The Landry family took one last dip in the pond on Sunday with the heartbreaking, century spanning series finale of Hallmark Channel’s “The Way Home.”
Let’s dive right in with two of the finale’s most anticipated moments: Casey is revealed to be Jacob and Abby’s child from the future, and Elliot finally gets around to putting a ring on Kat’s finger. Is it the perfectly timed proposal he envisioned? Maybe not, but if there’s one thing this show has taught us, it’s that timing is rarely perfect.
Naturally, the pond also plays a key role in the finale, providing the happiest endings possible for some of the show’s more tragic storylines: Fern goes back one day to tell Cliff about her pregnancy, so at least he would know he was going to be a father before dying in the mines; Jacob returns to 1820 to check in with his old family, who help him release his anger towards the pond and embrace his future with Abby; Del jumps back to 1999 for one last dance with Colton, giving her the closure she needs to move forward with Sam; and Elliot learns that his mother actually survived the explosion.
Alice also gives a long-overdue apology to Evelyn for essentially gaslighting her all these years, then encourages her to reconnect with Max. Speaking of Max, even though Alice chooses to prioritize herself moving forward, she still confesses her feelings for Max before she leaves for college.
It all culminates sometime in the future with the town’s founding families coming together for Jacob and Abby’s wedding, along with a few familiar faces from the past watching (spiritually) from the sidelines. But it doesn’t end with the exchanging of vows; before the finale cuts to black, we’re left with Kat and Alice jumping back into the pond for another adventure. After all, “every ending is a new beginning.”
Below, “The Way Home” showrunners Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke answers some of TVLine’s burning questions about the series finale, including the story behind Casey’s big reveal, why we didn’t get to see Kat and Elliot’s wedding, and what time the ladies might be off to next.
TVLINE | For a family drama, this show is incredibly complicated, with a lot of unanswered questions to keep track of. What was your biggest challenge in putting this finale together?
CONKIE | [Laughs] Keeping track of it! I remember Alex [Clarke] making a list of all the outstanding questions, and it was so long. I said, “How are you going to do that?”
CLARKE | Exactly, “how are you going to do that?” Because then I had to go write it! [Laughs] No, it was a labor of love. We did make a list, and we are so grateful to Hallmark that they gave us extra time to answer the questions that needed to be answered. I don’t know how we would have done it in the time that we normally have, which is 41 minutes and 57 seconds. We had about 20 more minutes this time, which was so incredible and such a gift.
TVLINE | I wouldn’t say you gave everyone a “happy” ending, but for characters like Fern, was your goal to give them the happiest ending you possibly could, given how we know their futures turn out?
CLARKE | Yes, and it’s such an important thing to stay true to your rules that you set when you’re dealing with this kind of a show. You can’t break them. What happened will always happen. Colton died. I know a lot of fans ask, “Why can’t they bring him back to life somehow?” And as much as we are a bit of a fantasy show, we’re not that much of a fantasy show. We’re trying to be as real as possible with this beautiful gift of time travel in this little pond on their property. So I think you’re exactly right, we needed to give the best possible endings that also stayed true to the rules and true to what our characters really needed.
Del, through all four seasons, has never had that closure with Colton. They were at odds when he passed away, then she found out the money was all gone, and she thought he was having an affair. She thought that for 20 years until Kat came home and started to solve these mysteries. Anyone she’s met, be it Byron or Sam, she has subconsciously held them at arm’s length because she’s never been able to say the words she needed to say to Colton, which were that she’s sorry for not trusting him. And she’s never been able to hear the words from Colton that are so key in that scene, which are, “Please be happy. Be happy for me.” Now that she’s gotten that, I think her story can really begin.
CONKIE | It certainly wasn’t a happy ending for young Fern, but she got her five more minutes, and Kat was able to do that for her. That scene is heartbreaking, and the actress [Bianca Melchior] is just stunning in it. She does such a good job pretending everything is fine, knowing this is her last time to see him. So I think that’s her form of a happy ending, because she did get that moment with him and he knew he was going to be a dad.
CLARKE | From the happy ending perspective, we’ve all been rooting for Elliot and Kat through the seasons, and to see that proposal, to see the ring go on her finger, that was such a beautiful moment to shoot. It felt like this perfect way — in an imperfect way — to finish that story for them. That was a really lovely moment to write. The other one is the Jacob and Abby of it all. Seeing Jacob find peace and love in present day, and seeing him feel like he finally fits somewhere after so long, was a really lovely moment.
TVLINE | Yeah, let’s talk about Jacob and Abby. I loved seeing everyone, past and present, at their wedding. Just to be clear, they weren’t physically there, right? They didn’t all jump forward to attend the wedding?
CLARKE | [Laughs] No. On our show, we have flashbacks, we figments, and echoes. A flashback is when we go back in time and remember a moment; an echo is when you’re in a space and remember something happening there in the past, and that figure kind of runs in and out; and a figment is something we conjure up in our mind to help us when we’re missing someone. Del has had a lot of figments of Colton on the show, and Kat had a very infamous one with with Thomas down at the pond. So those are figments. They’re there because our characters are imagining that they couldn’t do this wedding without them.
