What To Know
- The Season 3 premiere of House of the Dragon features the devastating Battle of the Gullet.
- A character is tragically killed during the battle.
- The episode also explores Alicent’s political maneuvering and a disturbing moment with her son Aemond.
House of the Dragon has returned with its most action-packed and tragic episode to date. The Battle of the Gullet from George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood took place in Episode 1, and it brought more death and destruction than this Game of Thrones spinoff has ever seen. The House of the Dragon cast explains the episode in our video interview above. Warning: House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere spoilers ahead!
The Targaryen civil war reached a new low in the Season 3 premiere, which aired on Sunday, June 21, on HBO. Over three years of planning went into bringing the Battle of the Gullet to the screen, and the naval and dragon battle ended in tragedy and left the fate of a beloved character up in the air. The battle was the result of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’arcy) naval blockade of King’s Landing that was enforced by House Velaryon’s fleet.
The Green Council devised a plan to align with Corlys’ (Steve Toussaint) enemy, Triarchy ruler Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), in response to destroy the blockade and free up the trade route. The second Sharako had Corlys in sight in the premiere, she ignored her deal with the Greens and focused on getting her revenge against her enemy.
As they fought on the seas, Jace (Harry Collett) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) fought in the sky. They flew their dragons into battle after Jace ordered Rhaenyra’s knights to lock her in her room so she couldn’t fly to battle herself. Collett tells TV Insider that Jace felt that Rhaenyra’s life was too important to risk, and that he was a better sacrifice. D’arcy tells us that “rebellion is the occupation of teenagers,” so you can’t blame Jace for his naivety too much. But at the same time, locking her up is an “insane act of infantilization.” The reasons for it will hardly matter after Jace was killed in battle.
Jace dies in the Battle of the Gullet in Fire & Blood, but the circumstances are different than the show’s adaptation. In this version, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) finally gets a dragon, Sheepstealer, and she rides the untamed creature into battle. Her lack of control over the dragon inadvertently led to Jace’s death. He had to fly low on Vermax because Sheepstealer was chasing after him. This put Jace and Vermax close to the line of fire, and enemy forces were able to shoot the dragon down into the water. Jace escaped, but then he was shot dead with three arrows.
Earlier in the episode, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) started laying the groundwork for Rhaenyra’s return to King’s Landing. She convinced her second-eldest son, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), to go to Harrenhal as part of this scheme. To her horror, Aemond kissed her with romantic intentions. Cooke says that while Aemond’s twisted mind has always been clear to Alicent, she would never have thought her son would do this.
“Why the f**k would she?” Cooke rightly says.
Corlys’ fate is still unknown after the battle. Learn more about the filming of these action-packed scenes in the full video interview above.
House of the Dragon, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO, Streaming on HBO Max