‘House of the Dragon’ director reveals which Season 2, episode 3 scene was almost cut

Home of the Dragon Season 2 delivered a few of its most gripping dragon motion but in episode 3, with Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) and her dragon Moondancer chasing down Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Whereas HBO teased the scene closely in trailers, it nearly did not make it to the display screen within the first place.

As episode 3 director Geeta Vasant Patel informed Mashable, her first studying of the scene left her confused. “One in all my notes [to the writers] was, ‘I do not perceive why this scene is right here. I can take it out and nothing modifications,'” Patel stated. “In order that they took it out. And I used to be like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, do not take it out! Let’s simply repair it.'”

From there, Patel labored with episode author David Hancock, assistant director Jason Rickwood, and cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt to make sure Baela’s pursuit of Criston was completely essential to the story. The place to begin turned getting Baela good.

“One of many causes I did not care concerning the scene at first was I did not care about Baela, as a result of I did not know her,” stated Patel. “We needed to construct her character, then get to that scene.”

Season 2 marks a giant turning level for Baela and her twin sister Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), with each taking up bigger roles of their service to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). “But we did not know a lot about them,” Patel stated. “One of many nice issues concerning the writing of this present is that [the writers] don’t love exposition. They do not have characters come and go, ‘That is who I’m,’ for a whole scene. So the problem of engaged on this present is definitely bringing exposition in between sentences, and I felt just like the problem with Rhaena and Baela was introducing them with out phrases.”

To achieve a greater understanding of Baela and Rhaena, and to carry that understanding to the display screen, Patel, Antonia, and Campbell frolicked collectively improvising the characters’ complete backstories. What ache do they carry? What are the defining moments of their lives? Whereas the viewers won’t see these moments play out on-screen, sensing the burden of them within the interactions between Rhaena and Baela would show essential.

“By the top of that workshop, we felt like we had discovered and birthed these two characters in a method that we did not have to in Season 1,” Patel stated. “It was completely good, the way in which the 2 of them have been in a position to improvise.”

Bethany Antonia in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO

Having a extra concrete sense of Baela as a personality helped cement her motivations within the Criston chase. “As we have been determining tips on how to introduce Baela, [showrunner] Ryan [Condal] stated, ‘She’s Maverick from Prime Gun,’ and that crystallized it. When that call was made, we may run with it,” Patel defined.

Other than being an ace dragonrider, Baela shares fairly a little bit of the arrogance — and rashness — that characterizes Tom Cruise’s Prime Gun pilot. As we be taught later within the episode, Rhaenyra is worried that Baela disobeyed her orders to fly at a fantastic top and never have interaction anybody she noticed whereas patrolling the mainland. With a little bit of cheekiness, Baela responds that she “did not have interaction. Not precisely.” It is the type of defiance and “I do know what I am doing” angle one would usually affiliate with Daemon (Matt Smith). Like father, like daughter! Plus, who would not take a chance to scare the armor off of Criston Cole?

We would not have gotten these character-building moments had Baela’s encounter with Criston been minimize fully. Nor would now we have gotten a reasonably sizable plot improvement: After going through hazard with an uncovered host, Criston is now going to be main his troops beneath the timber, marking a shift in how wartime shall be taking part in out going ahead.

With these components safe, Patel felt much more assured about conserving Baela and Moondancer’s flight within the episode. “We spent the time to essentially excellent it, even reshoot elements of it to ensure Baela was crystal clear to everybody,” she stated. “We labored so onerous on that sequence, and it lastly made it again in.”

New episodes of Home of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.