TVLINE | OK, I thought so, but I didn’t know if you just decided to throw out the rulebook at the very end.
CLARKE | [Laughs] Can you imagine? … Surprise!
CONKIE | The rule book was thrown into the pond.
TVLINE | And now we know that Casey is Jacob and Abby’s child! The fans have been cooking up a lot of theories about Casey over the seasons. Have you had fun seeing what everyone has guessed?
CLARKE | Yes, it’s crazy.
CONKIE | And we actually played with different things in the first couple of seasons. We went back and forth a couple of times. But it was the thing we wanted to do for sure. And then when we cast [Holly Deveaux] as Abby, I mean, she had the blue eyes and pale skin. And there’s Jacob with his blue eyes and pale skin.
CLARKE | We were actually worried it was giving it away too much, but at the same rate, the chemistry between Holly and Spencer was just too good. We couldn’t pass it up. But yeah, we were very worried when Holly came on board that the jig would be up very fast. It’s been really fun to see the various theories about who Casey could be, how they play into the family, and just how far in the future they’re from. Hopefully people are satisfied with the actual answer to that.
TVLINE | Does Casey actually go by Goodwin, or was that just a name they used to throw people off their trail?
CLARKE | That’s just what they say to everyone there because they’re well-versed in the rules of the pond, what you can and can’t do as a time traveler, and the etiquette of not telling someone their future. If they wanted to be part of Kat’s life when they came in as an intern, they couldn’t say their last name was Landry because that would immediately tell everyone that they’re part of their future. Casey was very sneaky and very smart that first season. I think what’s so great is that it tells the audience that in Casey’s time, the pond is not a secret. The pond is very similar to how Fern was raised. It’s a constant dialogue in the family. It tells the audience that Kat, Alice, and Jacob have made sure that the lore is a part of the dialogue now, rather than being this secret.
TVLINE | It was wonderful to finally see Kat and Elliot get engaged, but I’m sure the fans would have enjoyed a wedding as well. Did you ever consider taking us all the way down the aisle with them?
CLARKE | We considered everything when we first realized it was going to be a finale finale, but I think Jacob’s wedding bizarrely outweighed Kat and Elliot’s in that it gave us the most closure about what’s going happen with all of these families moving forward. All three founding families are part of that wedding, and they’re finally all at peace with one another.
We really did explore this season, in the ’70s and ’80s, that there was this really beautiful time when it was Vic, Tessa, Dylan, Colton, and Evelyn around the kitchen table having kitchen parties — and then it all fell apart. To see these founding families all come together for this wedding was a really important thing for us to leave the audience with. There’s peace there. There’s love there. There’s a lovely foundation again, and that’s a result of Jacob and Abby getting married. So he was kind of “The One” all over again. He was the one that saved the family and made it able to exist, and then he was the one who brought all the feuding families together.
TVLINE | And what can you say about what the future holds for Alice and Max now that they’ve expressed how they feel about one another?
CONKIE |It’s hard to know at that age. Have you heard of a turkey dump?
CLARKE | It’s this idea that high school sweethearts leave for college, they sort of go off in their own worlds, then they come back for Thanksgiving and someone gets dumped because there’s been this thing of freedom in the college life.
CONKIE | There could be a turkey dump in her future, who knows!
CLARKE | What’s nice is, regardless of the fact that they kissed, regardless of the fact that they do end up expressing this desire for one another, Alice chooses herself. She goes to New York. We were very careful at the wedding not to have them coupled up. They’re on either sides of the aisle, and yes they share a really lovely smile, but it’s up to the audience to interpret whether that means they’re together or it means they’ve just kept in touch. They were really good friends, and I think Max says it best: “I’ll be wherever you need me to be, but the road you’re on leads to you, not me.” I think that’s exactly how they go into college. He’s in Toronto and she’s in New York. If their roads them back to each other, great, but if they don’t, OK.
CONKIE | I think it would be very cool if they were together and living at Lingermore eventually.
TVLINE | The finale leaves us on a cliffhanger of sorts, with Kat and Alice jumping back into the pond. Where are they headed? Do you even know, or was that just a fun way to close out the series?
CLARKE | We have our idea of where they wound up for sure, but that scene was always going to be the way our show was going to end, with the idea that they’re going to go on another adventure. They’re going to go on another jump, we just don’t get to go with them this time. We wanted to leave it open-ended in that way. This was never going to be a show that ended by saying, “Well, that’s it for the pond. Thanks, we got what we needed.”
CONKIE | Not even if they wanted to. They’re completely addicted [to it].
CLARKE | It was important for us to show that that was going to continue. They’ve made such beautiful relationships in all these different eras, there was no world where they would just walk away. So to have them jump at the end and say that an ending is just another beginning was so important to us because we want people to come away from it thinking that they’re still doing that.
OK, let’s talk: What were your favorite moments from “The Way Home” series finale? Were all of your questions answered? Grade the episode below, then drop a comment with your full review.

