House of the Dragon‘s season three premiere changed the Dance of the Dragons forever with the highly-anticipated Battle of the Gullet. It was a massive conflict that saw fire and blood meet salt and sea. What was it like to actually be a part of an episode of this scope and scale? We found out from both those who fought in the sky and those who fought on the water when Nerdist took part in a series of virtual roundtables ahead of the series return to HBO.
Here’s what we learned from stars Harry Collett and Bethany Antonia about Jace and Baela’s role in the conflict along with what Abubakar Salim and Steve Toussaint had to say about Alyn and Corlys’ emotional, dangerous journey.
Henry Collett and Bethany Antonia
Whether Jace is naive about going to fight and doesn’t really think things through before going to the Battle of the Gullet.
Harry Collett: 100%. He’s got a rough plan in his head, but everyone would probably think they have their ideas about battle and not really realize how difficult it is. And he can be quite cocky sometimes in thinking about how good he is at certain things. So he’s not really thought this through massively. He’s like, “Okay, mother’s safe.”
This is probably the first time we see Jace smile throughout the entire series. He’s just been a grumpy teenager before, but it shows what he really loves and what he’s been waiting for. This is the moment where he can prove that he’s not just a bastard. He wants to be hero Targaryen like everybody else.
What was it like as performers filming a lengthy, difficult sequence that required them to be at such an intense emotional level the whole time.
Bethany Antonia: It was definitely quite a step up this season learning how to sustain that kind of feeling over a few days. Generally, if you’re shooting something like that you’ll do it in a block for two or three days. Then it’s finished. You get to be in that emotional headspace for three days and then it’s done. Whereas the Battle of the Gullet we filmed over weeks. So it was really about learning pacing and learning how to get there and how to get there safely and then how to get out of it safely as well. For me, it felt like a really big turning point as an actor, which was really cool.
Collett: Something new, something fresh, and something that my character’s never done before. And something that me as an actor has never done before. It’s like Bethany was saying, it just felt good to finally do something new and be in the full frontal-ness of this absolute madness and not be not in it and stuck at home.
On the added layer of having to look out for each other as dragonriders while also trying to avoid getting hurt yourself.
Antonia: I really loved that added layer, especially for me. Because last season I had so many things where I was dragon riding, but I was just scouting. I was out sort of mindlessly looking for nothing in particular. Whereas having the added layer this season of actually having something to do and something to protect and something to follow meant that movement-wise, it really changed everything. We sort of had to imagine that you were looking over the wing as opposed to just being in your saddle.
It really changed the way that we operated on the buck, which was really cool. It meant that you had to think a lot about direction instead of just going with the dragon. You really had to steer a lot more intentionally. And Loni (Peristere), our director, was really brilliant for that. He was really, really clear and he would also move around the buck to be like Jace for me. He would show me where he wanted my eye line and stuff, which was really cool.
Collett: Same for me. There’s a lot more thinking in place than you think because we’re just sitting on the buck. Like Bethany said, the biggest surprise for me was when he’d tell me to look at something and I’d just look that way, but the dragons are huge, aren’t they? You’ve got to really exaggerate every move to look over.
Antonia: Sometimes [Loni]’d say “Look,” and then he’d be like, “No, you’ve not cleared the wing.” You’re still looking at the wing.
Their expectations for what playing with dragons would look like.
Collett: I was obviously expecting it to be fun. Again, did not expect it to be that challenging, but I was so excited to see how it would look when it was finished. That was all that was in my mind and I was just really trying to use my imagination of what is around me at that time and what could possibly be coming my way. And I just knew they had temporary visual effects in place and even that looked incredible. I’d be happy if they released that on its own, but obviously they hadn’t even started doing the proper visual effects yet. So I went into it with the expectation it was going to be fun, but it exceeded expectations with the way it looked on the final product, I’d say.
The pressure Baela feels in season three considering she’s one of the few people who seems to trust Rhaenyra.
Antonia: Baela really craves a relationship with Rhaenyra that feels mutual. Because she lost her mom at such a young age and because she witnessed this union when she was a child, really Rhaenyra has been her stepmom now for almost as long as [Baela] would’ve had her mom. And yet I do think there’s a part of her that feels like it is not the relationship she would have hoped for. That’s where that sort of unquestioning belief comes from. I think she’s like, “If I just support you in everything and I am loyal and I’m committed and I show you that I’m here, then you will want me at this table as much as I want to be here.”
