HQ: King’s Landing, specifically the Red Keep, which houses the Iron Throne

Affiliated Houses: Hightower, Lannister, Baratheon and the Triarchy (the Free Cities of Lys, Myr and Tyrosh)

Dragoncount: Three. Vhagar, Dreamfyre and Tessarion. Sunfyre, King Aegon’s dragon, was grievously wounded last season and presumed dead — but I don’t buy it.

Team Green full list here, including Alicent Hightower, Aegon II, Larys Strong, Aemond, Helaena, Criston Cole et. al. 

Three things to watch out for in Season 3

Keep your eye on the Gullet

The Blacks are blockading Blackwater Bay, starving King’s Landing in the process. The Greens, in the form of Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), reached out to the Triarchy for a fleet of 100 warships to break the Green blockade. The Triarchy’s admiral is Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn).

The Black’s admiral is Corlys, who last season renamed his flagship after his dead wife Rhaenys, the Queen Who Never Was. His son Alyn (Abubakar Salim) is by his side.

Expect a sea battle that should make Game of Thrones’ brutal Battle of the Blackwater look like a summer Sunday yacht club regatta.

New faces

I know, it’s not like this show is sparsely populated — the cast list is longer than a CVS receipt — so the addition of even more characters seems a daunting prospect. But remember that there’s a war going on, so you can expect a few folks you’ve come to know over the past two seasons to make their flaming/blood-soaked final exits over the course of the season.

In addition to Daeron, the casting notices indicate we’ll be meeting:

• Roderick Dustin (Tommy Flanagan), aka Roddy the Ruin. A battle-scarred warrior leading the Winter Wolves — those oldheads from the North fighting for Rhaenyra and the Blacks.
• Ser Torrhen Manderly (Dan Fogler). A Northman also fighting for Rhaenyra. 
• Ormund Hightower (James Norton). Head of House Hightower. Leading a host of warriors from the Reach for the Greens. 

Still yet more Alicent/Rhaenyra meetups, somehow

The show’s decision to center itself on the friendship between Alicent and Rhaenyra makes sense on paper, and both Cooke and D’Arcy are great together. But it’s forced the writers to keep inventing howlingly improbable circumstances to get the two of them together, despite the fact that they’re at war with each other. Imagine Churchill getting snuck into the Eagle’s Nest for a quick confab with Hitler in 1943. I’d like to think the Season 2 finale was the last time they’ll try it, but I’ve been wrong before, so let’s all just steel ourselves for what’s to come.

Glen will be recapping Season 3 of House of the Dragon starting on Sunday. Follow along here, and catch up on his recaps of past seasons.