Nicole Kidman made sure her 59th birthday was one to remember!
The Hollywood actress spent the day in New York City with her two daughters, Sunday, 17, and Faith, 15, soaking up the city’s atmosphere and enjoying a trip to Broadway in the evening.
The trio went along to watch Mariska Hargitay in her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing, where they met up with fellow celebrities Rosie O’Donnell and Orfeh.
Orfeh and Rosie shared a group photo on social media featuring Nicole, Rosie, Orfeh and Mariska in the bar at the Hudson Theatre.
Rosie wrote next to the picture: “GREAT night out with @orfeh to see @therealmariskahargitay in her brilliant broadway debut – ran in to the stunning @nicolekidman and her beautiful daughters – what a wonderful night in New York!”
Orfeh wrote alongside it: “There is literally and officially NOOO THING therealmariskahargitay cannot do. And seeing her last night in @brilliantbway (her Broadway debut) PROVED it…and then some. Mariska is astoundingly phenomenal, funny, fearless, moving, and completely commanding. With only two weeks left, if you can find a ticket, grab it immediately & SPRINT to see her.
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“And when this run ends, I’d like to formally request that she return to Broadway again and again for the rest of time. “@rosie and I left the theater completely obsessed, and also delighted to spend the evening with our newest BFF, birthday girl @nicolekidman.”
Nicole has primary custody of her daughters, Sunday and Faith, who she shares with ex-husband Keith Urban. Her 59th birthday marked her first since their divorce, and Keith proved that the couple were on good terms after sharing a public message wishing the actress a happy birthday.
This was the first time Keith had made reference to Nicole since their split – which was announced in September 2025 and finalized in January 2026. He wrote on Instagram Stories: “Happy birthday Nicole Mary.”
Nicole briefly touched upon their split earlier this year. In March, she made a rare public comment about how she was feeling in the aftermath of the separation.
“I’m good. I’m holding steady,” she told The Age Australia. “That’s a good place to be able to say,” she added. Discussing the breakdown of her marriage during an interview with Variety in March, Nicole noted that 2025 was a difficult year for her. “I was quiet. I had other things going on. I was in my shell.”
The award-winning actress was asked if she was doing okay following her split, to which she replied: “I am, because I’m always going to be moving toward what’s good.” She also noted that her family was and always will remain her number one priority.
“What I’m grateful for is my family and keeping them as is and moving forward,” Nicole continued. “That’s that. Everything else I don’t discuss out of respect. I’m staying in a place of ‘We are a family,’ and that’s what we’ll continue to be. My beautiful girls, my darlings, who are suddenly women.”

In its return Sunday night, House of the Dragon wasted no time jumping back into the action. That’s because this episode wasn’t really supposed to be the beginning of Season 3, but the end of Season 2.
Back in 2024, the official story was that Season 2’s episode count was reduced at the last minute from 10 episodes to eight due to “story-driven” reasons. But there was always speculation that it was a cost-cutting move, something writer and executive producer Sara Hess seemed to imply when she later told Entertainment Weekly that the reduced episode order “wasn’t really our choice.”
Regardless of the exact reasoning, the result was a season that ended with a whimper instead of a bang. HBO punted the explosive Battle of the Gullet to Season 3, and on Sunday night you could feel the ripple effects of that decision after two years away from the show. There are a lot of moving parts at this point in the story. Aegon has fled King’s Landing, Daemon is finally seeing combat with the Lannisters, Aemond is calling himself king, Rhaena is trying to become a dragonrider, Criston is advancing on Harrenhal, the dragonseeds are figuring out their roles, and Rhaenyra is finally getting ready to make a big move. All the elements that would’ve made this a classically fulfilling and action-packed penultimate Thrones episode make it somewhat difficult to parse as a season premiere.
So if you found yourself asking “Wait, who is that again?” or “What’s going on here?” multiple times while watching this episode, this is the article for you. Let’s break down where the Dance of the Dragons stands after the Battle of the Gullet, character by character.
Rhaenyra Targaryen
Rhaenyra Targaryen—First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm—was locked in her room in this episode by her teenage son and a single useless knight of the Queensguard. She misses the Battle of the Gullet as a result. This string of events costs her a son, and doesn’t exactly speak highly of her ability to rule an entire kingdom, let alone her own household.
In George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra’s absence from the battle is not well explained, though we can read between the lines a bit. As the head of state and leader of her side, Rhaenyra should avoid being in harm’s way as much as possible. Look at what just happened to Aegon at Rook’s Rest as an example of what can go wrong when a monarch enters battle.
Plus, in the novel, her son Jacaerys is a bit more present for her war efforts. It’s actually Jace who leads the sowing of the seeds that sees Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer become dragonriders (more on them in a minute), and it’s Jace who is planning an attack on King’s Landing when the Triarchy arrives and the Battle of the Gullet begins. She’s the claimant, but her son is more central in the actual fighting. So it makes some sense that he was out there on the front lines while she hung back, even if the fighting was happening within eyesight of Dragonstone.
