HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 3 Is Bringing the Battle of the Gullet to Life and It Sounds Absolutely Insane
Fans of House of the Dragon have been waiting for the war to truly explode, and Season 3 is finally delivering one of the biggest and most chaotic conflicts in all of George R.R. Martin’s lore.
The Battle of the Gullet is officially on the way, and if the cast and creative team are to be believed, this thing is going to be massive.
While Game of Thrones built its reputation on unforgettable clashes like Blackwater, the Battle of the Bastards, and the Battle of Winterfell, House of the Dragon is preparing to throw fans into a completely different kind of warfare. This one takes place on the open sea, with dragons tearing through the skies while fleets collide below.
The Battle of the Gullet centers on the Triarchy fleet led by Admiral Sharako Lohar, played by Abigail Thorn, going up against the ships of Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka the Sea Snake, played by Steve Toussaint.
According to the latest details, the series isn’t saving the spectacle for later in the season either. The battle will reportedly hit in the Season 3 premiere, so it’s a pretty wild way to kick things off.
Co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal explained just how enormous the undertaking was, especially with the combination of naval warfare and dragon combat happening simultaneously. He said the episode turned into “arguably the craziest episode of television ever made.”
Condal also made it clear there was no version of this story where they could avoid bringing this battle to life in a huge way:
“To try to tell this story without doing the Gullet would be trying to film Lord of the Rings without doing the Battle of Helm’s Deep. If we were gonna do it, we had to do it right. And that meant dragons and ships and multiple theaters of conflict.”
That definitely sets high expectations. Abubakar Salim, who plays Alyn of Hull, also shared how surreal the experience of filming the sequence was. Alyn serves as both first mate to Corlys Velaryon and one of the Sea Snake’s bastard sons, putting him directly in the middle of the chaos. Salim said:
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m on a theme park ride.’ I don’t even know how to begin to [describe] the euphoria that hit when I was on that set. It was like I was living my kiddish dreams come true of sailing the seas with a sword.”
That kind of excitement coming from the actors usually means the production team is cooking up something special.
The Dance of the Dragons has been simmering for two seasons now, but the Battle of the Gullet is one of those major events fans of Fire & Blood have been waiting to see adapted ever since the series was announced.
Between the naval warfare, dragon attacks, and the emotional fallout that comes with this chapter of the Targaryen civil war, Season 3 sounds like it’s going all in right out of the gate.
House of the Dragon returns to HBO on June 21.
Soource: Entertainment Weekly