#we love baela and bethany antonia in this house

[jacerys-velaryon]

HARRY COLLETT and BETHANY ANTONIA for TVLine promoting HOUSE OF THE DRAGON s2

[ladystonedwolf]

When do we get this queen on our screens?

[scratchtovoid]

“When [my dragon] Moondancer came on the screen, I just screamed in front of all my colleagues. I had no chill,” says Baela Targaryen actor Bethany Anthonia.

“‘The kids,’ as I say—Alicent and Rhaenyra’s children—take center stage in this conflict. We put a lot of focus on them and their stories because it really does become about them,” Condal says.

“From Jace’s point of view, it’s Jace’s war now,” actor Collett says. “Because he’s lost his little brother over it. He is one of the characters that actually wants to be in the war.”

“Seeing The Wall in person was quite surreal,” Collett says. “I think the fans are going to absolutely love seeing Jace in Winterfell with Cregan.”

“There’s a little bit of tension because of their separate upbringings,” Campbell says. “Baela was raised with grandma and grandpa, and I was raised with stepmom and my half siblings. Rhaena feels quite a lot of resentment there.”

Adds Antonia, “For Baela, this war has created such a frantic sense of urgency and family loyalty. She’s had to grow up a lot quicker than anticipated.”

The Jace, Baela, Rhaena quotes from the Den of Geeks interview.

Personally I’m so glad that they’re actually focusing on “the kids” this season. I’m also curious to see what the dynamics between them look like especially what this tension between Baela and Rhaena would look like?

I’m wondering if Rhaena feels like because she has no dragon she is on the sidelines while her sister is the one “fighting” and if so is that what makes her want to try to claim a dragon?

[lizzie-queenofmeigas]

Bethany Antonia: We are Black Targaryens, which is huge, and is just so exciting. Just from a responsibility point of view, more than anything, it’s so nice to have that, so that other people can watch the show and see themselves on screen. Representation is so important.

Team Green: IDGAF, look at these VELARYON NON-VALYRIAN girls, save me VELARYON girls, I love you VELARYON girls.

I couldn’t care less about their hatred for House Targaryen but it’s just so funny to me how y’all all ears when your fav yt woman feed y’all with cringe headcanons and y’all treating it like a fact but the moment Bethany say something y’all completely ignoring it and disrespecting her opinion.

And Baela and Rhaena are literally more Targaryen than Velaryon (and more Targaryen than Alicent’s children) since their mother is half Targaryen herself.

Representation is very important. There are barely any people of colour in fantasy/supernatural/medieval genre. Majority of medieval and fantasy shows are European based, so they don't cast actors of color for them. And when they are casted people go rabid.

I remember when the trailer for the first season of Vikings Valhalla aired and people were pissed that a black woman was playing an Earl, even though her backstory made sense (I think she was the widow of the Earl) shit also got ugly when the velaryons were casted.

We live in a world where a little bit of representation is met with hate and people yelling "woke" and it's incredibly fucked up. Especially in fantasy, why would you care what's the skin colour of characters in a fantasy show? Why would you care about the skin colour of someone at all?

Anyways, I'm gonna be ready to defend Baela and Rhaena and their actors.

[ivycovehq]

welcome to ivy cove, nicole! we can't wait to meet baela targaryen, francesca bridgerton, finnick odair and esme cullen. please make sure you read through the checklist and send in your account within 24 hours

( nicole, she/her, 31, est) woah! was that BAELA TARGARYEN walking down main street? i heard they’re not actually from ivy cove but come from HOUSE OF THE DRAGON. they’re 25 and live in RADIAN HILLS but watch out because they can be STUBBORN + IMPULSIVE but are actually PROTECTIVE + FEARLESS. despite them HAVING SOME memories, you’ll always think of SET TO BECOME PRINCESS CONSORT, DRAGON RIDER LIKE HER MOTHER AND FATHER, LONG WHITE FLOWING HAIR when imagining them. / bethany antonia, she/her

( nicole, she/her, 31, est ) woah! was that FRANCESCA BRIDGERTON walking down main street? i heard they’re not actually from ivy cove but come from BRIDGERTON. they’re 24 and live in GLEN OAK HEIGHTS but watch out because they can be RESERVED + DISTANT but are actually CARING + CREATIVE. despite them HAVING memories, you’ll always think of BEING BY HERSELF IS HER COMFORT ZONE, PLAYING THE PIANO TO QUIET EVERYTHING DOWN, LOVING HER FAMILY EVEN IF THEY CAN BE TOO MUCH when imagining them. / hannah dodd, she/her

( nicole, she/her, 31, est ) woah! was that FINNICK ODAIR walking down main street? i heard they’re not actually from ivy cove but come from THE HUNGER GAMES. they’re 29 and live in SHOREGRAZE RIDGE but watch out because they can be SARCASTIC + IMPULSIVE but are actually EASYGOING + PROTECTIVE. despite them HAVING memories, you’ll always think of GIVING HIS LIFE FOR A GOOD CAUSE, BEING MADE TO DO THINGS THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO DO, BEING A VICTOR OF THE 65th GAMES when imagining them. / bill skarsgard, he/him

