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House of the Dragon<\/em><\/a> star Eve Best beautifully paid tribute to her on-screen family during Monday’s season 2 premiere in New York City, arriving in a jaw-dropping black dress that showed off her sides and featured intricate serpentine-inspired beadwork all along the back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking with ET on the red carpet at\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City<\/a>, the 52-year-old actress who plays\u00a0<\/span>Princess Rhaenys Targaryen<\/a> explained the inspiration <\/span>behind the look<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “I feel like it could be a snake or a dragon,” she teased, referencing both the show’s title and her character’s husband, Lord\u00a0Corlys Velaryon — also known as “The Sea Snake” — played by\u00a0<\/span>Steve Toussaint<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n House of the Dragon<\/em> returns to HBO<\/a> for its long awaited second season on June 16. Following Rhaenys’\u00a0<\/span>bombshell “f**k you” moment<\/a>\u00a0during King Aegon II’s coronation in season 1, fans of <\/span>George R.R. Martin’s book<\/a> on which the <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/em><\/a> prequel is based,\u00a0<\/span>Fire and Blood<\/span><\/em>, are expecting significant bloodshed as the war between the Black Council and the Green Council gets underway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Oh, I can’t tell you anything,” Best teased of her character’s journey. “She does get on her dragon a fair bit. There’s quite a lot of dragon riding that I was not at all prepared for physically or emotionally.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The 52-year-old actress stressed the physicality of her performance, saying, “It’s sore. It’s really painful on your sides.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Best explained how her epic action sequences come to life, saying that her “favorite part is the craziness” of the experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Just being on this sort of mad moving object, being blown with smoke and wind and the chaos of it,” she shared. “It’s times when I felt like, ‘Oh, gosh. I’m just really, really old and I want a cup of tea. I can’t do this.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The actress said that after shooting her scenes against a blue screen, seeing the show’s finished product is “very surreal.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “You’re pretty impressed,” she admitted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asked to describe the upcoming eight-episode season in three words, she said, “Bigger. Badder. Dragon-ier.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Elsewhere on Monday’s red carpet,\u00a0<\/span>showrunner Ryan Condal<\/a>\u00a0told ET just how massive <\/span>this next chapter in the saga<\/a> is going to be.<\/span><\/p>\n “‘Paradise lost,’ I think, is the best way to describe what’s unfolding here in\u00a0<\/span>House of the Dragon<\/span><\/em>,” Condal teased. ‘We’re adapting<\/span>\u00a0Fire and Blood<\/span><\/em>. We’re being true to the story that’s written in the book.”<\/span><\/p>\n House of the Dragon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is a prequel series to HBO’s megahit,\u00a0<\/span>Game of Thrones<\/em><\/a>, and is adapted from the novel\u00a0<\/span>Fire and Blood<\/span><\/em>, by author\u00a0<\/span>George R.R. Martin<\/a>, which tells the history of House Targaryen, the family dynasty that ruled the seven kingdoms of Westeros hundreds of years before the events of\u00a0<\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Condal, some changes are required because of the nature of the source material itself, but their plan is to stay true to the story.<\/span><\/p>\n “There are different demands in the show given that it’s an adaptation of a history book,” Condal said. “But the plan is to faithfully render George’s history as it’s been given in the text.”<\/span><\/p>\n This season is also set to feature some of the biggest and boldest action sequences in the franchise’s history.<\/span><\/p>\n “They’re two of the biggest things we’ve ever filmed,” Condal teased. “They involve lots of dragons and fire and action, and it’s exciting!\u00a0I’m excited for everyone to see it.”<\/span><\/p>\n In promo materials for the upcoming season, viewers are encouraged to pledge their allegiance to the Greens — supporting Aegon’s claim to the Iron Throne — or the Blacks — supporting Princess Rhaenyra. See the full-length trailer for season 2 below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n House of the Dragon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0season 1 is now streaming on Max. Catch up on <\/span>everything we know<\/a> about season 2 at the links below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n