House of the Dragon Cast on How Season 1's Big Twist Affected Each of Their Characters

Warning: The following story contains FULL SPOILERS for the end of House of the Dragon Season 1. While some things are teased for Season 2, there are no outright spoilers for upcoming episodes.

When Season 2 of HBO's House of the Dragon returns on June 16, it will do so in the shadow of a devastasting event: the death of Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) and his dragon Arrax at the hands — or jaws, really — of Aemond Targaryen's (Ewan Mitchell) dragon Vhagar.

For those who don't remember, at the end of Season 1, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) sent her sons Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Lucerys across Westeros to lobby for support for their efforts against Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and the rest of Team Green. Lucerys was assigned to Storm's End and its Baratheons and, unfortunately for him, Aemond was already there. After some baggage-laden theatrics, Lucerys is sent away, unable to compete with Aemond's proposal, but that's not enough.

Aemond and Vhagar follow Lucerys and Arrax through a storm and, in the chaos, Aemond loses control of his dragon. After Arrax hits Vhagar with a mouthful of fire, Vhagar snaps, chomping right through both Arrax and his young rider. It may have been an accident on Aemond's part, but it'll no doubt be the catalyst for a lot more tragedy and bloodshed in the episodes to come.

The cast of House of the Dragon sat down with IGN recently in two roundtables (one for Team Green, one for Team Black) that will air in full later this week, with one of the main topics being their respective characters' reactions to Lucerys' shocking death. You'll have to wait for more from both of the roundtables, but in the meantime, we've compiled their responses to where the end of Season 1 leaves them below:

Emma D'Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen)

"We pick up about two weeks later. For people who have seen the first season, Rhaenyra has just received the news of the death, the murder of her son, Lucerys.

"And when we meet her in series two, I think she is sort of rigid with grief. I think grief is a big motor in the show this season. I actually think that there's like a paralysis, maybe, at the top of the series. I think she's very dislocated from the family, from her colleagues, from her allies.

When we meet her in series two, I think she is sort of rigid with grief.

"I find it quite moving. I think grief can sort of make you a bit of an island, and I think that's what we sort of see here. And there's a journey back to her immediate family, to her household, that has to take place in order to engage with the bigger battle of the series."

Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen)

"We are so personally affected. He was our dear beloved grandson.

"Also, he was just such a beautiful spirit. He was just the most beautiful... In real life and in the show, he was just this most beautiful person, wasn't he? I think for all of us, it was just the most awful, horrendous thing that could have happened."

Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon)

"Despite all of the controversy about his parentage, we were like, 'No, no! He is our blood. He was beloved.' I think certainly for Corlys, when you meet him, he is also not only riven with grief for his grandson, but still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's lost his daughter and his son and his brother.

"So, as Emma has said, I think grief is very much an engine for an awful... I don't know for the rest of us, but certainly he's an engine for this season."

Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen)

"For Daemon, it's quite odd, this death, actually.

"And actually, it's sort of really interesting you say that grief is the catalyst because I hadn't thought about it a lot. It kind of gets me thinking, I still think, for Daemon, he's reacting to the death of his brother still. Everything's sort of about that. And this is sort of rolled into it as well, and I suppose it just occurred to me.

Daemon, he's reacting to the death of his brother still. Everything's sort of about that.

"...I think that event is the catalyst for everyone's behavior in the first couple of episodes. And Daemon's behavior is arguably, at the best of times, questionable, but I think in this instance, it's particularly questionable."

Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower)

"I think she feels catatonic about what happened to Luke. She has a great love, even though it's been sort of cauterized for Rhaenyra, and her own son was responsible for his death, and she knows that the events that follow this will be so destructive within the realm. And so I think she feels a bit of a loss and she's sort of desperate and scrambling in order to get in front of Rhaenyra and to... I think she feels if she can just get in front of Rhaenyra, she'll be able to say, 'This is what happened and it was a mistake. And I'm so sorry, but also, bear in mind, my son's just been born throne.' "

Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen)

"It was an accident. (He's thinking), It wasn't his fault. 'It wasn't my fault,' this way.

"Aemond was the only kid in the family who didn't receive a dragon egg from the family. And so he was different and he was bullied for being different. Those two characters' history, that shared history that they have, it finally comes to an accumulation in the skies above Storm's End. All of that hatred that was allowed to fester, what could have been resolved with simple words of apology, was allowed to breed. And it was a problem that was pushed aside. And similar to when you push aside a problem, it often exacerbates it a little bit. And over time, it grows and grows and grows and nature takes its course. And what you see in episode 10 is nature taking its course.

All of that hatred that was allowed to fester, what could have been resolved with simple words of apology, was allowed to breed.

"And what I do love about that last moment that you see Aemond in series one, it is the face of regret and it isn't what you expect from Aemond. In those three episodes that I had with him in season one, I wanted to present a character who, at that point in his life, was just complete darkness. This facade that he's kind of adopted over his childhood torment. I mean, so much of his appearance lends to that, so I wanted to lean into it only to contradict those ideas and those beliefs at the end of the episode, when you do see that crack of that little boy that could still be underneath. Whether or not we see him again, I don't know. That might be the last time. That might be. You might squash it and that's forever gone."

House of the Dragon returns to HBO on June 16.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.