House of the Dragon Boss Explains Why They Made New Opening Credits for Season 2: ‘This Is a Living History’

House of the Dragon is back… and yes, the first few minutes look a little different.

In Sunday’s Season 2 premiere — read our full recap here — HBO‘s Game of Thrones prequel dumped the previous opening credit sequence, which saw a trickle of blood running through a maze-like puzzle, and introduced a new one with red thread running through a medieval tapestry depicting scenes from the series. (Watch the new opening credits in full above.)

As showrunner Ryan Condal explains to The Hollywood Reporter, the story that inspired the Season 1 credits, following the bloodlines of the Targaryen clan, “had been brought to an end because now the Targaryen ancestry is sort of set. We didn’t have much place to go.”

So for Season 2, “we decided to go with radical change,” he says. “Now that the page has turned and we’re at war, this is a living history, and we want to depict that history in a visual way and give the fans new things to take apart and dive into.”

He came up with an idea of a medieval tapestry, which not only served as art but as a historical document as well: “It gives us a lot of places to go. The story obviously starts on Valeria… and you see how we’ve moved from Aegon the Conqueror’s time and pass through all the kings, and now we’re telling the story as we’re seeing it unfold and also seeing it literally being stitched into this tapestry.”

The tapestry will continue to evolve throughout Season 2, too, Condal hints, to include new moments from the series as they air.

What do you think of the new opening credits, House of the Dragon fans? Better than the old ones? Worse? Let us know in the comments.