The second season of House of the Dragon is less than two weeks away, and fans across the world are champing at the bit to revisit the sprawling fantasy universe established by the show’s massively successful predecessor, Game of Thrones.
The initial 10-episode run of the prequel series, released in 2022, exceeded nearly all expectations of fans and critics. According to co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal, the show achieved that by honouring what came before it without leaning too heavily on Thrones.
Condal tells The National: “Following the original series is like following the Beatles. It's the biggest television series of all time, by many metrics. How do you follow it? You can't. You just have to try to create something that stands on its own two feet.”
Part of what made the story's beginning feel distinct was its Succession-like structure – jumping from major event to major event. Following members of the dragon-riding Targaryen family 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the first season of House of the Dragon covered a 24-year span, with sizeable time jumps between each of the first eight episodes, in particular.
“In season one, at least the first eight episodes, they were eight discrete chapters in the story and followed discrete timelines of their own,” Condal explains. “So it felt fast-paced to go from episode to episode, because you were suddenly jumping ahead either months or years at a time. So it could feel jarring, and there were different peaks and valleys.”
According to reported comments in 2022 by the series’ other co-creator, author George R R Martin, the span of the entire series will cover roughly 28 years in total – meaning that this season and upcoming seasons of House of the Dragon will no longer feature those significant time jumps.
Because of that, season two's pacing will feel much more familiar to legacy fans of the franchise, Condal tells The National.
“I think this season will feel much more in line with a traditional season of Game of Thrones, structurally,” he says.
“We’re in real time now. From my point of view, it will feel even faster paced because we’re not jumping from event to event. Now it feels like a snowball is falling down the hill.”
Condal is now the show’s solo showrunner, and expects that will continue for the planned third season, following the August 2022 departure of his partner in season one, Miguel Sapochnik.
“I know the job very well, I was running a writer’s room for my previous series, Colony, albeit on a smaller scale. On this show, I fully embraced it,” says Condal.
“I have a great team around me too, to help, lift the heavy weight of this thing on to our back and carry it up the hill. And we'll do that again, hopefully, in season three.”
While season one of the series showed a family in crisis, season two finds the Targaryens firmly divided into two camps, referred to as the “blacks” and the “greens”.
Condal says the new season will feel like a cold war between the two sides, particularly because the dragons that both wield are effectively weapons of mass destruction. Consequently, the story plays on the same threat of mutually assured destruction that humanity has endured in the nuclear era.
“Our characters are highly aware of the fact that there are nuclear weapons on either side of the conflict,” says Condal. “And they have to be very careful as to how they deploy them.
“As a result, there is a highly strategised approach to war. That’s why the second Aegon usurped the throne, it hasn't immediately turned to armies running at each other on a field.
“It doesn't work that way now. We want to be realistic about how this sort of march to war looks and happens.”
That does not mean, of course, that this season’s cold war will never turn hot, Condal promises.
“There's going to be battle. Oh, yes, there is. There's plenty of action to come. Don't worry.”
House of the Dragon premieres on June 17 on OSN+ in the Middle East
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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