( nicole, she/her, 31, est) woah! was that ESME CULLEN walking down main street? i heard they’re not actually from ivy cove but come from TWILIGHT. they’re TOO OLD and live in GLEN OAK HEIGHTS but watch out because they can be SARCASTIC + JUDGY but are actually CARING + PROTECTIVE. despite them HAVING memories, you’ll always think of TAKING IN CHILDREN TO RAISE WITH HER HUSBAND, TRYING HER BEST FOR THE PEOPLE AROUND HER, EMBRACING HER SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE when imagining them. / gemma chan, she/her

[westeroswisdom]

The war between the Blacks and the Greens is not something that will abruptly shift into high gear like some IRL conflict from the past 200 or so years. It will begin more gradually and build before exploding. That's one of the points being emphasized by showrunner Ryan Condal. But that doesn't imply the pace of Season 2 will be languorous.

"Season 2 is the march to war," showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal ominously intones weeks later in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It's really a cold war because each side is trying to undeniably win the throne for themselves without going to all-out dragon war. We do that through plotting and backstabbing and assassination and spy games and all the things that you would see in a classic James Bond Cold War thriller."

One thing that's useful to remember about GRRM's Targaryen history Fire and Blood is that it's not canon in quite the same way that ASoIaF is. Fire and Blood presents differing and occasionally conflicting accounts of history. So if somebody complains "it's not like this in the book!" it may not matter. The TV series itself has at least an equal claim to being canon.

The dueling narratives of Martin's Fire and Blood — which chronicles these events through multiple, often conflicting sources — play with what may or may not have transpired in both of these locations without definitively stating much. One account suggests Jace fell in love with a bastard by the name of Sara Snow at Winterfell, despite his betrothal to his stepsister, Lady Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia). (series writer Sara) Hess seeks to temper what fans may be forecasting for that storyline in the HBO adaptation. "Expect very little," she says of Sara Snow. "Our POV is the Targaryens, and our POV is split between King's Landing, Dragonstone, and then when Daemon goes to Harrenhal. We just don't have the eyes to really be everywhere at the same time." [ ... ] As Condal puts it, "The thing about medieval times is that wars happen very slowly. A throne is usurped, but then you don't suddenly have Black Hawk helicopters bombing out of the horizon and fast-roping Marines onto the ground in enemy territory. You have to raise armies." But D'Arcy speaks of their so-dubbed Black Queen as being active in her own right behind the scenes.  "In season 1, a lot of Rhaenyra's power came from her ability to manipulate her male peers," they explain. "Here, she begins to distance herself from the men of her council and, to some extent, she kind of goes AWOL. When she returns to court, she's looking to new power structures, to consolidate female power, to different methodologies, as opposed to trying to fit into a male praxis."

If you're a fan of Alicent's sons, there's much to look forward to in Season 2.

It's a gift to play a character like Aegon. He's absolute chaos," Glynn-Carney says. "He's unpredictable. He's a living, walking nightmare. So it's great fun." Fans have been tempted to compare Aegon to another demented prince of Westeros, but after meeting Jack Gleeson at 2022's first official Game of Thrones convention in Los Angeles, Glynn-Carney pushes back on the Joffrey comparisons. "We saw him not wanting to be made king and rejecting the responsibility, but we see Aegon recognize the way he's seen externally from his peers, his family, everyone from King's Landing. And we see him try to combat that," he says.  As for the other brother, "You're going to see Aemond in full throttle," Mitchell teases. "You're either with him or you're against him." But first, he has to break some news to his family that he killed his nephew. "Yeah…" Mitchell begins. "Aemond is faced with a choice. He can either return home to King's Landing and admit it was a moment of weakness and be at the hands of Rhaenyra's mercy, or he can become the most wanted man in the realm, so to speak."

Civil wars can be particularly brutal. Imagine Game of Thrones with dragons in Westeros in all 8 seasons – not just the latter two.

"God!" Cooke exclaims. "I'd just say, it is Game of Thrones, expect the worst. Expect the very worst possible, and then double it. I dunno what else to say without heavily spoiling it, but it is heinous." "A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones have really conditioned people to expect the unexpected and expect the horrible," Condal says. "But, yeah, that one's pretty horrific. We'll see what people make of what's to come."

Apparently we should expect Season 3 in 2026.

Condal confirms they are deep into writing a third season in the event that HBO decides they want it. They have to plan that far in advance, he explains, otherwise, it would be impossible to maintain a schedule of one new House of the Dragon season every other year. Now that he's deep into the adaptation, the show's endgame comes more and more into focus.  "You certainly don't want to rush to get to an end, but you also don't want to overstay your welcome," he declares. "You want to find this very satisfying place to go out that ties up enough loose ends and leaves others intentionally open because, as we know, this history marches on for another 150 years to Daenerys."