HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon concluded its first season in chilling fashion Sunday.
House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 1 Episode 10 concluded with Rhaenyra learning that her son and his dragon had been killed while trying to rally supporters at Storm’s End.
The visual of Lucerys and Arrax being eaten while flying by Vhagar is something we won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Throughout the season finale, titled “The Black Queen,” Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) lost her baby after learning that her father had died and the Hightowers installed Aegon on the throne.
After losing her baby, Rhaenyra wanted to be a merciful Queen, following in her father’s footsteps, but that seemed to change the moment she learned that Lucerys had been murdered by her half-brother Aemond.
“Somehow, I think this moves the goal posts of suffering,” D’Arcy explained in HBO Max’s Inside the Episode featurette.
“Once you’ve lost both your parents and you’ve lost a lover, you think you know grief,” the star shares.
“And I think what’s so awful is that losing Luke tells her she knows nothing about grief, and it changes her outlook on the world going forward.”
Undoubtedly, a huge battle will be ahead, and Rhaenyra losing her son will kickstart that war.
Aemond was shocked that his dragon went into autopilot to kill Lucerys and Arrax, and viewers were probably shocked to hear him saying, “No.”
EP and co-showrunner said there was no hope for Rhaenyra’s son and his dragon because there was a major size difference between the dragons.
Sapochnik says that we’re seeing “the last vestiges of the little boy that’s left in Aemond.”
“Maybe he was trying to scare Luke, but I don’t think ultimately he intended to kill him,” he adds.
“But now he’s done it, and he has to decide whether or not he’s going to own it in his travel back to King’s Landing.”
“Because obviously, if usurping the throne and their crowning Aegon in the dragon pit wasn’t the start of the war, killing one of the queen’s sons is.”
Thankfully, we’ll see how this plays out on House of the Dragon Season 2, but we might be waiting a while for that.
With the CGI and scale of the series, we shouldn’t expect it back on the air before 2024.
What are your thoughts on what D’Arcy and Sapochnik had to say about the developments?
Are you ready for Season 2?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
