This article contains POTENTIAL SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3.
We’re only a few short months away from the premiere of House of the Dragon season 3, which will bring the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons to a brutal new stage as Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and her loyal “Blacks” fight for control of the realm against the family of her childhood rival, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the “Greens.” We’re expecting some pretty insane clashes between dragons, navies, armies on the field, and more.
During the lead up to the season, there have been plenty of moments where someone or other connected to the series hyped it in the extreme. That’s especially true for the Battle of the Gullet, which showrunner Ryan Condal has called “probably the most complex sequence” ever filmed for television. Corlys Velaryon actor Steve Toussaint gave a similar tease, saying that Battle of the Gullet director Loni Peristere told him that, “What we’re doing in this particular episode, we don’t think it’s ever been done on television before.”
While we wait to see if the Gullet can possibly live up to that level of hype, we just got confirmation that House of the Dragon is in fact going to make Game of Thrones franchise history in another, quieter way in season 3: for the first time ever, part of one of the franchise’s gargantuan dragons is going to be created with practical effects, rather than CGI.
We’re going to see Meleys’ corpse in House of the Dragon season 3
This scoop comes via drone footage of the sets for House of the Dragon season 3, which was posted on the DJ Audits YouTube channel. Ironically, DJ Audits didn’t even realize what he was filming; he thought these sets were all for HBO’s Harry Potter show, thanks to prominent signage on the front of Leavesden Studios in the UK where both series are filming. However, the eagle-eyed fan account @housethedragons on X picked out a few important settings for House of the Dragon. We’ve got the front of the Great Sept, the Weirwood grove in King’s Landing, what looks like Tumbleton, and more.
Where things get interesting is with one shocking setting in particular, which you can see in the images above. @housethedragons claims that’s the castle at Rook’s Rest, and I’m inclined to agree. The dead giveaway is the giant dragon neck sticking out of one of its ruined walls…which is missing its head. Yes, that’s Meleys. No, we’re still not over her tragic demise at the hands of Vhagar and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) in season 2’s best episode, “The Red Dragon and the Gold.”
So far as I’m aware, this is the first time that any show in the Game of Thrones franchise has actually built a practical part of one of the dragons. Typically they’re created using extensive visual effects, and some small puppets on set to indicate to actors more or less where the fire-breathing beasts will be during their scenes together. Some of the dragon effects have been practical in the past, such as the buck mount that actors sit on during dragonriding scenes and certain shots of the dragons’ flaming breath, which are often created with real flamethrowers. But this is the first time we’re actually seeing part of a dragon’s body built outright as part of a set in this way.
Of course, it is a dead dragon. Presumably that makes it a bit easier for the show’s creative team, since they don’t to capture movements or any of the other lifelike qualities of the living creatures.
As cool as this glimpse of Meleys is, it also raises an interesting question: how will we see Rook’s Rest again in season 3? Once again, @housethedragons thinks they have the answer.
Aegon II Targaryen may be reuniting with Sunfyre earlier than expected
House of the Dragon has taken an interesting tack with Sunfyre, the gorgeous golden dragon of Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). Both Aegon and Sunfyre were grievously wounded during the Battle at Rook’s Rest in season 2. While we watched Aegon’s slow recovery, the show tried to convince viewers Sunfyre died off screen. However, readers familiar with George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood knew that was never going to actually be the case; Sunfyre has a big role to play in the Dance of the Dragons, and killing him off would have been a massive departure for the story. House of the Dragon has made plenty of changes from the source material, but axing Sunfyre probably would have been a bridge too far.
In the book, Sunfyre is kept under guard in the forest near Rook’s Rest while he recovers. This eventually leads to a bold sortie from Lord Walys Mooton, who wants to kill Sunfyre for the Blacks. It doesn’t go to plan, and Sunfyre escapes. We see him again much later in the story, when he’s finally reunited with Aegon.
It should be no surprise that House of the Dragon is planning to change things up a bit. According to @housethedragons, actor Dylan Smith will appear in season 3 as a guard captain of House Staunton, who captures Aegon and Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) during the season premiere. Fantasy nerds might recognize Smith from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, where he plays the harfoot Largo Brandyfoot.
When last we saw Aegon and Larys in the season 2 finale, they were leaving King’s Landing in the back of a wagon. According to @housethedragons’ anonymous sources, that cart will get inspected by Staunton soldiers during the season 3 premiere. Aegon tries to escape, but is captured by Staunton soldiers and taken to Rook’s Rest, which is presumably where we would see that Meleys sculpture in the set photo.
Since this is an unsubstantiated scoop, we have to take it with a grain of salt for now. That said, @housethedragons has been right with their scoops before — they called the casting of Lucy Boynton as Lady Rohanne Webber in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 about a month before it was officially announced, for example.
We’ve also seen other evidence that supports this potential plotline. There is a scene in the season 3 trailer that briefly shows Aegon desperately fighting outside of the wagon, as well as one where he’s walking through a dank, crowded area that looks like a match for the Rook’s Rest set. So while we have to urge caution for now, the signs do seem to indicate that this information could pan out.
But what does it mean? Obviously if Aegon II is captured and taken to Rook’s Rest, he won’t stay there. It’s worth noting that Larys Strong doesn’t appear in the above picture with Aegon, and @housethedragons makes no mention of the spymaster getting captured as well. I’d wager he might have a role to play in Aegon getting free again, perhaps putting the king even more into the Clubfoot’s debt.
Considering that Sunfyre is presumably still recovering in the forest near Rook’s Rest, this detour for Aegon could serve as a way for him to be reunited with his dragon much earlier than in the book, even if it’s only briefly. Or, at the very least, a way to confirm for Aegon that Sunfyre still lives. Perhaps he only sees the dragon struggle into the air and escape after the Mooton soldiers try to kill it. Even that glimpse would be enough to galvanize Aegon for the trials ahead of him.
House of the Dragon season 3 premieres this June on HBO and HBO Max. We’ll be on the lookout for more information about the new season in the coming months, so stay tuned!