Dragon ladies: Firing up the feminist story in House Of The Dragon 2

LOS ANGELES – House Of The Dragon (2022 to present), the prequel to the hit fantasy television series Game Of Thrones (2011 to 2019), is about the power struggles within a dragon-riding dynasty.

But it is also a feminist story, say the creator and stars of the show, who spoke to The Straits Times and other media about the second season, which debuts on HBO and HBO Go on June 17.

Set two centuries before Game Of Thrones, the series continues the saga of House Targaryen, one of the main noble families in American author George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire universe, the source material for both television shows.

The dowager queen, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), has seen her relationship with her childhood best friend and now queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), grow increasingly strained ever since she married Rhaenyra’s late father King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and when her son Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) claim to the throne began to rival Rhaenyra’s.

American showrunner Ryan Condal says the Game Of Thrones universe “always has multiple themes running through it, but I think the one that’s unique to House Of The Dragon is this idea of powerful women in a patriarchal structure”.

“That will change and evolve as the story unfolds, but we saw how those pressures affected Alicent and Rhaenyra, in particular, in Season 1,” says the 44-year-old in an interview over Zoom.

He adds: “These are two women of great privilege who grew up in positions of power and become more powerful as they go along. Rhaenyra becomes the heir to the throne and Alicent becomes the queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

“But they are still very much women in a world that rejects the value of women as military leaders, rulers and sovereigns.

“Both, in their own way, chafe against that, and in Season 1, you saw how that dynamic affected those characters, and in Season 2, now that Rhaenyra is the queen and Alicent is the dowager, but has been displaced by her own son’s rise to take the throne.”

Fans can expect to see Westeros, the main continent in the story, on the brink of a bloody civil war, with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra respectively – each side believing theirs to be the rightful claim to the Iron Throne.

English actress Cooke says it “continues to be almost impossible to rule” if you are a woman in Westeros.

“And when the men put women on a pedestal to rule, it almost feels patronising – like, ‘Oh, we’ll give them this one, but the order will be restored after them’,” says the 30-year-old, who also appears in the British spy thriller Slow Horses (2022 to present).

“I feel like that is the way people look at Rhaenyra and her claim to the throne,” she says of 31-year-old English performer D’Arcy’s character, whom some view as, at best, a temporary ruler following the death of King Viserys in the absence of an adult male heir.

“And that’s what people see in Alicent when she’s been ruling in Viserys’ stead,” Cooke adds.

“It’s like they’re thinking, ‘Oh, it’s only for now. We’re just putting a Band-Aid over the whole situation.’”

Phia Saban, the 25-year-old English actress who plays Alicent’s daughter Helaena Targaryen, points out that much the same happened in the previous generation of the family.

That is why King Viserys’ older cousin Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) was known as The Queen Who Never Was, who was passed over as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms because of her gender.

Saban says of Princess Rhaenys: “She was made to seem like an option, but the men in power would never have put her on the throne.

“So the feminist dialogue is happening with all of these female characters. And they are aware of it themselves.”

Cooke adds: “The men aren’t hiding it either – they’re sort of saying the quiet part out loud.

“It’s light-hearted, the way they talk about the women and say how amazing they would be on the throne – but they can say it because they know it will never happen.”

Some of the female characters also find themselves having to pick up the pieces after the men wreak havoc.

“They’re constantly on damage control,” says Cooke. “The men want a legacy – they want their names in the history books, and they’re thinking about the stories that will be told for years to come about how amazing they were.”

But the women have to wield their influence more subtly.

“They are so adept at coming from behind and trying to whisper and pour honey into the men’s ears to try and shape them delicately and gradually,” says Cooke.

To do this, they have to be unafraid of appearing weak – and that can be a strategic advantage, Saban adds.

“That’s an acceptable mode of being for women, whereas that is not an option for some of these kings, where it is all about the optics.”

There are broader themes in the show as well, though.

With all the intrigue and in-fighting, Cooke believes the story serves as a metaphor for the political divisiveness seen in many countries today.

“I think it becomes tribal. You stop seeing the point of why people are fighting, because they’ve picked a side and they don’t really know why they are fighting. It just becomes so murky.

“You can see this especially with the political parties in the US and Britain,” says the actress.

“You sort of just align yourself with one and don’t really check in with yourself or read the fine print any more.”

This season, different factions in the family also look ready to go to war.

“It’s created a massive chasm, and Alicent feels deeply responsible for it,” Cooke says.

“She knew that by anointing her son Aegon as king, some sort of battle or fallout would follow. So she is desperate to get an audience with Rhaenyra to plead her case.”

And the two women may be the best placed to find a resolution, the actress says. “They are the two most level-headed people in the realm.”