House of the Dragon Season 3 steadies after rocky start

After two discouraging seasons, “House of the Dragon” returns for Season 3 on Sunday, June 21 with a clearer sense of momentum and more emotionally grounded conflict—especially in Episode 1’s naval showdown. Still, familiar problems linger, from underpowered c

When “House of the Dragon” Season 3 arrives on Sunday, June 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, it does so with a specific promise: not just more dragons, but better storytelling pressure.

The HBO show has always been “Game of Thrones” with extra firepower. a big-budget “Thrones” prequel focused on warring factions of the silver-haired Targaryen family. But the first two seasons were widely described here as woefully disappointing—too much of what “Thrones” fans expect. and too little of what made the original series feel alive.

In Season 1 and Season 2, the series was criticized for being a pale but slavish imitation. It leaned hard on grimness. repetition. and familiar “Thrones”-isms. while still failing to deliver the depth. feeling. stakes. and likability that made the franchise emotionally stick. Even when dragons clawed their way through battles across Westeros. the people on-screen could feel like chess pieces—dropped into vaguely defined locations. reacting more than leading.

Season 3 doesn’t magically erase those issues. It still has forgettable and stilted characters. including questions about who remembers little Rhaena Targaryen and why her dragon problems suddenly matter so much. It still doesn’t consistently supply enough emotional punch behind its biggest conflicts.

Yet there are glimmers of hope—especially once the show clears the “table-setting” work of its first two (sadly) table-setting episodes. The pace quickens. Characters begin using their brains. Even the tone improves slightly. with the smallest smidgen of levity mixed in among the heads on pikes and grieving mothers.

The story picks up with the succession skirmish pushing toward full-on civil war. Two Targaryen sides are on the brink of a major battle. with the season’s first two long episodes focusing on a major battle between the forces of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and her half-brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney). followed by its fallout.

Aegon’s “green” side is being led by his murderous brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Aemond tried to kill his king in Season 2 but failed. With Aegon on the run and Aemond making psychotic decisions from the Iron Throne. Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke)—described here as a young mom/grandma—tries to maintain control in a power structure that has left her without agency.

On Rhaenyra’s “black” side, the imbalance isn’t just political—it’s personal. She has nabbed a few extra dragons by setting some Targaryen illegitimate children on them. but she can barely control her own kids or her husband/uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). Daemon, however, finally seems willing to submit to her rule. At the same time. she doesn’t know her naval forces are about to be attacked by a foreign army the greens managed to recruit. That enemy particularly hates Corlys Velarion—Rhaenyra’s master of ships—played by Steve Toussaint.

The naval battle becomes the centerpiece of Episode 1. and it’s framed here as a marked improvement over the battles from Seasons 1 and 2. Those earlier conflicts were described as large in scope but tiny in stakes and emotions. With Season 2 work that “rounded out Corlys. ” there’s said to be “some real feeling” when his forces come to a head with the foreign navy. led by a villain named here as Abigail Thorne.

Beyond the battles. the first four episodes made available for review contain small sparks: witty dialogue. genuine plot momentum. and intriguing new characters popping up. Taken together. the hope is that this may be enough to nudge “Dragon” back toward something more interesting than the “sunk-cost-fallacy” it once risked becoming.

But the problems that have shadowed the series don’t disappear. Rhaenyra is still described as impenetrable, with illogical choices and zero magnetism for viewers—or for seemingly her councilors. Even when she quotes England’s Queen Elizabeth I in an attempt to add gravitas. the character is described as drowning in sexist tropes. acting on emotion instead of sense. flighty. and overly sexualized.

Daemon and Alicent are treated similarly as main characters without much power. The piece points instead to Ewan Mitchell and newcomers like James Norton (of “Grantchester”) as Ormund Hightower as the figures adding zest and vibrancy.

There’s also the bigger burden behind the show itself: “Dragon” was encumbered from the start by expectations and too many cooks in the kitchen. HBO’s first spinoff—and a spinoff of its most successful show—carried a heady mandate to meet. Every “Thrones” fan wanted something different, and book author George R.R. Martin has publicly disagreed with the direction of showrunner Ryan Condal.

The result is a series that, by this account, only began shaking off its heavy baggage after three seasons. The question now is whether the improvement is enough to let the franchise move beyond its past failures—and whether it can “fly free” toward more interesting places.

For “House of the Dragon” Season 3, the stakes may be rising. The story is still messy in places. But for the first time in a while, it feels like the show might finally be learning how to land the impact it’s been building.

House of the Dragon HBO Game of Thrones spinoff Season 3 Rhaenyra Targaryen Aegon Aemond Corlys Velarion Daemon Alicent Hightower Emma D'Arcy Matt Smith Ewan Mitchell Olivia Cooke Abigail Thorne