In season three, maybe we start to see that changing a little bit and maybe Baela’s suddenly starting to realize, “Actually, do I want to be here? Or am I just wanting to be here because I support you and because I have faith in you or do I want to be here because I believe that you’re doing the right thing?
So I would say yes, at the start of the season, she is one of Rhaenyra’s few true allies and it will be interesting for people to see if that changes as the series goes on.
On saying goodbye to a show like this versus having to continue working on it after longtime co-stars leave.
Collett: I’m just very grateful I was even on it in the first place. I would be content even if I went in season one. It’s such an amazing show and such a once in a lifetime experience.
Walking into that audition room all those years ago, being smaller than I am now and not looking like a prince at all, thinking I’ve not got this role and then walking out and getting the role. I mean, I pinch myself every day because of it. So yeah, forever grateful. I’ll never look at it and go, “Damn, I’m dead in season three.” I’ll never ever look at it that way.
And what a good way to go. It’s not boring. It’s quite an impactful death, sort of like a Red Wedding vibe death. So I will take it. I’m very, very happy and thank you to (showrunner) Ryan (Condal) and the whole team for even having me in the first place. I’ve had an absolute joy and I’ve met friends for life.
Antonia: I would echo everything Harry said. It just feels like an absolute privilege to get to do this for so many years now and to have watched our characters evolve and to have watched our friends evolve.
I guess going into the next season for me, this is the first time that I’m going to feel the shift. I’ve spent so much time with [Harry] and I do think it’s going to be really strange. It’s going to feel like a different job for me. So much of what we do is together and so much of what we do as a paor is with Emma (D’Arcy). And I think for Baela, both of those connections are going to be very different come season four. So I think it’s going to be really new and fresh for me and maybe a chance to find a different side of Baylor going forward.
Steve Toussaint and Abubakar Salim
How filming the wars in the Stepstones compared to shooting the Battle of the Gullet.
Steve Toussaint: The Stepstones was very interesting. It was on land and it was a lot of running around and bashing people’s heads in. The Battle of the Gullet was that much more technical.
One of the things we did as preparation for both is you spend some time in a large room, like a gym, with the stunt guys and you choreograph the moves. Then, of course, hopefully you get to do it and it looks reasonably good. On this occasion, the space that we had to learn the choreography was much bigger than the actual space we had to do the fighting in. On the Gullet, we were doing it on a ship that was moving up and down. The area was much more narrow. There was water and blood on the ground. There was the odd corpse that they threw down in front of you as well. So a lot of the choreography went out the window and I just basically swung my sword and hoped that the stunt guys would make me look good.
What viewers won’t be able to know from just watching the Battle of the Gullet.
Toussaint: In the water beneath us, there were divers who were there all day and they never got out to go to the toilet. So we made sure we didn’t drink any of that water. :both him and Abubakar Salim laugh:
No, I’m not sure what I can say. If it looks good, that’s down to the stunt performers because I was literally just flailing away and helping to survive and somehow they managed to make me look good. And there’s a bloke whose balls I cut off and I worked with them on another job later on, so you wouldn’t know that either.
Salim: It took us many, many months to actually film the whole battle. So it was quite shocking for what was seen on the show.
Toussaint: Yeah, that’s my answer. Forget that you’re in urine stained water.
What it was like for them to further explore the father-son dynamic between Corlys and Alyn.
Salim: It felt great because season two was very much a buildup to this. We were getting the foundations of who these two are, where they are. Then it came to a real climax in episode eight of season two where Alyn is telling Corlyswhat he thinks and where he’s at. He almost threw down the gauntlet, a challenge for Corlys to step up and be like, “If you really want to face the music of this, this is where we are. “
So to have that then explored in episode one (of season three), where everything is still very tense but then he’s invited into the cabin and we have that moment of hope in a way between these two, for it to then almost be ripped and taken away from them because of the battle it’s quite raw and emotional.
Toussaint: Any story that you watch, we call them all different genres, thrillers, action, but they’re all dramas, basically, somebody wants something and someone’s trying to stop them from getting it. But ultimately all of them, I think the best of them, they all stand on the human relationship. So yes, we do have dragons and Night Walkers on Game of Thrones, all those things. But ultimately what we cared about was the interpersonal relationships. Those are the things that make you then care about what happens to somebody. It’s always much more rewarding to explore that emotional connection. And I really enjoyed this story of these two individuals.
