Game of Thrones had many an epic battle sequence. And as one of the best fantasy series of the time (according to critics) grew, so did the scale of the fighting. When we eventually reached Battle of the Bastards in season 6, the HBO series had earned itself a reputation for movie-level warring.
The earlier battle sequences, although impressive, perhaps were outgrown by the TV series, and now in retrospect aren’t quite as memorable as some of the later ones.
Included on that list is the siege on King’s Landing from season 2, which saw Game of Thrones character Stannis Baratheon fight from the seas. Mind-blowing at the time, like much of the production qualities of one of pop culture’s best TV series, but perhaps with potential left untapped. Well, House of the Dragon plans on outdoing it.
The show’s stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s not a secret that in this story there’s a battle at sea [HOTD is based on the book Fire & Blood, which details the huge Battle of the Gullet on water]. I think that’s where we’re headed.” Battle of the Gullet is the most eventful sea scrabble from the Dance of the Dragon civil war in the source material.
“The desire is to expand our repertoire to a large sea battle,” Irlam continued, “You can do a sea battle in a car park, but it won’t necessarily feel the same. But there are water tanks, and there’s a tank here in Leavesden. If you’re going to do it, I think you need to do it in a tank. But let’s see what happens.”
The brilliant first season of House of the Dragon that set up how institutional misogyny and small wounds led to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower‘s falling out was more political thriller than action at most points, but the season finale tees up a more fiery second season. Things look to get quite nasty on both land and sea.
For more on this fantasy world, check out the Game of Thrones characters ranked, the House of the Dragon season 2 release date, and find out why our Game of Thrones AI sequel sucks.