But the showrunners have her on dragonback a bit more in the show than she was in the books. My interpretation is that her desire to go out there herself—and the gambit that follows from Jace to leave her behind—is designed to make her a bit more sympathetic. In the show’s version of events, Rhaenyra gets to be both brave but also out of harm’s way, which is what the plot demands. It’s somewhat awkward (Ser Lorent, your one job is to obey the queen!) but it helps the show’s writers avoid making Rhaenyra look like a coward.
Prior to the battle, things were looking great for Rhaenyra as Season 3 opened. With the dragonseeds now on her side, she had seven dragons to the greens’ three. She also has considerable allies in many of the noble houses (including most all of the Riverlands and the North). Her position was so strong that at the end of Season 2, Alicent came to her to essentially surrender. Speaking of her …
Alicent Hightower
In the final episode of Season 2, Alicent secretly arrives in Dragonstone to have a conversation with Rhaenyra. These secret meetings between the two main characters are totally off-book and serve to make the conflict between them a bit more personal and tragic.
At Dragonstone, Alicent sets everything up for a quick and relatively bloodless end to the war. She tells Rhaenyra that Aemond will soon fly with Vhagar to the Riverlands to join Criston Cole, leaving King’s Landing exposed. She offers to have the small garrison that will be left throw down their arms and open the gates to Rhaenyra, allowing her to painlessly take the city. Alicent knows that Rhaenyra’s advantage is essentially absolute at this point and thinks this backdoor surrender will save her life, and the lives of her children.
But Rhaenyra is steadfast that she must have Aegon’s head in order to cement her rule over the realm … which Alicent reluctantly agrees to. Alicent tells Rhaenyra that she can fly to King’s Landing in three days’ time and claim her throne, and the war will be over.
This is why Alicent is so out of sorts in this episode. She arrives back at King’s Landing only to learn her children haven’t conformed to her plan. Aegon has now fled King’s Landing while Aemond has decided to stick around, happy to sit the Iron Throne and call himself king. If Rhaenyra flies to King’s Landing and has to confront Vhagar while Aegon isn’t even there, Alicent will look like a liar. This is a disaster for her—she’ll forfeit any leniency Rhaenyra was likely to give her and her children, hence why she spends all episode trying to manipulate Aemond into ditching the city and sending orders to keep the marching Hightower host at bay. But she can’t stop the Triarchy ships from arriving, and that already creates the look of a trap.
Alicent is, as usual, caught in the middle. It used to be between her father and her husband, now it’s her childhood friend and her own children. Every time she tries to take control, it slips away from her and makes a bigger mess. In the books, Alicent has a colder characterization, but the show has very effectively turned her into a tragic figure.
Jacaerys Velaryon
Rest in peace. Season 1 ended with the death of Lucerys Velaryon, Jace’s younger brother who made a nice snack for Vhagar. You can see how Season 2 ending with the death of another of Rhaenyra’s children would’ve made further bloodshed virtually impossible to avoid.
In Season 2, Jacaerys grew into a capable heir for Rhaenyra. He helps bring the North and the Freys to Rhaenyra’s side. And as mentioned above, he’s even more important in the novel, where he’s the central figure in the sowing of the seeds.
But he’s still young, and not battle-tested. He flies his dragon, Vermax, too close to the Triarchy’s fleet. Vermax takes a grapnel between his scales (in the books, the chain is tied around the mast of a boat), has a gash torn out of his side, and crashes into the water. Jace comes up swimming, but a dragon can’t fall into the ocean without every eyeball around being fixed on it, and Jacaerys is quickly impaled by Myrish crossbowmen.
This will be a devastating loss for Rhaenyra and the blacks. It’s the second son Rhaenyra has now lost, plus she lost her aunt Rhaenys last season. She may hold the upper hand, but she has also taken the deepest losses by far.
Rhaenyra still has a few children left. Young Joffrey Velaryon was sent to the Eyrie last season to keep him out of harm’s way. And her two other, even younger sons with Daemon—Aegon and Viserys—were also sent to the Vale, and then later rerouted to Essos to be even farther from the action.
Through two seasons of the show, Rhaenyra has largely been defined by restraint. But with a second son now killed at the hands of the greens, it’s likely that her days of inaction are over.
Aegon II Targaryen
Aegon made a mess of things in King’s Landing in Season 2. He fired his grandfather, Otto, from his post as hand of the king and appointed Criston Cole to the role. He drinks with his friends and yells at his Small Council. Finally, he flies out to war on Sunfyre, only to be so badly injured that he spends the second half of the season bedridden, with his brother Aemond ruling in his stead as regent.
Confined to his chambers and without a dragon, Aegon’s allies are dwindling, and his enemies are growing. You may recall that it was Aemond who nearly killed Aegon at Rook’s Rest, and the king’s younger brother is barely hiding his disdain for his sibling. It seems Aegon has just one true ally left, a man who can relate to being less than physically whole: Larys Strong.