The fact that we see Corlys showing humility, showing vulnerability with his son, particularly in that cabin scene where he says, “It was my fault and I’m really sorry,” in the best way that he can, that’s a huge step for him. If I was somebody who was just watching it as a fan, I would love that. And those things then hopefully make you care more about them in that battle because you know a bit more about them.
On what it’s like to watch the finished episodes.
Salim: Oh, it’s so great. You go through the readthrough and you hear the stories and you’re like, “Oh, that’s interesting. Oh, that’s exciting.” And then for a very long time you see no one. The story is just yourself and you’re going through your own little arc. Then to come back together and see the finished product, and see all the other stories, it’s almost like watching it anew. I feel like it makes the whole premiere experience and seeing these episodes, you’re watching it then now for your castmates. You’re watching it for their story and to see what they’ve done. It’s a really wonderful experience.
Toussaint: I was talking to Matt Needham (who plays Larys) just now and he was saying, “Yeah, basically I was just with Tom the whole time, so I didn’t see much.” And so then you get to watch it and you’re like, “Oh, so that’s what you guys were doing while we were doing this thing. It’s crazy. Wow. It’s so crazy. So you and you did that?” And so yeah, it is exactly as Abu said. It is just like watching it anew. It’s wonderful. And also because they’re all just so good to watch, which helps.
On whether they had a safe word during battle scenes the way Kit Harington did on Game of Thrones.
Salim: That’s because Kit is weak. :Steve laughs: Unbelievable. Safe word. I have a word.
Toussaint: I’ve got a safe word.
Salim: What’s your safe word?
Toussaint: It was a safe phrase. “F**king stop!” Which I always find quite effective.
Salim: Definitely, that would stop a lot of things.
Salim: Honestly though, the thing that I really, really respect and love about the whole sequence of the Gullet was that it was so choreographed and rehearsed to death that the safest place was in front of the camera. Genuinely, everything had been really, really meticulously thought of and taken into consideration. The stunt team was totally on it. There was never a moment or a point where we felt like we were in danger. There’s lots of blood and dead bodies everywhere and sometimes the helmet goes over your eyes. But the stunt team were all there to ensure that we were okay.
There was no safe word.
Toussaint: Safe word.
Salim: Safe word. God.
Toussaint: Thanks for that information. We’re going to use that against him.
Salim: Next time I see Kit I’m going to say, “What’s your safe word, mate?’
(Note: Harington’s safe word during Game of Thrones was “banana.”)
How they kept their performances centered and emotionally consistent while filming the Battle of the Gullet for months.
Toussaint: There are various things. Obviously there are script supervisors on set. As of course is Loni and sometimes Ryan. So sometimes I would find myself asking them, “Where is this sequence in the battle? What has just happened? What have I just seen?” Then with that information, then you start to think
You do the choreography, but also you have to chart your emotional journey through this battle. That is what I think keeps an audience engaged. So that’s what you do.
Toussaint: Abu said when we were doing fight training, it was always-
Salim: The intention to kill.
Toussaint: Yeah. Every blow is the intention to kill.
Salim: Yeah, it’s the final blow. Yeah.
Toussaint: You watch a movie and the fight goes on for six or seven minutes, but in reality, they don’t want the fight to go on for six or seven minutes. They want the next blow to be the [last one]. So you have that in mind when you’re doing it emotionally. And then also, what does that do to you when that blow isn’t the one that kills? What does that do to you? Are you disappointed? Do you suddenly regroup? All those things are questions that I ask myself.
Salim: In the moment. And I think that’s what keeps it alive.
Toussaint: Hopefully those of us who are watching those moments, we are like, “Oh my God, that was a setback and he wasn’t expecting that.”
Salim: Also the brilliance of shooting something so technical is the fact that it is performs like a sprint rather than a marathon. So you have those short bursts of being able to throw everything you can in that moment. Then be cut and you can reset and gather and then you go again. It is tiring, but it’s a lot easier to maintain than to do a shoot for God knows how long to do a whole sequence. So that helps massively. Also the great editing, the music. There are so many other aspects that add to the emotion of a piece that just aids the performance massively.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He is glad no one drank the pee water on set. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
The post HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’s Cast on Shooting the Battle of the Gullet appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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