on the unprepared household while they're eating dinner [Source: second teaser] -- IMDB lists Gayle Rankin appearing as Alys Rivers in episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 but isn't always accurate. Final scene is Daemon sneaking into KL on a fishing boat, to set up Blood & Cheese. [Leaks I saw with my own eyes] Episode 2 - Directed by Clare Kilner Blood & Cheese at the start of the episode. We don't know if Maelor will exist in the TV show. While we originally thought the spy photos of a big funeral procession for Jaehaerys were in episode 3, they're actually from the back half of episode 2: Large invented sequence filmed on the streets of Caceres with many spy photos: the Greens hold a funeral procession throughout the city, with a herald shouting "Behold the work of Rhaenyra the Cruel!" - trying to propagandize this for all its worth. Alicent and a not particularly insane looking Helaena ride in a carriage behind the casket. When they pass through Flea Bottom, however, they are booed and people throw rotten (inedible) food at them. Alicent & Helaena pelted with rotten food so much they have to turn around. This is distinct from the full scale food riot in episode 7 (briefly glimpsed in teasers) Criston Cole and some (new?) Kingsguard ride behind the royal carriage - one of which is now confirmed to be Vincent Regan as "Ser Rickard Thorne" - I caution that it's possible that "TV-Thorne" has been condensed with elements of Willis Fell from the books, but we shall see. Riding behind the Kingsguard are three new prominent characters - who we earlier saw with Aegon at the Cock Inn and also in teaser shots following him into the throne room: Martin Reyne - from the Westerlands Leon Estermont - From the Stormlands "Eddard Waters" - as he is black, I suspect he is a condensation of Vaemond's sons & the Silent Five Velaryons with Marston Waters (the book actually does mention in passing the Marston is from Driftmark - so maybe he was a Velaryon bastard?) ....A running theory I have is that they're going to use the funeral as an opportunity to introduce all of "Team Green" together in one place for TV viewers, or at least as many as practical. Freddie Fox will play Alicent's brother Gwayne Hightower this season. We no longer think Daeron Targaryen is in Season 2, but that they'll start mentioning that he exists. Occam's Razor, we found out there was deleted dialogue from Season 1 episode 7, when Otto comes back from Oldtown after a long time, Aemond asks "hey how's my younger brother doing?" -- it's possible they re-use this basic setup with a slightly different context: when UNCLE GWAYNE arrives in KL from Oldtown, a (now older) Aemond along with Alicent ask "hey how's Daeron doing?" Cargyll Bowl happens close to the end of episode 2, but we've seen no specific leaks other than teaser shots. Speculation: Jace arrives at Winterfell in the last scene of the episode, to hook in viewers who otherwise would have stopped watching in horror after Blood & Cheese without promise of prequel Starks in the next episode. Episode 3 - Directed by Geeta Patel Reactions to Blood & Cheese. Spy footage showed Aemond overseeing the beheadings of several prisoners in a Red Keep courtyard; I think it happens in this episode, as in the book after Blood & Cheese the Greens responded by executing their remaining prisoners who wouldn't bend the knee. Aegon II fires Otto and replaces him as Hand of the King with Criston Cole (Criston seen wearing Hand of the King necklace of office in episode four). Aegon's new Hand says he's ready to lead his ground army into the Crownlands, teaser line: "Good: to war then!" We SUSPECT that the Battle of the Burning Mill happens in episode 2 or early episode 3, filmed near Penmachno valley in Wales. They DID spend a lot of time setting up the Blackwoods and Brackens in Season 1 (in episodes 4 and 6). Only a trickle of casting news for named characters in both Houses. New teaser trailers briefly show Blackwoods / Brackens facing off. This ends with Daemon capturing the Bracken's castle with Caraxes, from the skeleton garrison they left behind while their main army was in the field; surrounded and trapped in the open, the Bracken armyt surrenders. Teaser line: "Our terms are simple, renounce the false king and reswear your allegiance to the queen, or your House burns" Speculation: much of this episode may be devoted to Jace with Cregan Stark at Winterfell. We saw them both at the Wall in teaser shot, might be this or a later episode after Winterfell. We know few specifics about how they're handling Jace in the North other than that it has been expanded, and leak from makeup department indicated we'll see wights again. We know this subplot is a big part of the season but not specific episodes, though trailers reveal Jace is back on Dragonstone by episode 7 to oversee the Sowing of the Dragonseeds as he did in the book. SPECULATION: Rumored flashbacks to King Jaehaerys shutting down the Nightfort baby sacrifices, revealing this is why the White Walkers are returning - they didn't exactly "leave" but were hibernating so long as they were placated with sacrifices (like Craster's Keep but on a larger scale) Episode 4 - "A Dance of Dragons" - Directed by Alan Taylor Battle of Rook's Rest. Starts with the aftermath of the Sack of Duskendale, leading in to Rook's