Ahead of the release of the long-awaited third season of House of the Dragon, showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal has hinted at an “all-out war” from the get-go.
In his Entertainment Weekly cover story, Condal called the season 3 premiere, which featured the battle of the esophagus, “probably the craziest episode ever made on television.”
Emma D’Arcy, who is returning to play Rhaenyra Targaryen, echoed Condal’s sentiments, saying, “This series is going 90 miles an hour. We’re finally seeing the war that we’ve been building for two seasons…I’m so impressed with Ryan and the team.”
Set nearly 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” and continuing the story from George R.R. Martin’s 2018 book “Fire and Blood,” Season 3 begins with Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) sitting on the Iron Throne and Rhaenyra adding a new dragon to her army.
The Battle of Galet follows the battle of Admiral Shalako Lohar’s (Abigail Thorne) Triarchy fleet to free Galet from Velaryon, with Rhaenyra’s son Jace (Harry Collett) piloting a dragon against House Velaryon’s navy.
Condal says it took four years to realize this order. Despite the show’s huge budget, it was unclear whether it would be logistically possible.
“Trying to tell this story without including Garret is like trying to film The Lord of the Rings without including the Battle of Helm’s Deep,” he added. “If we were going to do it, we had to do it right, and that meant dragons and ships and multiple conflict zones.”
In the interview, Condal also reiterated his intention to permanently end the series with Season 4. “I can’t speak for everyone involved with the show and HBO and others, but yes, that’s my plan,” he said.
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 will premiere on HBO on June 21st, with episodes released weekly until August 9th.
