HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 2 And Beyond Teaser Trailer Is Dark and Full of Spoilers

House of the Dragon premiered on HBO and HBO Max last night, welcoming Game of Thrones fans back to Westeros. The series takes place 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and introduces us to the Targaryens at their height. The only problem plaguing the Targaryens in this era — besides pesky Iron Throne-related back sores — is the question of who will inherit the Iron Throne when King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) eventually dies. Will it be his ne’er-do-well brother Daemon (Matt Smith)? Spirited daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock)? Or a male heir Viserys has seen in dreams?

The question of succession is one that will consume House of the Dragon and HBO has teased as much in it’s “Weeks Ahead” trailer. Instead of giving us a House of the Dragon Episode 2 promo, HBO has dropped a teaser for the whole first season. As you can imagine, there’s plenty of fire and blood, and some dragons. However if you look at each frame carefully, you can see some major spoilers for what’s to come.

Let’s break down this mammoth-sized teaser trailer. Warning, there will be spoilers ahead!

What’s In The House of the Dragon Episode 2 Teaser Trailer?

What isn’t in the trailer? (I kid. But there’s a lot)

The two minute and thirteen second long trailer packs a ton of footage from the rest of the first season of House of the Dragon. It starts with a shot of Rhaenyra on Syrax arriving on Dragonstone — to the shock of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and his men. voice over of young Rhaenyra. Then we get some ominous scenes of maids scurrying, somebody “Free Solo-ing,” and figures cloaked in shadow. In voiceover, young Rhaenyra slowly says, “From my blood come the prince that was promised, and his will be the song of ice and fire.”

We then see a supercut of a dude standing in a cave with fire behind him, a carriage making way to a ruined castle (which suggests Harrenhal?), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Touissant) looking tense, young Alicent (Emily Carey), and a character we haven’t met yet. Viserys takes over the voice over while we cut to Rhaenyra at sea and a dragon along with her. Viserys says, “The burden of this knowledge is larger than the throne.” We see two figures on a beach and then older Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) comes into frame as Viserys adds, “It is larger than you.”

We then get shots of Daemon Targaryen, Viserys busting through some doors, and older Rhaenyra looking over the ocean, while an unidentified speaker says, “The king chose Rhaenyra,” and someone else answers, “The realm will not accept her,” as the trailer cuts to young Alicent looking ominously at Rhaenyra while she prays in front of candles.

We see Daemon and Otto face off at Dragonstone while Rhaenys (Eve Best) says, “Men will sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.” She is saying this to young Rhaenyra. There’s a supercut of the royal godswood, some sort of council meeting, and a man nailing another dude to some driftwood as older Rhaenyra says, “I will be queen of the Seven Kingdoms.” We get shots of older Rhaenyra and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) as Alicent answers, “You may do as you wish when I am cold in my grave.”

At this point, we once again see the scene that has been repeated in the trailers where Alicent takes the iconic catspaw dagger and lunges at Rhaenyra. (Book readers know what’s up, but I shan’t spoil you here!) We then seen Rhaenyra and Daemon together as Daemon says — also from other trailers — “Dreams didn’t make us kings; Dragons did.”

We get a shot of Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) looking knightly, a dragon flying over King’s Landing, and Rhaenyra reaching for the catspaw dagger as older Alicent says, “The people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen.” A random knight is offering a crown to an unknown party.

We see Rhaenyra aggressively riding a horse through the woods and then the scene cuts to Otto Hightower telling an older Alicent, “No king has ever lived that hasn’t had to forfeit the lives of a few to protect the many.” The trailer then cuts to a scene of devastation on a beach. There’s a close up of crabs crawling towards a dead looking hand.

Then Viserys is haranguing a short-haired Daemon in front of the Iron Throne. With the dagger to Daemon’s throat, Viserys says, “You are no conqueror. You are a plague.” We then cut to Rhaenyra dancing at a great feast. Corlys says, “Our houses are bound by a common cause.” We see blood dripping down a pair of grasped hands, a quick shot of some children (which we’ll get to), and a man and a pregnant woman standing in front of a bonfire.

We then see a dragon roaring, Rhaenrya on dragon back, someone with icy blonde hair stabbing something, and a roughed up Daemon looking at what is likely to be a battle scene. Daemon says in voice over, “Perhaps, but there will be blood.” There’s then a super cut of dragons flying, men notching arrows, battle scenes with swords and dragons, a guy with a creepy mask, and a ginormous dragon flying.

Then it’s just a title card that says “HBO Original | Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Sundays 9 PM.”

Where Should I Pause the House of the Dragon Episode 2 Teaser Trailer?

So while there’s a TON of stuff we could break down, there are a few interesting snippets worth exploring.

• 0:10-0:25: Rhaenrya reading the lines “From my blood come the prince that was promised and his will be the song of ice and fire.” This is less of a freeze frame moment than it is a doubling down of the idea that the Targaryens conquered Westeros because they knew the White Walkers were coming. That was the big Game of Thrones bombshell House of the Dragon dropped in Episode 1 and it seems that the show is not going to let this idea go. (It’s also interesting that later we hear Daemon saying “Dreams didn’t make us kings; Dragons did.” Maybe Rhaenyra tells him of Aegon’s prophetic dream? And he rejects it?) The other interesting thing about this is while Game of Thrones tried to suggest that the Valyrian translation was gender-less, Rhaenyra at least thinks the prince that was promised is a boy. (Jon Snow’s stock just rose.)
• 1:08: A very luxuriously dressed (and pregnant?) Alicent descends from a carriage to cheers. So, uh, spoilers! In case you didn’t see this coming, Alicent will indeed marry Viserys. (Sorry! Spoilers! But you can google this! It’s Westerosi history!) And she will be pregnant at some point. That means that although Rhaenyra is currently sitting pretty as Viserys’s heir apparent, she might have some competition if a baby boy comes out of Alicent’s womb.
• 1:35: The next generation of Targaryens: Rhaena, Jaecerys, Lucerys, and Baela. Again, spoilers, but House of the Dragon, much like The Crown, is a multi-generational story. At some point this season, we’re going to meet the almost grown children of the main players. HBO has given us a tease of four of these kids. Rhaena and Baela are canonically Daemon Targaryen’s children by Laena Velaryon. Meanwhile the two dark-haired boys between them are Rhaenyra’s eldest sons. Note how they don’t look like typical Targaryens, because the realm certainly will. Nevertheless, Rhaenrya’s boys are dragon-riders. And that’s as deep into spoilers as we’ll get.
• 1:49: Craghas Drahar, aka Craghas Crabfeeder. When Rhaenyra first joins the Small Council as cupbearer in House of the Dragon, Corlys is complaining about a pirate named Craghas Drahar. Well, here he is! That bit of foreshadowing is going to come back and this Joker-esque villain will be in the show. Note that he’s nicknamed Craghas Crabfeeder because when he captures sailors, he nails them to driftwood and lets crabs devour them slowly to death.

What is the House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 2 Release Date?

Can’t wait for more? House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 2 will premiere on HBO on Sunday, August 28 at 9 PM ET. It will be live on HBO Max at the same time.