Not long before the actors and creators of the series "« House of the Dragon »HBO's "The Last Jedi" gathered for a highly anticipated panel discussion Friday night at SXSW in London, with a teaser teasing how the third season, which premieres June 21, will be bigger and better than anything that came before it.
While numbers like "15,000 stuntmen," "3,500 props," and "25 tons of propane" were impressive, what was most memorable was the line flashed against the backdrop of a giant warship exploding in a fireball: "23 stuntmen burned in one take—a new world record!"«
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Showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal soon stated, "I can confidently say that these scenes are unlike anything that has ever been done on television before.".
Readers of the books will immediately recognize that this is the Battle of Gulet, an epic and horribly bloody battle fought on land and sea that was the defining event of the Targaryen civil war in «House of the Dragon» , preceding the events «Game of Thrones» by about 200 years. The entire series has been leading up to this moment, which even science fiction historians would consider the bloodiest naval battle in the history of Westeros, and—hooray, dear viewers!—we'll see it right away in the first episode of the new season.
«"This has been haunting me and Jim for almost four years now," Condal joked, gesturing to production designer Jim Clay sitting next to him, adding that Kevin de la Noy, the show's physical producer, was equally complicit—though he apparently spent the entire time complaining about the budget.
«"The amount of work you put into just one episode is just incredible and, frankly, irresponsible," Condal continued, teasing viewers. "But it was necessary to tell the story, and this is such an important moment for the show.".
The main theme of the season, according to Condal, is "what does the Iron Throne do to you when you're near it?" And as the plot unfolds, a sense of "inevitability" emerges, that there was once a chance to escape the abyss of family feud, but at some point that chance will be completely lost.
The conflict was initially sparked by a fateful misunderstanding at the end of season one, when the dying King Viserys (Paddy Considine) whispers a prophecy about "Aegon the Conqueror" to Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke). Alicent mistakenly believes her husband has ordered their son, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), to become king instead of his chosen heir, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy). While Alicent and her companions crown Aegon II King and seal the Red Keep, Rhaenyra rides to the attack on her dragon. Season two ended with the family's discord escalating into a full-scale civil war.
Season three begins moments after this. Crucially, Rhaenyra has Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka the "Sea Snake" (Steve Toussaint, bald when not wearing his magnificent blond dreadlocks), on her side, using his mighty fleet to blockade the Sound, a narrow stretch of water, effectively cutting off King's Landing from trade, food supplies, and the rest of the world, while Rhaenyra's dragonriders attack them from the sky. But King Aegon II's supporters have also secured their own fleet, led by the pirate-like Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorne), who became a staunch ally of Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) after he defeated her in a mud fight at the end of season two. As a bonus, she hates the Sea Snake and is determined to sink his fleet to rule the seas.
«There was never any question of spending every possible budget to show the film,» Condal said. «I’m a big fan «The Lord of the Rings» , and I always said that if you were filming «The Lord of the Rings» and thought, "Well, maybe we could just say, 'Oh my God, Helm's Deep! That was an insane battle! You should have been there! You should have seen that!' No. We need to show the Battle of Helm's Deep.".
He said achieving the end result required building a water tank, a dry storage tank, an underwater tank, four sets of boats, and then using three million liters of water.
First, they built an entire Sea Serpent boat (which Condal says is called "The Queen Who Never Was," after the tragic nickname of Rhaenys, Lord Corlys's late wife) and placed it in a gimbal-mounted "dry tank." This tank was the brainchild of the visual effects team, who wanted some of the battle scenes to be filmed on a clean, dry ship that could be digitally overlaid with water. They then built another section of the same "Queen Who Never Was" ship, placed it in the wet tank, and filmed numerous scenes on it, dousing the actors with water. They then did the same with Sharako's ship, the "Fist-Shield," which was also mounted on train tracks so it could crash into the "Queen Who Never Was.".
«"I had to try really hard to keep a straight face when [director] Loni [Perister] told me my ship was called the 'Bitchfist,'" Thorne said. "I loved that she named it that!"«
As part of their preparation, each actor was presented with models and photographs, their character's emotional experiences during the battle were discussed, and stunt choreography was practiced for many weeks.
«"I didn't know that!" said Harry Collett, who plays Rhaenyra's son, Prince Jacaerys.
«"Dragon Man!" Toussaint teased, rolling his eyes.
«"We were in the trenches!" Thorn added.
It's one thing to train in a massive gym, but quite another to practice stunts on a tiny boat-shaped set, constantly covered in slippery water and fake blood that bobbed up and down and side to side. "Of course, when we were doing the training fights, we were all in our tracksuits, doing these amazing, sexy moves, and then when I put on the armor, I couldn't move!" Toussaint said. "There was one stunt where I had to kick someone in the chest, and I thought, 'Yeah, that's going to look sexy,' and then when I put the armor on, I couldn't lift my legs above his knees!"«
They also filmed in England during the summer, and when he took off his armor, Toussaint said, "It was like soup," pointing to an imaginary pool of sweat and other fluids at his feet.
Thorne said she gained 10 to 15 kilograms (22 to 33 pounds) thanks to fencing and boxing training, but upon arriving on set, she felt like a complete newbie. "The entire stunt team had doubled for superheroes before!" she said. "So we trained for the fight scenes with Captain America, Deadpool, and Wonder Woman.".
Abubakar Salim, who plays Alin of Hull, revealed in season two to be Lord Corlys's secret illegitimate son, said his main problem was that his helmet kept slipping down and over his eyes. "But I think it helped convey the madness and chaos of the deck itself, and the raw energy that's so exciting in combat." They rehearsed for months, but once Perister yelled "Action!" for the first fight, he says, "the energy was almost like a mosh pit, and it was scary because it wasn't about choosing sides; it was about survival, and you could feel it. I remember hitting someone on my side and saying, 'No! You have to hit here!' But I think that's what makes it all so cool and magical.".
What wasn't cool or magical was the swarm of wasps that attacked them in the middle of battle, or the time Thorn accidentally caught fire for "being where he shouldn't have been... I remember yelling from the boat, 'Is there anything flammable in the wig?' And they'd say, 'Yes! Hair!'"«
Meanwhile, Collette spent most of her time in the studio, trying to figure out how to express emotion while riding the dragon. "The wind turbine was making so much noise that Loni, our director, kept holding a megaphone and just screaming notes through it, and I was just rolling on the floor laughing. It was so funny.".
But perhaps the funniest moment was the surreal filming on the same set as the new HBO series about Harry Potter . From the deck of the ship, they could see the adjacent platform and straight onto Privet Drive.
«"I was standing on the ship and I thought, 'I didn't realize we built a house so close to this apartment complex, and why is this complex like this? It's only half a house. It must be hard times or something,'" Condal said. "But then I talked to my co-star, who said she loved being with all the kids in this little idyllic '90s village, watching this massive medieval naval battle. So we were kind of waving at each other from both ends of this fantasy land.".
The series has been renewed for a fourth season, and the host asked if Condal thought there was potential for it to continue.
«"No," he replied firmly, drawing loud laughter. "I can make four.".
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