In the Season 2 finale, Larys tells Aegon that they must leave the city at once. Partly because he knows the walls are closing in, and that Rhaenyra now has the absolute advantage with seven dragons behind her, but also, he tells Aegon, because “the prince regent will kill you.” The two depart in a wagon at the close of the season.
Larys Strong
Aegon’s escape from King’s Landing happens a bit differently in the books. For one, in Fire & Blood they also flee with Aegon’s children: the 6-year-old Jaehaera and 2-year-old Maelor. (Jaehaera has been seen in the show, but Maelor appears to have been cut.) For another, they don’t get captured by black loyalists. And finally, Larys quickly splits up with Aegon (and Jaehaera and Maelor). So this seems to be going in a direction somewhat different from Martin’s written word.
Larys is an odd nut to crack. In the books he is very soft spoken, and his motivations are a mystery. But he is very ambitious. Last season confirmed that it was Larys who ordered a fire set in Harrenhal, which killed his own father and brother and thus made Larys the Lord of Harrenhal (in the books, how the fire broke out was left ambiguous). Rhaenyra’s children Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey are his nephews by blood, even if the official account is that they are Laenor Velaryon’s children. Not that Larys cares for family, but there is a lot going on here.
In the books there are rumors that Larys remains in King’s Landing even after Aegon leaves, but there is no actual confirmation of what he does during this time. So what happens from here is all off-page.
Aemond Targaryen
Now left ruling in King’s Landing is Aemond, who was elected regent by the Small Council even though Alicent argued that it should be her instead. It turns out that the people who rejected Rhaenyra on account of her sex did the same to Alicent. Who would’ve guessed!
Aemond is out of control, as is apparent to everyone. Last season, he tried to kill his older brother Aegon at Rook’s Rest, allowing Vhagar to burn him in the aerial chaos. Though that failed, he wastes no time declaring himself king the moment Aegon flees the city. He’s stomping around the castle, giving orders and making plans. And you have to remember that this character is supposed to be about 20 years old, so they aren’t always well-considered plans.
Alicent does convince him to leave, however, telling him it isn’t safe for him in the city. And now he and his dragon, the monstrous Vhagar, are off to Harrenhal to face Daemon.
As for his relationship with his mother … I dunno, none of that is in the book. Even by Thrones standards, yuck. No further comment.
Helaena Targaryen
Aemond’s departure will leave only a few major characters left in King’s Landing. One of them is Helaena—his sister and Aegon’s wife.
At the end of Season 2, Aemond was trying to pressure Helaena to mount her dragon, Dreamfyre, to give the greens another number in the air. But Helaena pretty much refused. She doesn’t have much of a taste for flying, and even less for bloodshed. Plus, her prophetic dragon dreams have shown her the future of the conflict, anyway. Aemond insinuates that, should she not ride her dragon to war, he could kill her. “It wouldn’t change a thing,” she replies.
Helaena could be the most interesting or most boring character going forward, depending on your preference. On the one hand, she’s one of the few people who realizes just how hopelessly senseless this conflict is. But on the other hand, she also has seen the future and accepts it as unchangeable, so she doesn’t really have desires or motivations. All of this is off-book, by the way—in Martin’s writing Helaena just comes off as a bit strange in a way that is difficult to parse. The show has given her a ton of depth.
Daemon Targaryen
Rhaenyra’s uncle-husband spent most of Season 2 sulking at Harrenhal, absorbing weirwood tree–powered visions and contemplating whether he’d make a better ruler than his wife. He also spent some time compiling an army of Riverlanders. And as he grew more distant from the crown, some started to wonder whether he would declare for himself and overthrow Rhaenyra.
Ultimately, though, he had a late vision showing him a number of things, including the three-eyed raven, White Walkers invading Westeros, Daenerys Targaryen hatching her dragons, and Rhaenyra sitting the Iron Throne. When Rhaenyra flies to Harrenhal to confront Daemon at the end of Season 2, he tells her, “The realm’s only hope is a leader who can unite it, and my brother chose you.” He bends the knee and swears his absolute fealty to her.
Now, he’s fighting her war for her, meeting—and crushing—the Lannister army in the Riverlands. (Why is he on foot and not on dragonback in this fight? I could not tell you.)
Remember when Daemon went to the Stepstones in Season 1 to defeat the Triarchy? No one in the realm is more battle-tested than he is, and his dragon, Caraxes, is a significant force, as well. Aemond may have the larger, more formidable dragon in Vhagar, but Daemon is easily the most important weapon on Rhaenyra’s side.
Corlys Velaryon
The Sea Snake has had it better. Last season he lost his wife, Rhaenys. The season before that he lost his son, Laenor, and his daughter, Laena. We’re a long way out from Season 1, when he was negotiating marriages with the crown that would effectively ensure one of his grandchildren would sit the Iron Throne. With Jacaerys’s death, he’s now out a grandson (even one everyone knows is not biologically his).
This is a man who has been obsessed with legacy and is now out of heirs. In Season 2, he offers the Driftwood Throne to his granddaughter Baela, but she tells him that Driftmark needs salt and sea, not fire and blood.
