*Warning: Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon season three episode five and Fire & Blood* Alicent and Helaena attempt a prison break in House of the Dragon’s latest episode, and it doesn’t quite go to plan… twice. Although their fate is left up in the air, the season three episode six trailer tells us what we need to know. After learning that Helaena (Phia Saban) is pregnant, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) tries to get her to drink Moon Tea – the Game of Thrones version of Plan B – but she refuses, reiterating that it’s her baby. Alicent all but confirms the father is Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) when she expresses her concerns about keeping the child. “Aegon’s heir, a rival to Joffrey. To Rhaenyra herself,” Alicent tells her daughter. “She’ll kill it. She’ll have no choice. Or she’ll take it from you.” Still, Helaena refuses, and so Alicent comes up with a different plan B: escape. Knowing they’ll only have one guard instead of two that night, she bribes a maid to help them, but Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) catches them on the way out. Credit: HBO Alicent convinces Mysaria not to say anything and she reluctantly agrees. Later that night, Helaena discovers a secret doorway in the walls of their chambers. They bring a torch and head through the dark tunnel, only to find a dead end. Helaena says to return to their room, but Alicent points out, “There is no way back, the door is shut.” At that moment, a cat hunts down a rat and Helaena screams, dropping their torch in the process. In short, they’re stuck in a tunnel with no way out, no way for anyone to know where they are, and with no food or light. Is it the end of the road for the long-suffering mother-and-daughter? House of the Dragon trailer proves Alicent and Helaena survive It was already highly unlikely that House of the Dragon would kill off two major characters in this way, especially as it would mark a major deviation from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. But just in case you needed confirmation, the season three episode six preview trailer has landed, and it shows Helaena alive and well – meaning we can assume they both escaped the tunnel. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene midway through the trailer, we see a shot of Helaena’s face with Alicent in the background. It then cuts to her hands as she cross-stitches, although we’ll have to wait until the episode drops next Sunday for the ‘how and why’. Until then, a number of viewers have pointed out the reveal, with one writing on Reddit, “I guess the cliffhanger of Alicent and Helaena being stuck in the walls is solved as we see they are out in the next episode’s trailer lol.” “I had to replay the trailer. I knew they weren’t gonna die in there or anything, but I didn’t notice them in the trailer and then I realised it’s like 1 second of Helaena cross stitching,” said another. A third added, “Now I remember why I stopped watching the trailers.” Of course, it’s not the only tease in the trailer… Season 3 episode 6 trailer teases the Butcher’s Ball Credit: HBO It looks like next week’s episode may deliver the long-awaited Butcher’s Ball, one of the bloodiest confrontations from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. The battle takes place after Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) leads his Green army into an ambush by Rivermen and Northern ‘Winter Wolves’ fighting for Rhaenyra. With Cole and his remaining men outnumbered, he first offers to surrender if his soldiers are spared, and when they refuse, he challenges the Black commanders to single combat. Instead, he’s cut down by three arrows before the duel can even begin, and his army is slaughtered in what is later described as “butchery, not battle.” Credit: HBO The ending of season three episode five more or less sets this up, although House of the Dragon deviates from the source material. In the show, Cole reveals to Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) that he’s sick of serving his whole life, and that he wants to die “unbowed, unbroken” as a free man. Essentially, he’s knowingly led his exhausted men towards a suicide mission, setting up an even more tragic version of the Butcher’s Ball. In the trailer, we see flashes of Cole fighting on the battlefield and we know the Butcher’s Ball is going to unfold at some point in season three, so it would make sense for this to happen next week. Plenty of fans have commented on this, with one writing, “Criston is about to have a ball next episode… a butcher’s ball.” Another said, “Finally! Butcher’s Ball next week and the First Battle of Tumbleton in the finale.” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Featured images credit: HBO Post navigation Next storyPrevious story
