Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke at the world premiere of 'House of the Dragon' season three in London on Monday. Courtesy of Getty Logo text The rain cleared just in time for the House of the Dragon cast to fire up the red carpet at season three’s world premiere Monday night.
Returning players Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel, Steve Toussaint, Harry Collett, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell all graced the carpet at London’s Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, where an enormous dragon skull sat atop a bed of candles, in honor of the Targaryen clan. They were joined by supporting cast members Abubakar Salim, Clinton Liberty, Kurt Egyiawan, Tom Bennett, Gayle Rankin, Kieran Bew and Abigail Thorn as fire spouted across the carpet.
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“For the first time, there’s momentum in her campaign,” British star Emma D’Arcy told The Hollywood Reporter about Rhaenyra, who heads into this latest instalment, premiering June 21 on HBO and HBO Max, aiming to take back the Iron Throne after a deal made with Cooke’s Alicent Hightower.
In season three, the political back-and-forth has now become all-out warfare: Rhaenyra intends to kill Aegon (Glynn-Carney) in full view of the public to quash any doubt over her heirship. “There is a feeling that the position she finds herself in is fated in some way… [It’s a] character who has been kind of restrained from action for two seasons [who is] finally on the precipice of seizing her end,” D’Arcy added.
Smith, playing the magnetic, bloodthirsty Daemon, admitted it’s a scaled-up season compared to previous outings. “I think they’ve aimed for scale, blood. It’s a big bloodbath, really, this season,” he smiled to THR, “which is absolutely where it’s needed to go. I think that’s when the show is actually operating at its best in many ways — particularly for Daemon.”
Does Matt Smith care about fan reaction to season three of #HouseoftheDragon? “Absolutely… Everyone has their own opinion, particularly on George [R. R. Martin]’s work. But for me personally, it’s their show.” pic.twitter.com/DDnqiwTciH
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 8, 2026
The impatience over the build up to this war has divided fans of the HBO show so far. Does Smith himself care about that reaction? “Oh, absolutely,” he said. “It’s all about the fans. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we go and work in [U.K. studio] Leavesden for eight months a year. It’s never going to appeal to everyone. Everyone has their own opinion, particularly on George [R. R. Martin]’s work. But for me personally, it’s their show,” he said. “We make it, we do all that work, and then we hand it over. I hope it delivers on the scale that we want it to for them,” he added. “If it doesn’t… Who knows? Only time will tell. But it’s completely about the fans.”
D’Arcy concurred with their co-star, telling THR about the making of this third season: “We all felt it, even on the page. There is an increased ambition to the set pieces, but also to the narrative drama. It’s really a conflict that’s been building for two seasons, [it] suddenly ignites, and there is stakes, therefore, everywhere. It’s exciting when you feel there’s been a bar raise. I think you want to meet it, and I think certainly the acting company felt like that at the start of last year.”
Glynn-Carney, meanwhile, said that what’s in store for Aegon this season might just teach him a few things. “He’s taking some twists and turns, and he’s learning a lot about who he wants to be as a man,” said the actor. “I think the overriding feeling for me this year with Aegon is that he’s just put into so many situations where he’s having to choose about various things, and I think every outcome has a knock-on effect on the man that he’ll end up being.”
“For the first time, there’s momentum in her campaign.” Emma D’Arcy on where Rhaenyra is headed in a bloody season three of #HouseoftheDragon… pic.twitter.com/whjCX9zBam
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 8, 2026
Toussaint also returns as the Sea Snake Corlys Velaryon and said keen-eyed fans might want to prepare themselves for the infamous Battle of the Gullet. “The thing is, you read the script and you go, ‘Oh my God, how are they going to do that?'” he said to THR. “After that, you have to just think of it as a character in the piece. When you’re in your own battle, you don’t think to yourself ‘This is epic, what I’m doing.’ You just want to survive, and I think that’s how we decided how we were going to play it: ‘We just want to win this war and go home.’ And then, if it proves to be epic, if it proves to be seismic,” he added, “then great.”
House of the Dragon remains one of HBO’s most popular shows following the critical and commercial acclaim bestowed upon Game of Thrones. It is set to culminate with season four, showrunner Ryan Condal said in 2024.
This next season will be the first House of the Dragon content in two years. Among the characters joining the conflict are James Norton as Lord Ormund Hightower and Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly. Tom Cullen will also star as Ser Luthor Largent and Tommy Flanagan as “Winter Wolf” leader Lord Roderick Dustin.
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