House of the Dragon took a big swing in its season 3 finale that deviates from author George R.R. Martin’s book series — and potentially alters the course of its earlier HBO series, Game of Thrones.
In the Sunday, August 9, season 3 finale, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) revealed the ancient Targaryen prophecy of the “Prince That Was Promised” to the people of King’s Landing, declaring herself that foretold messiah who will one day lead them into war with the White Walkers.
That scene is not in Martin’s Fire & Blood book, from which Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is adapted. While the prophecy is mentioned in Game of Thrones, surely, the fact that Rhaenyra once publicly declared a great war was coming would have been mentioned somewhere in the Westerosi history books? Not necessarily.
During a press conference, show cocreator Ryan Condal joked, “Targaryens say crazy s*** all the time,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
As fans saw in the season 3 finale, Rhaenyra is descending into madness and losing favor as queen, which could explain why no one takes her words seriously enough to record them in the annals of time. (Earlier in the episode, Rhaenyra had the priests of the Faith of the Seven killed after they failed to anoint her queen and therefore legitimize her rule in the eyes of the people, most of whom follow the religion.)
“It’s not in the book, and it’s not in the history, but there is a bunch of talk about how Rhaenyra became very despotic and became a tyrant at the end and was very unpopular with the people,” Condal said. “So much of [the Targaryens’] existence is their self-aggrandizement. For the stonemasons standing there in the crowd just looking up at this [speech], it could just sound like somebody trying to make something of themselves.”
The scene was written, Condal said, to signal a “real seismic change, a sea change in Rhaenyra’s relationship to her people” ahead of season 4, which will likely see her downfall.
Condal also teased the upcoming final season of House of the Dragon, which is scheduled to air in 2028.
“It’s a great privilege to be able to tell a story and to be able to control and write the ending and to control when and where that happens,” he said. “This is not a given in making television, certainly.”
“So, we’re very excited to get back in, and we have new characters and new dragons and new locations all to come that I think are gonna make it a very worthy final season,” Condal teased.
House of the Dragon season 3 is available to stream on HBO Max.
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