House of the Dragon’s Ewan Mitchell, Emma D'Arcy Tease Season 3’s All-Out War

After two seasons of build-up, House of the Dragon is ready to unleash the unbridled inferno in season three.

"It's all-out war," cast member Ewan Mitchell, who plays the eye-patched Prince Aemond Targaryen, recently told Entertainment Weekly. "It's just a blitz straight out of the gate."

Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the dragon-riding Game of Thrones prequel depicts a civil war between two factions of House Targaryen 200 years before the events of the original series.

Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), eldest child of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), was meant to inherit the Iron Throne following her father's death. Due to a miscommunication with the king's second wife, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the crown is passed on to the king's eldest son, Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), which kickstarts the catastrophic conflict—known in Westeros history books as the "Dance of the Dragons."

House of the Dragon star teases all-out war in season three of HBO series

"The series this time around starts at 60 miles an hour," D'Arcy teased "We're finally watching a war that has been building for two seasons."

They went on to praise the work of showrunner and Ryan Condal (known for co-creating USA Network's Colony).

"I'm so impressed by Ryan and the team, because it's to really hold your nerve to stage a conflict that has been, until now, primarily interpersonal, interfamily—and then [to] finally, in one huge gesture, allow that conflict to unleash on the realm as a whole, I think is some very classy plotting."

"There was a degree of thrill at what was on the page this season because the show's gotten bigger," D'Arcy added. "Not just in terms of its dramatic scale, but actually in terms of its ambition. It's very exciting when that happens. It felt to me that the bar had been raised—and I'm a competitive person, so I wanted to meet that."

Condal, who developed the project alongside Martin prior to a falling out, also confirmed that the series will indeed conclude with season four (expected to drop in 2028).

"I can't speak for everybody else involved with the show and HBO and all that," Condal said, "but, yes, that is very much my plan."

In addition to the actors mentioned above, season three also features the talents of Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen), Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon), Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower), Fabien Frankel (Criston Cole), Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen), Sonoya Mizuno (Mysaria), Harry Collett (Jace Velaryon), Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen), Phoebe Campbell (Rhaena Targaryen), Phia Saban (Helaena Targaryen), Jefferson Hall (Jason and Tyland Lannister), Matthew Needham (Larys Strong), James Norton (Ormund Hightower), Tom Bennett (Ulf White), Kieran Bew (Hugh Hammer), Kurt Egyiawan (Grand Maester Orwyle), Freddie Fox (Gwayne Hightower), Clinton Liberty (Addam of Hull), Gayle Rankin (Alys Rivers) and Abubakar Salim (Alyn of Hull).

The show is executive-produced by Condal, Martin, Sara Hess, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Vince Gerardis, David Hancock and Philippa Goslett.

House of the Dragon is one of two GoT prequels currently active at HBO, the other being A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The latter (inspired by Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novella collection) takes place 100 years before the main show and will return for a second season sometime next year.