Rest as a major action set piece (possibly THE major action set piece of the season). Baela riding Moondancer is at Rook's Rest, though it's unclear if she takes part in the battle (Massive Change) or is just a scout, or shows up in the aftermath racing to find Rhaenys, but flees when she sees she's dead and Vhagar is relatively unharmed (to explain how young Moondancer could be present without Vhagar easily chomping her as she did Arrax) Episode 5 - Directed by Clare Kilner Just as episode 3 was "aftermath of Blood & Cheese", this episode is "aftermath of Rook's Rest". Reactions from both the Blacks and the Greens. Dragon head paraded through the streets of KL, as in the book (from very obvious Caceres spy photos). Episode 6 - Directed by Andrij Parekh (who won an Emmy for his work on "Succession") We know very little about what any of the core cast members are doing in this episode. We know less about it than any other this season. Aemond and Criston plan their grand strategy for the main phase of the war beginning now: a pincer movement at Harrenhal by them in the east and the Lannisters in the west. Possibly the teaser scenes of Aemond and Criston at the small council table, Aemond saying he welcomes a direct confrontation with his uncle Daemon. The Lannisters gather the combined armies of all their bannermen in the Westerlands and arrive at Golden Tooth, castle of House Lefford which guards the mountain pass going from the Westerlands into the Riverlands. [Source: DETAILED spy video, later confirmed by shots in the second teasers] -- We know it's episode 6 because the actor playing Lord Lefford is listed on IMDB as only being in episodes 6 and 8. They prepare to launch their invasion into the Riverlands. Those teaser shots of Seasmoke following a confused Addam of Hull around seem to be from this episode. For all we know, it's possible that most of this episode simply takes a break from the lead cast members and instead gives us more extended screentime with Jace and Cregan - if they were at Winterfell in episode 3, then we dealt with Rook's Rest and its aftermath for two episodes, maybe we go back to see them arrive at the Wall itself with the Night's Watch. Possible the lead actors just don't appear that much in this episode to instead focus on the Night's Watch storyline (mind-blowing....but remember when Game of Throens seasons 2 and 3 would actually alternate between storylines so some characters just had an "off" episode then appeared heavily in the next? -- Well, here's hoping. Because I want more than one episode with the prequel Starks. Episode 7 - Directed by Loni Peristere In contrast to episode 6, we know quite a bit about what happens in this episode: Daemon is at Harrenhal by this point, standing on the battlements overseeing the troop formations of the various Riverlord Houses. Mentioned by name were Blackwood, Bracken (now that they bent the knee), Strong, Mallister, also for the first time Mooton, Piper, Darry, and even Vance (unclear which branch of House Vance) Oscar Tully rides into Harrenhal with a delegation of Tully knights. The green young boy meets with Daemon to reluctantly explain to him that Riverrun's armies have to remain neutral until old Lord Grover dies. Notice this means that the main campaign in the Riverlands hasn't even begun yet: the Lannister pincer from the west, and Aemond's KL pincer from the east. [ Source: major leak I saw with my own eyes] Rhaena arrives at the Eyrie, accompanied by a large entourage of knights, dragonkeepers, servants, etc. Jeyne Arryn [now confirmed to be Amanda Collin] rides down from the Eyrie with a dozen Arryn knights to meet her at the "waycastle" at base of mountain. [ Source: major leak I saw with my own eyes] No mention of Joff, but others pointed out to me he might have just flown ahead on his dragon (or the actor wasn't mentioned because the dragon is pure CGI). Aegon III accompanies Rhaena to the Eyrie. We have no idea who's playing Jess Redfort, or if she even appears on-screen this season - but there are many announced actors we couldn't link specific roles to just yet. Sowing of the Dragonseeds [source: major spy photos from Llanddwyn beach] We now suspect that the Sowing is more of an ongoing process that could last through episodes 7 and 8 and even into the Season 3 premiere. Addam is one of the first to arrive, WITH Seasmoke, which started to follow him around in prior episodes like a homing instinct (Dragons do have mysterious homing instincts in the books). When Rhaenyra sees Seasmoke with a new rider on the beach she instantly puts two and two together and realizes that Seasmoke would only bond to a new rider if Laenor died somehow off-screen in the past few years - which is why she looks so concerned in the teaser trailer shot of this, not so much about Addam but the implication "this means Laenor must be dead". We don't think Nettles has been cast in Season 2: she's notably absent from the shot in the second teasers of Rhaenyra having dinner with THREE successful dragonseeds (Addam, Hugh, Ulf) along with Jace and Baela. They DO have at least two black women in the lineup of dragonseed candidates: running theory is they're handling her much as they did Stannis's wife in Season 2, having stand-ins for crowd shots just to establish "there's a black girl", but not actually casting a permanent