House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 release time, teaser, and everything to expect

It's finally the best day of the week because we get to watch a new episode of House of the Dragon season 2 tonight! The Golden Globe-winning Game of Thrones spinoff takes place hundreds of years before the events of the original series, following House Targaryen at the peak of their power. By the time we meet Daenerys Targaryen in Thrones, dragons have gone extinct and the Targaryens nearly have too. How do we get to that point? Well, House of the Dragon shows us a time when the family begins to turn on each other and it's never the same after that.

The second season of House of the Dragon began on June 16, and so far it's been a thrilling ride. The Targaryen civil war, also known as the Dance of the Dragons, is imminent, and I don't think anyone's going to win this one in the end. The third episode is bound to be another big one as Daemon Targaryen heads to Harrenhal and Criston Cole takes on tasks as the newly-appointed Hand of the King. Read our watch guide below to make sure you don't miss a moment of the action!

Season 2 episode 3 release date and time

House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 will premiere tonight, Sunday, June 30, at 9:00 p.m. ET. If you're watching the show on the channel HBO, be sure to turn it on at exactly 9:00 p.m. ET for the linear showing. If you can't miss that one, an encore showing will air directly after at 10:10 p.m. ET, a third showing will air after that at 11:20 p.m. ET, a fourth showing will air at 12:30 a.m. ET, and finally, a fifth showing will air at 1:40 a.m. ET, according to HBO's schedule.

And if you're watching the new episode of House of the Dragon season 2 on HBO's streaming service Max, you can access it at any time after its release at 9:00 p.m. ET tonight.

Season 2 episode 2 recap

In House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," we see the immediate fall-out of Jaehaerys' murder. Aegon is, understandably, furious, and he calls for revenge. Tired of sitting around and waiting, Aegon grows closer to Criston and pushes out Otto, the latter of whom is cautious about acting fast.

We get several memorable scenes in this episode, one being the funeral procession for Jaehaerys. Otto comes up with the plan in order to create pity for the greens and hatred for the blacks, parading the young boy's dead body around the city with Alicent and Helaena riding behind him.

Another major moment worth talking about in last week's episode is Rhaenyra and Daemon's big fight which happens when she finds out that Jaehaerys has been killed. Though Daemon assures her he instructed the men to kill Aemond, Rhaenyra stresses the severity of the fact that a little boy is dead because of him. She tells Daemon that she can't trust him and he storms off, likely to leave Dragonstone for Harrenhal, something we'll see in this week's episode.

Elsewhere in episode 2, Criston comes up with a scheme to send Arryk to Dragonstone to kill Rhaenyra, instructing him to pretend he's his twin brother, Erryk. Once Otto hears of this, he goes off on Aegon, something his grandson definitely needs to hear. Not that he'll follow Otto's guidance, however; he removes the Hand pin from Otto and names Criston the new man for the job.

While Arryk is able to enter Dragonstone pretending to be his brother, Mysaria, who Rhaenyra just released, realizes there are two of them and gives the warning. Fortunately, this keeps Rhaenyra from getting killed. The only sad part is that both Arryk and Erryk die in the end. Erryk mortally wounds his brother, but at the realization of what he's done, he then falls on his sword and kills himself.

The third episode of House of the Dragon season 2 will see Rhaenyra hold a funeral for the Cargyll twins, as seen in the teaser, along with other events from Fire & Blood to look out for.

What to expect from season 2 episode 3

As teased in the episode 3 teaser, which you can watch below, Rhaenyra is likely trying to grapple with the fact that the blacks tried to kill her — and almost did — in her own bedroom. She speaks to Rhaenys about their current situation while burying the Cargyll twins after their deaths. Daemon arrives in Harrenhal and seemingly takes it, which is a strategic move for the blacks. Not only will we be getting more from Caraxes this week, but we'll also be seeing Moondancer, Baela's dragon.

Remember, Rhaenyra tells Baela to go fly to King's Landing to serve as a lookout in last week's episode, and from the teaser, it looks like that's exactly what she's going to do this week. There looks to be some action going on that she's chasing, but we don't know what it is yet. Are the greens making another move after learning about Harrenhal? Perhaps.

One moment from Fire & Blood we've been expecting to see is the Battle of the Burning Mill, which looks to be on the way in episode 3. Without giving away major spoilers, this is a battle between House Blackwood, who swore allegiance to Rhaenyra, and House Bracken, who support Aegon. While the main players of the story are not directly involved — at least not in the book — this is the first real battle in the Dance of the Dragons, and so it's significant. It might not make for a big scene in the show, but it makes sense why they'd include at least a glimpse of it.

One big battle we're inching closer to is the Battle at Rook's Rest, but we don't anticipate that happening in episode 3 based on the teaser. That one will definitely be an impactful one and I'm sure the show won't rush its depiction.

I'm counting down the hours until House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 releases! Check back in with us at Show Snob for my recap and review of the new episode.