Some spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 can be found throughout this story.
House of the Dragon’s Season 3 renewal means fans can breathe a sigh of relief about upcoming episodes, particularly given the Game of Thrones spinoff ended on quite a few cliffhangers. While fans might be bullish about the renewal news, I think we can all agree the fantasy drama is not exactly a “fun” watch a huge percentage of the time. Filming, on the other hand, is a bit different as Olivia Cooke opened up about bringing levity to a scene about a dead kid whose head had to be fetched and sewn.
I know it feels like a lifetime ago in the House of the Dragon family tree timeline that Blood and Cheese came and assassinated young Jaehaerys in front of his mother. The death episode was harrowing earlier in Season 2, and it was even harder to watch when the next episode hit the 2024 TV schedule. That’s because the next episode featured a funeral in the streets, crowded with people, while Jaeherys was paraded around with his head sewn back on.
Series lead Olivia Cooke was a key actor in the funeral scene, sitting in the back of a horse-drawn vehicle with Phia Saban. The carriage they sat in was open air, which meant they had a direct view of the prosthetic that was built. It sounds gruesome, but per Cooke, after a time on House of the Dragon you kind of get used to the spectacle of blood and gore surrounding you at all times.
It was an amazing prosthetic. It was really intense. Then you become a bit numb to the fact and we’re just singing on the back of the carriage between takes.
Yes, Phia and Olivia confirmed to Variety they had a sing-a-long going on in between takes of the funeral scene. I can just imagine them busting out some Taylor Swift (or whomever, she didn't clarify) and then going straight into their super-serious funeral faces every single time the cameras started rolling again. It's a weird business, TV.
Meanwhile, Phia Saban also reacted to being shown the dummy of the real-life actor and recalled how incredibly realistic it honestly looked.
I remember them being like, ‘Do you want to see the dummy?’ Oh goodness, it was really beautifully done. They wove gold thread and you could see how the head was sewn back on the body. He had all flowers and everything.”
Did you know that was a fake dummy person and not just makeup on the young actor? I'm not really sure I thought about it much while watching, but it really does go to show how much attention goes into the details of making sure the fantasy series looks as good as possible.
It's not a huge surprise to hear the actors look for a little levity while filming for long hours on the show. There's video of Game of Thrones actors looking silly while riding dragons, and I'm sure there are plenty of goofy moments we don't know about that took place while shooting the worst scenes in the show's history. You can't just be sad for months on end, and at the end of the day, it's just a job with coworkers like any other.
Obviously, a lot has come to pass on the series since Jaeherys was murdered, and there’s only more death and destruction to come. House of the Dragon won't be back this year, but expect tons of new updates as new episodes start coming together.