actor until the Season 3 premiere. Of course, it took longer for Nettles to tame Sheepstealer by gradually earning his trust, so it sort of makes sense she'd show up later than the others. Update: a major food riot breaks out in King's Landing due to the Velaryon naval blockade We used to think this was at the end of the funeral procession in episode 2, but that was just booing; this is a full-on large scale riot (and episode 2 happens so soon after the blockade has just started there wasn't time for food to run low yet) Ryan Condal made vague comments in the interviews accompanying the new teasers that Season 2 has "two big physical set pieces in it", ONE of which is the Battle of Rook's Rest. What's something else so big he considers it comparable in production scale? Probably a large-scale food riot in confined city streets, which requires a lot of stunt planning for safety. Alicent gets caught up in the food riots, apparently on her way back from the Grand Sept where she was lighting votive candles - as seen by comparing shots in the first and second sets of teasers. If you examine her clothes in the food riot shots of the trailer they're not the same as what she's wearing in the funeral sequence from episode 2. A rioter grabs her with an outstretched arm and a kingsguard hacks it off at the shoulder (teaser did have a shot of an outstretched arm grabbing her) Mysterious scene of Alicent at a lake happens in episode 7, which we know because of the filming schedule where it was shot in Wales, but otherwise no details about its in-story context. A dream sequence? New teasers also had strange shots of Alicent sinking under the water in a bath. Speculation: Alicent is so traumatized and exhausted after making it back to the Red Keep from the food riot that she numbly sinks down into the bath, getting oxygen deprived she has a brief dream/vision, but before too long her body reflexively sits up and she gasps for air (as this wasn't a real suicide attempt as such but just going completely limp in the bath, so she didn't weight herself down) Episode 8 - Directed by Geeta Patel We really don't know much about what happens in episode 8. The running theory was that it either includes the Battle of the Gullet, or ends just as it's starting with the Triarchy fleet on the horizon, saving the actual battle for the Season 3 premiere. I would point out that Geeta Patel doesn't have a prior history of doing big battle sequences. For a while we didn't know if Alan Taylor or Geeta Patel was doing the finale, but now that we know he's doing Rook's Rest...it seems less likely there's a huge battle (but hey, first time for everything). On the other hand, we suspect the Battle of the Red Fork is in this episode, as IMDB says Lord Lefford appears again: the main Lannister army enters the Riverlands, beginning the main phase of the war. It's possible that the big "action climax" of the season is in fact the Sowing of the Dragonseeds, a very CGI heavy sequence. Then episode 8 is just the aftermath of that. We DO know that in episode 8, Rhaenyra flies to Harrenhal and meets with Simon Strong. How and why are unclear. There are now rumors that Alicent arrives on Dragonstone in the finale, for an attempt at peace talks that go nowhere (other than an excuse to have the lead actresses get face to face drama interactions to serve as a season finale - not that I'm complaining as it fits the context) -- seems to be a riff on the brief point in the book when the war is dragging into stalemate and Alicent pleads "why not just Partition Westeros into two kingdoms? The Blacks north of the Blackwater and the Greens south of it" Unclear chronology: Jace's expanded story in the North: while teased in the Prologue and end of episode 2, the real focus is episode 3...Jace is definitely back on Dragonstone by episode 7. Meanwhile episode 4 is mostly devoted to Rook's Rest (though perhaps not exclusively?)....for all we know Jace is still at Winterfell plowing snow in episodes 5 and 6. At some unclear point, we'll actually see envoys from the Greens treating with the Triarchy's ruling council in Tyrosh -- They built a set of mostly tents with props labeled things like "Tyrosh chair" etc. - Others pointed out to me that F&B states their council was meeting IN Tyrosh at the time. Nice bit of detail. Turns out there actually were a few deleted lines from the long Green Council scene in Season 1 episode 9 that would start to introduce the Greyjoys. That as in the book, they say "we'll have to sway them to our side by offering Dalton Greyjoy a seat on the council as Master of Ships"....but then GOES ON to say something not in the books; Ironrod says "if that doesn't work we might have to sweeten the deal by offering him marriage to the Dowager Queen" - Alicent is not amused, Otto isn't enthusiastic but says "hopefully it won't have to come to that". I suspect they're going to recycle this by simply pushing it into Small Council scenes in Season 2, to give Alicent something to do, have them debate "maybe we should offer up Alicent in a marriage pact to the Greyjoys or Tullys" --- not that we'd see them on screen, just that they'd start mentioning they exist (similarly, GoT Season 2 mentioned Dorne and the Martells for the first time as part of the Myrcella marriage pact scheming without actually showing them on-screen).

