House Of The Dragon Season 4 Will Make Up For Game Of Thrones' Biggest Cersei Plot Hole

Published Oct 25, 2026, 8:29 AM EDT

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House of the Dragon is set for an explosive fourth and final season, and it can make up for a glaring Game of Thrones plot hole in the process. The ending to House of the Dragon Season 3 set the stage for what's to come next, with Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen on the Iron Throne, having made a big shift towards being a much darker ruler. Helaena Targaryen took her own life, King Aegon II Targaryen announced he was alive (or rather, aliiiiiiiiiiiiive), and the Battle at Tumbleton saw heavy casualties on both sides of the civil war.

That means there's a lot for House of the Dragon Season 4 to deal with, even before it contends with the ending of the Dance of the Dragons and the show as a whole. The fallout from Helaena's death, including the response of her mother, Alicent Hightower, plus what happens after Tumbleton, is drama that could sustain a few episodes on its own, meaning the fourth season is likely going to be moving at a pretty brisk pace.

Of course, central to it all once again will be Rhaenyra, who has now publicly declared herself the Prince That Was Promised, revealing Aegon the Conqueror's Song of Ice and Fire prophecy to the people of King's Landing. Her God complex has reached all new levels, including seeing herself as above the Faith of the Seven, and having Alyn of Hull kill the High Septon. This is a move that has some similarities with Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, but House of the Dragon can actually do the story justice.

Cersei Becoming Queen Didn't Fully Make Sense In Game Of Thrones

How Cersei ended up on the Iron Throne is one of the most epic moments in Game of Thrones history. The opening sequence of the Season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter," is a masterclass in slow-burn dread and tension from director Miguel Sapochnik, aided by Ramin Djawadi's ridiculously good score. It culminates in stunning, explosive fashion with the wildfire destroying the Sept of Baelor and those inside of it. King Tommen took his own life shortly after, and then Cersei took her chance to become queen.

That's all great, in what is one of, if not the greatest Game of Thrones episode ever made. But it caused a problem that the show never addressed, which is emblematic of the deeper storytelling issues that the show struggled with in the second half of its run, and particularly seasons 7 and 8, where the internal logic was nowhere near as tight or well constructed as it needed to be.

This wasn't just Cersei taking the Iron Throne, simply by declaring herself queen, which itself is questionable enough. But it came after she killed the High Sparrow, many of his followers, and blew up the Sept of Baelor. It's obviously not as simple as putting it in real world terms, but you'd think someone blowing up the Vatican and killing the Pope might bring some consequences.

Of course, it could be that people don't link Cersei to it, or at least that there's no evidence. But that no one questions it, that none of the people in King's Landing - many of them close followers of the Faith and the High Sparrow - rise up in revolt, that it's basically never even mentioned, is unthinkable, and just doesn't make enough sense in the universe.

Rhaenyra's Version Of This Story Will Be Better In House Of The Dragon

Rhaenyra hasn't blown up the Sept of Baelor - though it'd be seriously impressive if she had, given its construction wasn't started until around 50 years after House of the Dragon's timeline - but she has committed similar sins. The High Septon has been killed, and that should not be something that is taken lightly in Season 4.

Thankfully, there's already good reason to believe it will actually be dealt with. For starters, there were several witnesses to this event, including the Septon's followers, so there's no denying what happened, nor that it was Rhaenyra, via Alyn, who was responsible. She doesn't even seem to care about that, however, believing herself to serve a higher God than the Faith of the Seven.

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

Before that moment, Rhaenyra had been desperate for the High Septon to anoint her, because being acknowledged by the Faith carries so much weight, especially in King's Landing. And that also means there's no way the people of King's Landing will simply accept it, and even less so when combined with the horrific death of Helaena, for which at least some will blame Rhaenyra as well.

Warning: SPOILERS for Fire & Blood, the book House of the Dragon is adapting, from this point on.In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra does not actually kill (or order the killing of) the High Septon, who remains safely in Oldtown during these events. However, there is an uprising against her, and it's one driven by religion. This is led by a man known as the Shepherd, who preaches against Rhaenyra's rule and the Targaryens, declaring them enemies of the Faith, their dragons to be Godless creatures, and so on, words that echo what the High Septon said to Rhaenyra before his death.

The Shepherd's words are heard by thousands, and after the death of Helaena, where he helps spread the rumor that Rhaenyra was the one who killed her, it ultimately leads to major, devastating riots in the capital, leading to several deaths, dragons being killed, and Rhaenyra being forced to flee King's Landing.

Given the death of the High Septon, the show simply has to use that as a springboard for these events, with the setup clearly in place (and I could even imagine them using Mysaria in this storyline, given she's now turned against Rhaenyra). In doing so, it'll not only make that story even stronger, but means House of the Dragon can avoid a big plot hole and failure from Game of Thrones.

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  Prince Daemon Targaryen

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  Fabien Frankel

  Ser Criston Cole

Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria.