House Of The Dragon: What to expect from season 3 of the epic fantasy

After fans of the Game Of Thrones world suffered through a 2025 that was more barren and bleak than the land around The Wall, 2026 has brought a bountiful harvest. First there was the excellent A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the low-key, blackly comic series about an itinerant warrior and his young squire. And now, get ready to feast on new episodes of the epic House Of The Dragon, which returns to Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111) for its hotly anticipated third season on Monday 22 June.

Set 200 years before the events of Game Of Thrones, House Of The Dragon is also based on books by George R.R. Martin and tells the story of House Targaryen and the vicious, fiery conflicts they endured (and caused, to be fair) as their warring factions strived to gain power. Since season 2 ended back in August 2024, it’s been an agonising two-year wait for the next instalment. But the waiting is over, and here’s a look at the final trailer before the first episode arrives.

“We can secure the city,” says Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), “without further bloodshed.” This seems optimistic, seeing as virtually nothing in Westeros is achieved without bloodshed. Let’s whizz through a quick recap of what’s happened in the previous two seasons (with spoilers, in case you haven’t caught up yet), and then get into what we’re looking forward to in season 3.

King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) tried to be a noble and just ruler, and his reign held the kingdom together for a while. Unfortunately, before he died he muddied the waters over his chosen successor: his eldest daughter Rhaenyra and her heirs, or the children he sired with his second wife Alicent (Olivia Cooke)? With neither willing to give up their inheritance, battle lines were drawn. Alicent’s son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) was crowned in King’s Landing, while Rhaenyra fled to the remote Dragonstone, declared herself queen and began recruiting forces to help her claim the throne.

Fierce battles ensued, as the two sides – the Greens in King’s Landing and the Blacks of Dragonstone – traded increasingly brutal blows. The conflict between the Targaryen family members themselves was the most savage of all, especially when dragons took to the battlefield; the numerous deaths included the late king’s cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best), King Aegon’s son Jaehaerys (Jude Rock) and Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), while Aegon’s brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) was horribly burned.

As the second season ended, Team Green was attempting to secure new allies by appealing to the leaders of three cities across the Narrow Sea (aka the Triarchy) to lend their naval strength. Meanwhile on Team Black, Rhaenyra’s plan was to expand her dragon forces by finding new dragonriders in unexpected places.

Now, as season 3 begins, here’s what we’re excited about…

After an explosive, dragon-heavy penultimate episode, the slightly subdued season 2 finale gave us little action but lots of set-up for significant events. The first of those? The clash known as the Battle of the Gullet, which showrunner Ryan Condal has teased as being “unlike anything that’s ever been done in television before”. Which is saying something, considering some of the incredible war scenes in Game Of Thrones alone, like the Battle of the Blackwater and the Battle of the Bastards.

Book fans will know it as the bloodiest naval battle in Westerosi history, in which the Triarchy ships conscripted by Team Green attempt to smash the blockade that the marine forces of Team Black have enforced on King’s Landing. Expect momentous action, serious violence and some shocking deaths, and that’s before we even get to the dragons’ arrival…

The lives of ordinary Westeros people often get lost amid the machinations of the rich high-born types in Martin’s world. Usually they’re just a faceless mass or the pawns of the powerful, as when King Aegon executed all the rat-catchers because of the crimes of one. But once Rhaenyra realised that she could expand the ranks of dragonriders beyond her immediate family, some unfamiliar faces came to the fore.

They may have noble lineage somewhere in their bloodline, but blacksmith Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), drunkard Ulf (Tom Bennett) and shipwright Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) aren’t the product of wealth and privilege, and each now has his own fire-breathing steed. In the season 2 finale, Ulf was emboldened to raise his voice and speak truth to power. Will these newly minted warriors get the aristos to consider the people’s perspective? Or will they assimilate? 

Tommy Flanagan, best known for his memorable film roles in Braveheart and Gladiator and as Chibs Telford in Sons Of Anarchy, has been cast as Roderick Dustin, aka Roddy the Ruin. A fan favourite from the books, he’s a northern lord who leads a force of grizzled warriors known as the Winter Wolves, who join the fray on the Black side.

Another high-profile addition to the cast is James Norton, star of Happy Valley, Grantchester, McMafia and more, as Ormund Hightower. Lord of Oldtown and cousin of Alicent, Ormund commands a powerful army in support of the Greens, and Norton’s prominence in the trailer suggests he’ll have a key role in the drama.

At the heart of the war that’s tearing Westeros apart is the schism between former best friends Rhaenyra and Alicent, who we first met as teenagers played by Milly Alcock and Emily Carey. Once united by mutual affection, they were divided by their love for King Viserys and their craving for the power that each thought he had bestowed on them.

Alicent’s turmoil over the death and destruction this split caused prompted her to make a clandestine visit to Dragonstone in season 2 (echoing Rhaenyra’s earlier sneak into King’s Landing), appealing to Rhaenyra to give up her claim and end the violence. In one of the most intense and emotional scenes of the show so far, both realised with hardly bearable sadness that they’d unleashed forces that were now far beyond their control. Even if they can never reconcile, these two complex women and their feelings towards each other will drive the narrative of House Of The Dragon.

King Aegon Targaryen, his sister/wife Helaena (Phia Saban) and their brother Aemond have been central to the drama so far, but alert viewers will have noted a passing reference to a fourth sibling: Daeron, who was sent away to Oldtown at an early age. Fans of the book will know that he’s different from the cruel, vengeful Aegon and Aemond – wise, just and compassionate. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting Of Bly Manor) has been announced in the role for season 3, and the arrival of this character will undoubtedly change the family dynamic in significant ways. 

Is Matt Smith’s Daemon the villain of House Of The Dragon? He might be cruel, ruthless, untrustworthy and, erm, married to his niece, but that’s hardly uniquely awful in this world. What’s not in doubt is that he’s been on a journey. The disturbing visions he experienced in season 2 while occupying the vital (and, as we know, doomed) fortress of Harrenhal sent him screaming off the rails, until the mystical Alys (Gayle Rankin) intervened to show him his true path. It’s been an absolute tour de force of twitchy intensity from Smith, and we can’t wait to see his angst-ridden features again. It’s a good sign that in the trailer we hear him intone the portentous words: “In a war, all suffer.” Yes please!

The eight-part third season begins on Monday 22 June, with the first showing at 2am on Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111), at which time it will also be available in Sky Atlantic on demand. Episode 1 is on again at 9pm on Sky Atlantic HD. New episodes will be available on the same schedule, weekly on Mondays, until the season finale on Monday 10 August.