New behind the scenes promo has a shot on the camera of Aegon and his cronies celebrating Aemond’s victory over Luke…at the “Cock Inn” we saw in spy photos. More importantly it confirms our suspicions that Dyana is working at the tavern now:

…it never occurred to me they might make the Royces Green supporters in the tv show - indeed they were Arnold Arryn supporters in the succession conflict. i do hope season 2 introduces her fourth cousin Joffrey Arryn as captain of her guards.

Ah, now the cat’s out of the bag it was just posted by HBO Nordic as well - who of course play up that Amanda Collin is Danish: https://twitter.com/hbomaxnordic/status/1786078895285895567?s=46&t=C69ncj-6GZzxtH0VmMIzKg

There have been no leaks whatsoever on if Jess Redfort even appears in Season 2 - even the top super spies don’t have a guess ( in contrast we have two guesses about Sara Snow, but it’s also possible Sara isn’t in it at all) also some think the person facing her is Rhaena, judging by the clothes: leaks revealed that they’re actually going to show if not expand on Rhaena’s subplot in the Vale ( which could easily have been reduced to an off screen mention)

@Ran HBO Max Croatia accidentally released this promo image early, of Amanda Collin (Raised By Wolves) as Jeyne Arryn, Rhaenyra’s maternal cousin and ruler of the Vale in her own right. Notice the Falcon sigil embroidered on the front of her dress. Her casting was leaked months ago but this is the first public confirmation of it. https://twitter.com/hbomaxadria/status/1786064644139872641?s=12

FOUR major cast members are coming to CCXP this weekend in Mexico - actors for Aegon & Aemond, Corlys & Rhaenys. Hope maybe they put out the full trailer or at least new casting announcements - we thought we’d get another trailer at the WBD upfront May 14, but maybe they won’t actually wait for that.

They’re filming in only two months - I wonder if any of the old contacts in Northern Ireland have noticed activity starting up again: set builders, extras, horse rental, etc

Yeah but Davos uses a Brummie accent, from northeast England

Seems probable that we're getting the full trailer end of next week - presented by JB Perette of WBD's Video Game division: https://seriesmania.com/forum/en/fiche/keynote-jb-perette-president-and-ceo-of-global-streaming-and-games-warner-bros-discovery/ Thursday March 21 from 15:30 to 16:00 GMT (for me that's 11:30 to 12 noon EST)

The production codename for The Hedge Knight is 'Sweetfoot', named after Dunk's horse

Season 2 reshoots have ended on schedule and without incident. No new casting leaks during these reshoots, unfortunately.

Seeing a lot of images on social media this week that Ukraine’s mud season has begun in earnest. That should pause any advances on the main front until around the start of May - have there been any solid dates predicted for mud season this year?

No amount of sanctions will ever truly affect Russia because we fundamentally can’t afford the disruption to the global economy caused by stopping all their oil exports. So they’re not going to run out of oil money. But there’s a finite number of able-bodied men. You can fudge the numbers - use imprisoned political dissidents as cannon fodder - but sooner or later you’re going to hit the ceiling. Particularly in a country with a low birth rate the past three decades of the post Soviet era. Putin is willing to expend more men though, being an autocrat. But another factor is they already had LABOR shortages due to the low birth rate. If they draft more able bodied men the economy will suffer even more. And that’s assuming they take time to train conscripts.

Sweden has officially joined NATO. Good news: if there’s one thing I detest, it’s neutrality. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68506223

In the WBD earnings call today, David Zaslav said they aim for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to premiere in LATE 2025. Up to now I thought it would be Summer. https://tvline.com/news/game-of-thrones-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-release-date-hbo-max-1235172818/

Updated production info: filming June 3rd https://redanianintelligence.com/2024/01/05/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-aka-dunk-egg-series-gets-a-schedule-update/ https://productionlist.com/production/the-hedge-knight/

This was heavily discussed at the time: rewrites and reshoots during filming are a normal and indeed essential part of the process. The strike happened just as filming began, when the scripts were “done” but they couldn’t do concurrent rewrites. Even at the time, HBO acknowledged “we’ll need a month of reshoots at some point after the strike is over”.

Writers strike

Turns out the reshoots are bigger than we thought, will involve battle scenes, and didn’t even start yet! We thought filming would begin on February 1; instead filming begins March 1st and will last one month;

Well it’s an ancient symbol they’ve come to USE as a warning sign for thin ice

I think Aegon I was a lot like Rhaegar: burdened by prophecy, brooding and aloof. Not unlike so called “soft boy” Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides. For some reason women seem to like this more than his military prowess.

“Back to basics”?

I’ve been catching up on this over Xmas break: season 2 drastically better than season one. Invented second foundation storyline is weak. But if they were all as good as episode four of season 2 it could have been great ( just watched that; focuses purely on Bel Riose and Hober Mallow storylines)