The first two episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2 guaranteed that war is on the way, with the Targaryen family tree already losing a couple of branches by this point. The third episode will soon arrive on HBO and streaming for Max subscribers, and it seems unlikely that the aftermath of Blood and Cheese is over. Director Geeta Vasant Patel, who also helmed the game-changing eighth episode of Season 1, returned to the world of Westeros for the next installment, and spoke with CinemaBlend about an iconic moment that could have been very different and previewed her goal for what's coming on June 30.
As fans undoubtedly remember, Episode 8 of Season 1 – called "The Lord of the Tides" – was Paddy Considine's last full episode as King Viserys... and the last time so far that the Blacks and Greens were under the same roof in full force. Some of Considine's best moments as Viserys were in this episode, including what I'd consider one of the most iconic moments of House of the Dragon so far: the king's painful walk to the Iron Throne for one last stand to defend his eldest daughter, complete with Daemon ultimately placing the crown back on his brother's head.
When I spoke with Geeta Vasant Patel ahead of her first episode of Season 2, I asked about fan reactions to that pivotal scene, and she shared both why it was complicated and why it had to change at the last minute from script to screen. The director said:
I remember feeling so relieved that it conveyed what we were hoping it would convey. It was a very tough scene to shoot for many reasons. Matt [Smith] had an injury, and I felt like there was something more that I wanted from it. As a director, I'm always looking for ways to make things as emotional as possible. You know, there's always a goal. In every film and every scene, there's something we need to achieve, like save everyone or expose a truth. Things like that. But underneath it all, you always want people to feel something, tears or whatever. And I think we found it in many ways that were surprises along the way and discoveries along the way. And that's what I love about directing.
Viserys may not have been a great king and probably could have averted the upcoming war if he'd been more proactive with his kids, but he loved Rhaenyra fiercely, and that came across in the finished product back in 2022, as the director intended. Patel went on:
That scene when he walks down the aisle, everybody kept coming up to me going, 'It's so long. It's so long. It's so boring.' And I was like, 'No, no, no, no, no. We are filming this all the way down.' Because for me, those are the moments in storytelling, that if you don't want to take the time to walk down that aisle with him, we have made a mistake before the scene. I wanted that scene to have all the meaning that Paddy was giving it. We actually went back and made sure that all the scenes that we shot before it were really leading up to that walk down the aisle, and I was so thrilled and so was Paddy and and the showrunner that we were able to achieve that when the show came out, that we didn't cut down that walk down the aisle.
If you're a fan who felt that Episode 8 of Season 1 really packed an emotional punch, there's a reason for that that came from behind the camera. When I noted to Patel that I'd loved how it felt like Viserys' last stand for his daughter, she responded:
What's interesting is when we first started shooting that scene, it was about Paddy going to the throne, and when we did his POV shots, it was about him looking at the throne. And then as I kept kind of every morning waking up to direct, because we did it over more than one day, one morning I was like, 'Wait a minute, he's not going to the throne. That's the thing. That's what's wrong. That's what's missing. He's walking down the aisle for his daughter. He's looking at her.'
Viserys didn't rouse himself from what would be his death bed by the end of the episode because he wanted to rule the realm; he wanted to save his daughter, and that's exactly what he did with some powerful POV shots of Paddy Considine and Emma D'arcy... as well as an epic score from Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi.
Since there were some big steps between the director's vision and the finished product, Patel elaborated on making the change from Viserys' POV of the throne to his POV of Rhaenyra, saying:
And so I went back and reshot. I told everybody, I was like, 'Look, guys, I know we don't have a lot of time, but let me just get this one shot.' I went back and got the point of view shot, but this time had his point of view of Rhaenyra and then the reverse, and I had tears in my eyes because I'm very close to my father. That was for me my relationship with my father, that he would pick up his body, dying or not, and walk down that aisle for me.
Even in the wake of huge scenes like Aegon and Rhaenyra's respective coronations, Vhagar tragically chomping Luke, and of course Blood and Cheese that have happened since Episode 8 of Season 1, I think Viserys' final walk to the Iron Throne for Rhaenyra's sake is one of the most unforgettable sequences of the show so far. So, were there any takeaways for Geeta Vasant Patel from directing in Season 1 that she applied to her first episode of Season 2? She answered that very question, saying:
When it went well first season, I just felt more and more aware that I should stick to my gut, and push for things that maybe we didn't have time for, or maybe were not on the page. All those things felt like they worked really well first season, For example, the crown falling on the floors while Paddy was going up to the throne, and Matt came and picked up the crown and put it on Paddy's head. That was not scripted. That was an accident. And we had no time and I had producers coming up to me saying, 'Don't shoot it, don't shoot it, don't make it a thing.'
Of course, Daemon replacing the crown on Viserys' head – made even more meaningful just two episodes later when he placed the same crown on Rhaenyra – did make it into the show. Patel continued:
And I was like, 'I have to. I have to.' And the actors were like, 'We have to.' So I put it all on the line. Really, we all did. I said, 'Don't worry, we'll make the day, but I need to shoot this in every angle.' And so we spent another hour shooting that mistake. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful, I think, moments in that episode. Going into Season 2, I was just even more committed to following my gut, as a fan and as a viewer, to make things as emotional as they could be.
It remains to be seen what Geeta Vasant Patel following her gut means for the third episode of Season 2, but the trailer for the installment suggests that there's a lot to look forward to... and be nervous about, since it seems in the wake of Blood and Cheese like fire and blood are imminent. Check out the trailer below:
Tune in to HBO on Sunday, June 30 at 9 p.m. ET for the third episode of House of the Dragon Season 2, or stream via a Max subscription. Don't forget to check back with CinemaBlend for more on the episode and the show overall as the second season continues. Geeta Vasant Patel also directed Episode 8 of this season, which will be the finale.
