House Of The Dragon creator promises "new characters, dragons, and locations" in season 4

Condal revealed at the conference that season four has already been mapped out: “When Sara [Hess, executive producer] and I sat down with the writers, we essentially broke the back of season three and four together, at least in the superstructure of it.” Without giving anything away, all that Condal teased was that HOTD‘s final chapter will be bigger and crazier. “We have new characters, dragons, and locations all to come that I think are going to make a very worthy final season. And I’m looking forward to doing it with one of my favorite people in the world, Emma D’Arcy.”

As for D’Arcy, they didn’t have much to share in the way of what to expect from Rhaenyra Targaryen next. In the season three finale, Rhaenyra fully loses her grip upon learning that her nemesis—her half-brother, King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney)—is alive and has reunited with his presumed-dead dragon, Sunfyre. To officially stake her claim on the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra goes as far as ordering the High Septon’s murder, and she announces the prophecy of The Prince That Was Promised to confused townsfolk in High Valyrian. Per D’arcy, Rhaenyra’s arc in “The Treasons At Tumbleton” emphasizes the way power can change a person: “Power turns out to be incredibly fragile, and that seats of power, their apparent stability, can turn out to be illusory. A broader conversation, which remains very pertinent, is how do you manage the ego? How do you manage the human ego in the political sphere? That feels like a pressing question.” 

However, HOTD isn’t just about power, but who gets to wield it. Can a woman ever be the realm’s ruler? Game Of Thrones tackled this theme through Rhaenyra’s descendant, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), whose vicious heel turn at the end now defines her entire eight-season arc. Speaking to those parallels and how they may play out in HOTD season four, Condal noted, “It’s one of those existential themes that goes across the entire universe, which is the draw of the Iron Throne, what it does to a person in its thrall or the people that are trying to get to it. The parallels do call to the greater themes of the A Song Of Ice And Fire universe, which is pride and power, how power corrupts, and how far it corrupts, and it can change good people into corrupted people, it can take corrupted people and make them real villains.” 

Does that officially make Rhaenyra Targaryen a villain for House Of The Dragon‘s final season? What will Daemon’s (Matt Smith) takeaway be after witnessing the carnage of a conflict he could’ve stopped? And will Alicent care more or less about Aegon’s return now that Helaena (Phia Saban) is dead? We’ll find out in about two years. 

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.