House Of The Dragon Season 3 Review: A Fiery Triumph

"I must justify my father's faith in me," Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) says at a key point early in "House of the Dragon" Season 3. It's a mission statement for a character, but it's also a signal of a more existential turn in HBO's hit "Game of Thrones" spinoff.

The bloodshed is still very much a part of "House of the Dragon" Season 3, complete with brilliantly executed fantasy setpieces and loads of the show's signature flying beasts, to be sure. The show has lost none of its sensational narrative drive, and its characters remain as ruthless and combative as ever. But Rhaenyra's call to honor her late father's wish that she succeed him — the decision that began the war of this entire series — is also a barb turned inward.

Now, the question is not whether she wants power, or whether she seeks it in the name of some sense of honor bestowed by her family. The questions now are thornier, and more dangerous. If Rhaenyra (or anyone else vying for control of Westeros in the series) actually secures the power she's so desperate to wield, what will she do not just to keep it, but to feel like she's got something like a soul left? Each character has their own answer, and it's with this question in mind that "House of the Dragon" returns, as ferocious as ever, but even more ambitious.

When we last left Westeros at the end of "House of the Dragon" Season 2, Rhaenyra seemed to finally be gaining the upper hand in the battle against her stepmother and childhood best friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and her stepbrothers, the vicious Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Her uncle/husband Daemon (Matt Smith) is back in her corner, she has new dragonriders at her side, and most importantly, Alicent seems to have finally lost the taste for war. After a season of suffering, she came to Rhaenyra with an offer: she would send Aemond away, kill Aegon, and open the gates of King's Landing, if Rhaenyra simply took the throne without bloodshed.

The long, long list of potential spoilers lurking in even the very first episode of Season 3 means it's hard to say more about what happens, but the first four episodes provided to reviewing press are a response to that offer. What does Rhaenyra do, how much can Alicent be trusted, what will Daemon think of this plan? These are the things with which Season 3 is preoccupied, as well as other important dangling plot threads like Corlys' (Steve Toussaint) upcoming naval campaign, or Rhaena's (Phoebe Campbell) unsanctioned quest to prove herself.

The resulting episodes, overseen by writers including co-creator Ryan Condal, Sara Hess, and David Hancock, are a flurry of gritty fantasy mayhem. Again, spoilers prevent saying too much, but Season 3 takes off like fire straight from the dragon's throat, and just never lets up. If Season 2 wanderings like Daemon's long solitude at Harrenhal frustrated some fans, those issues are swiftly swept away this time. The first episode is one of the best, most jam-packed hours of TV you're likely to see this year, and the show doesn't slow down from there. It would all feel rushed, if not for a stellar cast holding this narrative together.

Though the dragons remain a compelling part of the series, "House of the Dragon" would never work without its ensemble, a cast operating at a level that rivals and even often surpasses the best that "Game of Thrones" had to offer. In Season 3, some of the slightly rockier pacing issues of Season 2 have been smoothed over, but that doesn't mean the show is all gas and no brakes. Rather, the writing has become more agile, more versatile, able to inject more character into each action and reaction.

But of course, the writing is nothing without the cast, and this cast remains one of the best on TV. Emma D'Arcy in particular gives a phenomenal, heartbreaking, deeply layered performance as Rhaenyra, able to inject nobility into the character's more feral moments and a fierce quality into moments of queenly restraint. Matt Smith is once again having the time of his life as his wife's ruthless enforcer, and Olivia Cooke continues to turn in excellent work as a woman still trying to corral the monsters of her own making. But it's not just the stars that make the show. The entire ensemble, from Phia Saban's preternatural sensitivity as Helaena to James Norton's delicious slimy Ormund Hightower to, of course, Steve Toussaint's endless swagger as Corlys Velaryon. The show has not completely outgrown its pacing issues and its tendency to swoop one story aside quickly to better serve another, but it has matured, and the cast is a big part of why.

The show's directors, Loni Peristere for the season premiere and Clare Kilner for Episodes 2-4, know exactly how to blend these characters, and the moments that define them, in with the spectacle of the show, from lush interiors to the most impressive naval sequence in the "Game of Thrones" franchise thus far. "House of the Dragon" has lost none of its bombast, but what makes the show tick is the sense of interconnectedness, of sympathy, that the actors have attained together. The show can, and does, go as big as possible as often as possible, and it's lost none of that might. It also can, and does, take innumerable moments to let each of these characters wonder, aloud or in silence, where they go from here. Will this war ever end, and if it does, can there ever be true peace inside any of them? Are they losing their humanity, and is that loss so great that it will poison every generation after them? "House of the Dragon" Season 3 considers these questions, making it not just a topical show, but an emotionally gripping one. The series is better than ever, and the new season will have you hanging on every single moment.

"House of the Dragon" Season 3 premieres on June 21 on HBO.