Why Did ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Change the Opening Credits?

House of the Dragon Season 2 feels different from the very first second it hits HBO. While the show still borrows its theme song from Game of Thrones, the opening title sequences are totally different. Instead of watching the Targaryen bloodline surge forward from the Doom of Valyria and Aegon the Conqueror all the way to the divided households of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), we instead get an overview of Targaryen history through a living tapestry being woven before our eyes. Once more, we start with the Doom of Valyria and wind up with the Blacks versus the Greens, but this new title sequence comes with its own mysteries. Like, why did HBO’s House of the Dragon keep the Game of Thrones theme song but change the opening credits?

“Game of Thrones created this great tradition of the evolving title sequence. That wonderful map that they had throughout the whole original series evolves in a way as part of the visual storytelling of that series,” House of the Dragon co-creator and current sole showrunner Ryan Condal revealed to Decider during a recent round table interview. “So we wanted to continue that tradition into our world.”

Fans will remember that they accomplished this with moody blood-soaked opening credits that continued to expand the Targaryen family tree as House of the Dragon Season 1 went on. After King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) weds Alicent Hightower, we see his bloodline split into two factions. As the season goes on, symbols representing characters like Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) appear as does the union of Rhaenyra and her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith).

By the end of House of the Dragon Season 1, the original opening title sequence illustrated the family tree of all the characters involved in the epic civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons” — which was the problem, Condal said.

“But then once we got to the end of the first season, that was a story about ancestry and bloodlines and that was kind of set,” Condal said. “You know, we told that story through all Season 1. We don’t move on to the next generation through the rest of the story. We tell the story of these characters. So how do we keep it evolving?”

After all, a lot of major “historic” events, that is to the fictional history of Westeros, are about to unfold. How best to not only ground viewers in the world of House of the Dragon, but remind them of the major moments that have come before? Condal said it was time to mix up the opening titles.

“So we decided to make this radical change and go to something entirely new and try to tell the living history of this world, this part of the story that we’re experiencing,” he said. “We went to this title company called yU+co and pitched them, you know, essentially the Bayeux Tapestry, which is this very famous work from medieval times. And that’s what they came back with.”

The Bayeux Tapestry, of course, is a massive woven tapestry depicting how William the Conqueror arrived in England in 1066 and won the Battle of Hastings. House of the Dragon’s version starts with the Doom of Valyria driving the Targaryens to Westeros. We see lords bending the knee to Aegon and his dragons, the gruesome death of his second son, Maegor the Cruel — yes, he was found impaled by one of the swords on the Iron Throne — followed by the triumphant union of Jaehaerys the Wise and Alicent the Good.

However, what might pop to House of the Dragon fans is the realization that key scenes from Season 1 are depicted on the tapestry. We see the Great Council of 101 AC, aka the show’s cold open, wherein the lords and ladies of the realm voted to make Viserys his grandfather’s heir, not Rhaenys (Eve Best). Then we see young Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) entering the Great Hall dressed in Hightower green, officially creating the Greens and their rival faction, the Blacks. Finally, there are two monarchs on two, rival thrones: Queen Rhaenyra and King Aegon II.

“It’s amazing. I’m really proud of it and I’m excited to, you know, see how it evolves from where it starts out at the beginning of the season,” Condal said, teasing that as the weeks go on, we might see major moments from House of the Dragon Season 2 in the show’s evolving intro.

So that’s why the opening credits of House of the Dragon changed, but why hasn’t the HBO hit adopted its own original theme song?

We went back and forth and debated that for a long time and it just felt like the theme song, that was a really hard thing to change and follow,” Condal said, revealing that it was a point of discussion between him and Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon composer Ramin Djawadi.

“It just felt like that was the thing that kind of centers you back in this world, almost like the Star Wars fanfare. It’s the thing that tells you the world you’re in and what you’re watching and it just felt like a hard thing to replace. And I think that’s a thing that sets a certain mood and we didn’t want to move on from that.”

Does that mean that HBO’s second Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, will also share the theme? Potentially, but it should be noted that project is totally very different from the brutal epics that have come before it. So we’ll have to wait for 2025 to find out…

At the very least, House of the Dragon fans should prepare themselves to hear the Game of Thrones theme going forward, while they should keep their eyes peeled for the new title sequence to potentially change.