Even strength in numbers has its downsides, and House of the Dragon has learned that in its second season. Although the expansion of the story has helped improve many characters, even much of the main cast has often started to feel marginalized. This could easily be prevented by producing more episodes, especially since the second season was already two episodes shorter than Season 1. However, since that is a decision made by studio execs, the show is forced to simply roll with the punches. However, what is currently the biggest flaw of the show might begin to resolve itself organically as the clear specter of death looms over the oncoming conflict and threatens to consume everything in its path. The demise of some older characters is already set, allowing them to give way to new characters who can grow and flourish in their place and will carry the prequel to its tragic conclusion.
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Has Too Many Characters
There are many things one can praise House of the Dragon for, but perhaps their biggest strength is the characters they bring to life. Since Fire & Blood is nothing more than a history book and a summary of their lives, the show has to spend extra effort making them more complex and relatable to viewers. Not only have they done this with major characters, but ones otherwise relegated to the shadows like Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) have had entire new scenes created in their name. Other major characters, like the dragonseeds, have more of their backstory explored before they claim a major role in the story. Similarly, characters who have no personality in the books have very distinct traits in the show that make them unique. Perhaps the best example of this is Helaena (Phia Saban), whose visions have expanded many fantasy elements of the story and made the overall tragedy much richer.
There is, however, a major drawback to this particular strategy. Since there are so many characters, even main players can sometimes get sidelined, with little to do or not enough being explored in eight episodes. As just one example, some viewers have accused the show of leaving the story of Alicent (Olivia Cooke) in a stagnant place, only witnessing and reacting to events rather than fully causing them. To its credit, the show also used this to its advantage with other characters, with that very act of sidelining being the whole point of their most recent arc. Although his story might initially seem slow or insignificant, the trials Daemon (Matt Smith) faces prove crucial to his development as a character, allowing his endgame this season to feel much more natural. Still, while this might be an example of a major subplot being overstretched to reach a certain point, the nature of House of the Dragon can often create the opposite problem.
Could More Episodes Help Characters Breathe?
Another downside of having such a big ensemble cast is having to pick and choose which characters to emphasize, particularly with those of a secondary nature. For example, Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) both have more screen time during the second season, but Jace has still been the primary focus of the scenes they share together. Overall, this is to help build up Jace as a character within the shorter number of episodes, but it also comes at the expense of Baela herself. To be fair, Baela has been given some great scenes this season and has not been totally ignored, but there are still limits to how much her character can be explored with such a short runtime.
One potential solution to this might be an expansion of the future seasons, which have already been short even by the standards of modern streaming. After all, House of the Dragon clearly struggled with its pacing this season, although this was largely not the fault of the showrunners. Having more episodes could allow for a greater balance of screen time for other characters, thereby preserving bigger moments while still enhancing the rich character interactions that make the series work so well. Instead of just eight episodes, having a full ten like the first season or even twelve would have let things flow more naturally.
In some ways, the only trouble with this idea is the nature of adapting Fire & Blood, which is a challenge for any writer but especially unique due to its status as a history book. The actual number of pages this season covered is relatively small, clocking in at barely an hour in audio form. Hence, the fact that the show managed to expand this into eight episodes is already nothing short of remarkable. One can argue that the show has already stretched the content of the book to its limit and that trying to do so further might instead place the quality of the show at risk. As it stands, the series we have is already more of a character piece than its predecessor, and the solution to this characterization problem is staring us right in the face.
The Character Problem Has a Natural and Inevitable Solution
For years now,the world of Westeros has been infamous for killing off fan-favorite characters, and there is no reason to believe House of the Dragon will be any different. In fact, given the nature of the series as a tragic prequel, deaths are even more likely in a war such as this one. Some of these deaths are foregone conclusions spoiled by other shows in the franchise, making them inevitable. Even in the second season, Helaena has already hinted at the death of her brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), and Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) has given a similar prophecy to Daemon.
Disregarding the deaths already hinted at in the series, the tonal difference in the later seasons should also be worth considering. If the books are anything to go by, the third season will be much bloodier than the first two, with major deaths and bigger battles. The rest of the series has already been promised to be a story of total war, making it fertile ground for even more tragedy. The longer House of the Dragon goes on, the more likely it will be that many characters will drop like flies.
One positive aspect of this change will be the elevation of new and supporting characters, who could then have more time to develop once major players leave the stage. Already, some characters have felt underused this season and will hopefully be able to take full advantage of their new position when the time comes. Just, please, no more unnecessary new characters. Let’s focus on the ones we have now. Death might be everywhere, but old life will inevitably give way to the new. What exactly that life will inherit and who will be destined to survive is something for only the gods and the writers to know.