Gore and vengeance aplenty as House of Dragon returns with more fun and games

If you thought you had built up a cast-iron stomach, immune to whatever horrors the Game of Thrones franchise may hurl your way, think again.

Olivia Cooke as Queen Alicent Hightower in a scene from the second season of House of the Dragon.

If you thought you had built up a cast-iron stomach, immune to whatever horrors the Game of Thrones franchise may hurl your way, think again. The first episode of the new season of its lavish prequel, House of the Dragon, has a scene so stomach-churningly grotesque that it’s best watched with an industrial-sized bucket of sauerkraut on standby – but let’s not spoil the fun.

We are back in the Kingdom of Westeros, and how luxurious it is to be here. It’s easy to forget what a gobsmacking, exquisite show this is: nothing else on TV holds a ­candle to its ($20m an episode) production. Season two kicks off on the cusp of a civil war with the two sparring Targaryen factions at each other’s throats. Exiled in Dragonstone, we have the blacks: Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), the incestuous (niece/uncle) couple you can’t help but cheer for.

In King’s Landing, we have the greens, led by Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) – who you may recall was Rhaenyra’s best friend until she married her father, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine), which tends to complicate things – and her son, Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), who has been plonked on the Iron Throne after Viserys carked it.

Season one’s finale was very much “Rhaenyra and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. First, she received news her father had died and her former best friend had connived to steal the throne from her. The stress of this, in a truly ghastly scene, caused her to give birth to a stillborn daughter.

To kick a girl while she’s down, middle child Lucerys became dragon chow after Aegon’s younger brother, one-eyed Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), and his airborne steed scarfed him down like a piece of popcorn.

So yes, Rhaenyra is out for blood, but as the daughter of the diplomatic peacekeeper King Viserys, and true heir to the throne, she’s not inclined to act rashly.

It’s her chaotic uncle/lover Daemon we need to worry about. He ensures vengeance is served in the most brutal way, with the most disastrous consequences.

Again, no spoilers, but his payback is up there with the nastiest violence the franchise has ever put to screen. Kudos to the sick freaks in the sound department; your work will no doubt haunt us for weeks to come.

One core grumble viewers had with the first season of House of the Dragon is it was more battle-shy than its predecessor.

However, if the two episodes, made available for review, are anything to go off — mass bloodshed is imminent.