Rhaenyra made him hand of the queen last season, and he gets to work mustering an armada for the queen. But he’s definitely in an awkward position as Season 3 unfolds, at an increasingly old age and with little family left. Of course, he does have two bastard sons, Addam and Alyn of Hull …
Alyn of Hull
At the encouragement of Rhaenyra, Corlys named Alyn his first mate last season. The queen believes they need men who are known to them as they prepare for war. But Alyn and Corlys have a terribly strained relationship—as any son would with a father who didn’t acknowledge his existence until all his legitimate children (and wife) were dead.
Alyn grew up on Driftmark in his father’s shadow. In Season 2, he tells Corlys how he would see Laenor and Laena walking around the docks in nice furs and with full bellies, and he and his brother Addam struggled. He was essentially an orphan and can’t just quickly forgive Corlys for his upbringing.
This episode they are just starting to reconcile, somewhat, when the Battle of the Gullet breaks out.
Addam of Hull
The dragonseeds! Addam is one of the bastard-born Valyrians to claim a dragon in Season 2, mounting Seasmoke, the former mount of Laenor Velaryon. If you’ll recall, this happened almost by accident—like Seasmoke claimed Addam rather than the other way around (since Addam and Laenor are actually half brothers, perhaps there was some familiarity there that drew the dragon to his new rider).
Addam is a bit less resentful than his older brother. The Sea Snake may have been absent as a father, but just knowing who his father is seems to have made Addam more sympathetic to the lords running the war than Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer (more on them in a minute). Addam has quickly become a trusted figure in Rhaenyra’s camp—in Season 2, he alone accompanied her when she flew to Harrenhal to meet Daemon.
Ulf the White
Ulf the White is the drunkard who hides his depression with humor. As he reveals in this episode, he grew up abused. He grew up with royal lineage but not an ounce of respect. It was traumatic.
Now Ulf is riding Silverwing, a dragon that used to belong to Queen Alysanne Targaryen. Silverwing is roughly a century old, and by age alone should be one of the largest dragons in Westeros.
But Ulf’s tragic past has led to something of an attitude problem here. He causes a stir in Season 2 with Jacaerys, as he’s almost openly disrespectful of the Targaryens and acts in an unbecoming manner, kicking his legs up on the table when eating, for example. Last season he boasts about taking on Vhagar and insinuates that Addam is cowardly when the latter expresses caution, but in this episode Ulf gets scared by a goat and high-tails it out of Harrenhal. To say Ulf is unreliable would be an understatement.
Hugh Hammer
The final dragonseed is Hugh Hammer, the stoic former blacksmith. Though it’s Ulf who is fixated on gaining a castle in this episode, in the books Hugh is the more ambitious of the two. He rides Vermithor, the former mount of King Jaehaerys Targaryen. Vermithor is huge and battle-tested—the most fearsome dragon in the realm save for Vhagar.
The three dragonseeds are actually present at the Battle of the Gullet in the books. That means the Triarchy ends up facing five dragons at the Battle of the Gullet, not three. But in the show, these three are camped out somewhere near Harrenhal, waiting for Aemond to arrive on Vhagar with plans of ambushing and killing him.
It should be becoming pretty apparent that you can’t just give any old sot a dragon and expect them to fall in line like they’re a knight. Ulf, Hugh, and Addam all have their own backstories and motivations. And because a couple of these dragons are older than those of Rhaenyra and Co., they are bigger and more powerful as well.
Rhaena Targaryen
The final new dragonrider is Rhaena, who mounts Sheepstealer this episode after pursuing the dragon in the finale of Season 2.
This is the single biggest change from page to screen. In Fire & Blood, Sheepstealer is ridden by a common girl named Nettles, not Rhaena. Unlike the other dragonseeds, Nettles has no known Targaryen ancestry. She has black hair, brown skin, and dark eyes—as far from the Targaryen “look” as you can get (and in the books, the Velaryons are not Black, so her appearance is an even more dramatic departure from what’s expected of dragonriders). Nettles stands against the idea that the Targaryens are “special” or that it takes “the blood of the dragon” to become a dragonrider. Maybe what truly controls the dragons is just propaganda.
Now we have that unspecial girl replaced by a character whose last name is literally Targaryen. And it’s not just a thematic change—while Sheepstealer is present at the Battle of the Gullet, nothing in Fire & Blood indicates that Nettles loses control of him. The idea of these winged beasts having minds and motivations of their own isn’t new to House of the Dragon (see: Velaryon, Lucerys), but it’s unclear where the show is going with Rhaena and Sheepstealer. In the book, Rhaena is in the Vale for protection, and while there one of her dragon eggs hatches. But that dragon, Morning, is too small to be a factor in the war, and Rhaena remains in the Vale for the entirety of the conflict. We’re way off-page with this plotline.
