House of the Dragon boss Ryan Condal explains how season 2 filmed its biggest scenes

As a seasoned viewer and critic of the fantastical realm of Westeros, I must say that my heart races with every new installment from the House of the Dragon. The sheer audacity and craftsmanship behind the dragon fire stunts alone are enough to leave one breathless, but it’s the quieter moments like Rhaenyra and Alicent’s meeting on Dragonstone that truly resonate.

This year, HBO unveiled the second season of their prequel series to “Game of Thrones,” titled “House of the Dragon.” The breathtaking special effects they showcased left us completely astounded. Can you recall any dragon battle in the skies as magnificent as the Battle of Rook’s Rest? I find it hard to imagine another one.

We’ll need to be patient and wait a while longer to find out what happens next in the series; production on season 3 of House of the Dragon doesn’t start until early 2025, so we likely won’t see it until 2026. Until then, we can keep ourselves entertained with tidbits of news and sneak peeks from behind the scenes. The latest such update comes from Vanity Fair, which recently spoke to showrunner Ryan Condal about the process of filming some of House of the Dragon’s most epic scenes as part of their new interview series The Craft Of…

Watch below, then we’ll touch on some of the highlights:

We “still haven’t met” all the dragons on House of the Dragon

Absolutely, Condal often discusses dragons and Rook’s Rest, pointing out that there are currently 17 different dragons in existence. However, not all of them have been encountered yet. To keep things interesting, each dragon is given its unique personality and characteristics. This extends to their distinct silhouettes and color schemes as well.

Condal mentioned that each creature has unique noises it emits. These sounds were crafted by a brilliant scientist named Paula Fairfield, who specializes in creating sounds for creatures. She records and stores these organic sounds in her sound library. Then, using digital wizardry, she combines and merges various sounds such as baby cries and rhinos charging to create the sounds of dragons.

The sound design for the dragons was a highlight of House of the Dragon season 2, so it’s great to hear Condal shout it out. I still get chills remembering some of the vocalizations from Vermithor and Silverwing in the penultimate episode. As for Fairfield, she worked not only on House of the Dragon but Game of Thrones, where she won two Emmys. The amount of thought that she puts into the dragon sound design is pretty incredible, especially considering how many different dragons there on the prequel series.

In addition, Condal discussed the filming process for having real actors ride the dragons, referring to it as one of the “complex aspects” of the series. This involves shooting scenes at specific locations, using drones, and what they call ‘buck work’. The term ‘buck’ refers to a mechanical bucking bronco that each dragon rider sits on while being filmed. Essentially, this is a saddle mounted on a moving rig, elevated in the air, with multiple cameras pointed at it.

House of the Dragon boss Ryan Condal explains how season 2 filmed its biggest scenes

Stunt people set on fire are “the real heroes of House of the Dragon“

In the second-last episode of the season, Condal shattered the grand dragon-themed set piece featuring Vermithor, reminiscent of a monster movie such as King Kong or Jurassic Park. Rhaenyra, in her fervent attempt to swing the war in her favor, essentially threw many unknown individuals into a potentially perilous situation, acting like a sacrifice for the greater good – this was vividly depicted in this terrifying scene where Vermithor wreaked havoc on the platform.

Condal explored the most dangerous sort of stunt that House of the Dragon does: setting people on fire. “This is a thing that I didn’t even know until I was making the show,” Condal continued. “Some performers are set on fire all the time. Very rarely do you do what’s called a full burn, which is when the entire body is consumed in fire. It’s obviously very dangers ’cause your whole body is on fire. But the thing that they don’t tell you — hopefully they tell the stunt performers — you can’t take a breath. If you take even a micro milimeter of breath, the fire will follow the air into your lungs and will burn you from the inside out.”

[W]hen somebody lights you on fire, the initial instinct is always to panic, and [the stunt performers] have to be trained out of that, because that’s actually the biggest danger that follows them here is breathing, not anything else…I mean, credit to these guys. These are the real heroes of House of the Dragon.
Ryan Condal

House of the Dragon boss Ryan Condal explains how season 2 filmed its biggest scenes

House of the Dragon boss is proud of final scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent

The final scene that Condal discusses is a quiet one: the meeting between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) on Dragonstone in the season finale. “This is actually one of my favorite scenes in the show,” Condal said. “I love this scene to end the season, because it brings us all back around to what this series was originally about, which is Alicent and Rhaenyra, and their two experiences that carry us through this horrible war that they’re fighting.”

It’s not hard to see that Condal didn’t contribute many words about the technical aspects of filming the scene; after all, two people chatting in a room is far simpler than capturing multiple individuals engulfed in dragon flames. Yet, it appears this very challenge was part of what drew Condal to the project. Alicent and Rhaenyra’s encounter symbolizes the tranquil core of the narrative, without which the grand spectacles wouldn’t have taken shape.

Ending the season in such a poignant, tranquil yet emotionally charged place is something I feel incredibly proud of,” Condal stated. “I believe this scene demonstrates the intense and layered nature of our show’s drama, showing its effectiveness and resonance. It’s not just about the thrilling aspects of dragons, wars, battles, and fights – elements we all appreciate – but these elements lose their significance if viewers aren’t invested in the characters who are engaged in them.

At present, you can stream both seasons of “House of the Dragon” on Max. Production for Season 3 is slated to begin in early 2025, so grab your seats and prepare for a bit of waiting. In the interim, another upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel series titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is planned for release next year.

2024-10-11 17:41

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