Baela Targaryen
Baela, Daemon’s daughter who rides the dragon Moondancer, is actually not present at the Battle of the Gullet in the books. She’s a bit younger in that timeline, at just 14 years old, and hasn’t even started flying on Moondancer at that point in the story. She is (or was?) betrothed to Jace, though, and putting her closer to the action, and his death, makes some storytelling sense. In the books she remains on Dragonstone for the entirety of this civil war. The show has made her more of an immediate player in the conflict.
Alys Rivers
The witch of Harrenhal is another portal into dreams and prophecies. I found it comical when she told the three dragonseeds, “You’re missing the battle,” in this episode, as if Alys has a copy of Fire & Blood herself.
We last saw her in Season 2 guiding Daemon to the heart tree at Harrenhal, telling him it was time he “learns his fate.” With Daemon now off fighting, she’s just hanging around, finding new people to cryptically manipulate. She’s a bit sidelined at the moment with Daemon off to battle, but she’ll be important again soon.
Roderick Dustin
Jace earned the North’s allegiance in Season 2, and these are the fruits of his efforts. Roddy the Ruin has arrived with a couple thousand grizzled “Winter Wolves” northmen with no intent to return home after this war. They’ve come to die for the Dragon Queen.
House of the Dragon is mashing up battles and characters here. In the books, Jason Lannister doesn’t die at the hands of Roddy the Ruin, but rather a different character (Pate of Longleaf), who has surely now been cut from the show. But some sacrifices have to be made in moving from page to screen, and this one is hardly egregious.
We’ve only just met Roddy, but this is far from the last time we’ll see him.
Oscar Tully
Our little teenage Riverland lord. He may seem oddly young every time he’s on-screen, but I like to think of him as an homage to the books. If Game of Thrones had stuck with book-accurate ages in casting the main characters of the season, this could’ve been what Robb Stark looked like. Or Jon Snow.
Oscar is the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, and in Season 2 served as the face of whom Daemon needed to win over to compile his army of Riverlanders. Oscar demanded the execution of Ser Willem Blackwood for his terror campaign against the Brackens, even though Daemon had endorsed that very course of action. Daemon complies, however, and executes Willem himself.
Now Oscar is Daemon’s key ally in the Riverlands and the one essentially holding this army together.
Criston Cole
On the other side near the Riverlands is Criston and his forces. At the end of Season 2, Aegon’s Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is growing increasingly nihilistic. He witnessed how defenseless an army is against the power of dragonfire at Rook’s Rest, and he’s now been sent by Aemond to go capture Harrenhal even though his troops are depleted.
“You saw what I saw,” he tells Gwayne Hightower in that episode. “The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet. And all our fine thoughts, all our endeavors are as nothing. We march now towards our annihilation. To die now will be a kind of relief.”
We pick up at pretty much the same point here in Season 3, as Cole is uninterested in leading his men and disillusioned with war as a whole. He sounds like a man who is not only ready to die but actively wants to.
Gwayne Hightower
Speaking of Gwayne, remember that he is Alicent’s brother. In the Season 2 finale he catches Criston with Alicent’s handkerchief and realizes the two are having an affair, and he confronts Criston about it. That’s when Criston gives his speech about not really caring whether he lives or dies. That confrontation fizzles out, but it’s safe to say Gwayne absolutely despises his commander.
Gwayne doesn’t accompany Criston to Harrenhal in the books, so this is all new stuff for his character. Putting the two together has created an interesting dynamic.
Tyland Lannister
Toward the end of Season 2, Aemond dispatches Tyland, the crown’s Master of Ships, to Essos to forge an alliance with the Triarchy, with the hopes of bringing some crucial naval power to the greens’ side. In the finale, we see Tyland meeting with the High Council of the Triarchy and their admiral, Sharako Lohar.
It takes some mud wrestling, but he and Sharako somewhat hit it off by the end of the episode. Sharako says she wants to have children with Tyland, which she then reveals will involve his having sex with her wives. They aren’t called the free cities for nothing!
But it’s odd that at the beginning of Season 3 we’re back to a dynamic where Sharako doesn’t respect Tyland at all and is openly defying him. Then she straight up kills him by pushing him overboard. Maybe he disappointed her wives? It doesn’t really matter too much, though, since Sharako soon meets a similar fate.
Sharako Lohar
Sharako Lohar barely appears in the books, mentioned by name just seven times. He (in the books, this character is male) commands the Triarchy fleet at the Battle of the Gullet, but doesn’t die in the battle. But what happens to Sharako is so convoluted in the books that just cutting off the story here makes sense. At a certain point, you just have to keep the story moving.
This has gotta be some kind of record. This character appears in only two episodes but also across two seasons, with 686 days between appearances. If there’s a good example of why ending Season 2 before the Gullet creates some problems, this is it. Audiences have to strain to remember who Sharako is only to immediately see her removed from their screen permanently.
Jason Lannister
We last saw Tyland’s twin brother, the Lord of Casterly Rock, leading his Lannister forces to the Riverlands. Then in this episode, we see only his head, after Roderick Dustin’s group has killed him off-screen. If you had trouble telling these two twins apart, you shouldn’t anymore.
Maester Orwyle
Aemond nearly kills the Grand Maester before he is interrupted and learns it was Larys who had sneaked the king out. Orwyle is no ally of Larys—he had no involvement with the king’s flight from the city. But in the last episode of Season 2 he did help Alicent sail to Dragonstone for her secret meeting with Rhaenyra. Orwyle is frequently a voice of caution and restraint—so he’s a natural foil for Aemond.
Ormund Hightower
New character! It’s mentioned multiple times in Season 2 that the Hightowers are marching toward King’s Landing to back the greens’ claim to the throne, and they are led by Ormund—Alicent’s cousin and the Lord of House Hightower.
In the books, Ormund and his host immediately run into a battle just outside Oldtown. It appears we’re skipping that for the show, as it’s implied in this episode that they are pretty close to King’s Landing by now. Alicent—under the guise of Aemond—has now ordered them to make camp and delay, another detail that is off-page.
In just his few seconds of screen time, Ormund instantly comes across as a character with his own plans. “One king is as good as another,” he quips after learning that Aegon is apparently dead. Ormund has obvious reasons to be loyal to the greens—Alicent’s kids are his extended family, after all—but he already strikes me as much more than a simple loyal bannerman for the crown. We’ll want to keep a close eye on how this all develops.
Daeron Targaryen
Daeron the Daring is Alicent’s third son and fourth child, who has been mentioned a handful of times on the show (including in this episode) but has not yet been seen. He was sent to Oldtown as a child to be a ward of his mother’s family, and now he’s on the march to King’s Landing as Ormund’s squire. That’s Daeron’s dragon—the sapphire-blue Tessarion—we see with the Hightower’s army in this episode.
But where is Daeron himself? We must see him soon, right? It is pretty wild that Alicent has a whole additional son—and Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena a whole other sibling—who hasn’t even been seen through more than two seasons of the show. But Daeron will play a role going forward. Be ready.
Mysaria
Mysaria has resumed her dual role as Rhaenyra’s hype man (“You know you are just,” she tells the queen in the Season 2 finale) and sexual outlet. If you find yourself asking, “What is her deal?” every time the White Worm appears on screen, well, I’m right there with you. The former paramour of Daemon turned paramour of his wife has always had her own ends … we just still don’t know what they are.
Ser Lorent Marbrand
My guy. The queen orders you to open a door and you refuse??? “It was the prince’s command, my lady.” Get a grip. You are a member of the Queensguard and you are obeying a teenager over your literal monarch? You’ll be lucky if you turn in only your white cloak and not also your head.
You have to wonder what would’ve happened had Rhaenyra been out there as well. She doesn’t exactly have battle experience, but maybe she would’ve been wise enough to keep the dragons from flying so low, resulting in a more decisive victory for the blacks rather than a Pyrrhic one. Or maybe it would’ve been her in the water rather than her son. I’d think she’d have preferred either result to being locked in her room and having Jace die, however. Lorent will have to answer for robbing his queen of the opportunity to make her own decision.
Otto Hightower
Do not forget Otto! We got a glimpse of Alicent’s father being held prisoner in an undisclosed location at the end of Season 2. He had last been seen all the way back in Episode 2 of that season, leaving King’s Landing to go to Highgarden to woo House Tyrell to the greens’ side. But we never learned what happened there.
No one knows where this is going because in the books Otto doesn’t leave King’s Landing. But clearly the showrunners have a plan for him. We’ll just have to wait to see what that is.

The Grand Cinema in Tacoma canceled all shows on Sunday because of what it described as an ongoing threat and safety issue at the theater.
The theater did not specify what the threat or safety issue was, but said the Tacoma Police Department is working to ensure everyone is safe.
The theater said it is prioritizing “the safety of our patrons, volunteers and staff” and decided it was necessary to stay closed for the day.
According to its webpage, the movies Disclosure Day, Leviticus, I Love Boosters, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day were scheduled to play on Sunday.
The Grand Cinema asked customers to be patient as refunds are issued and to reach out if they do not receive one by the end of the day.

Let the ultimate Love Island USA test begin.
Across Sunday and Monday, Peacock is revealing the new Islanders joining season eight of the hit dating reality show as Casa Amor is set to get underway on Monday night. Casa Amor, which occurs midway through the season, sees the original girl and boy Islanders separated into two different villas. That’s when a new group of single Islanders enters both villas to test the separated couples.
So will the current Islanders — Aniya, KC, Kenzie, Corbin, Kayda, Zach, Melanie, Sincere, Trinity, Bryce, Jen and Caleb — spark new connections or stick with what they know? Fans will just have to keep watching this week to see what chaos unfolds.
New episodes, hosted by Ariana Madix and narrated by Iain Stirling, drop Thursdays through Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with Love Island Aftersun (hosted by Ciara Miller and Tefi Pessoa) airing every Saturday.
After Love Island USA became a cultural phenomenon over the last two seasons, the momentum has only continued into season eight. According to the streamer, the first three days of the new season, which launched June 2, have pulled in 824 million viewing minutes, a record for any Peacock original series over that length of time.