Eve Best compares House of the Dragon to Harry Potter in behind-the-scenes footage

Fans who awaited season 2 of House of the Dragon with bated breath can finally heave a sigh of relief. The first episode has premiered, marking the beginning of yet another smashing season that is bound to blow the fandom away. Along with the first episode, HBO has also allowed fans to get a peak into the behind-the-scenes action of House of the Dragon season 2.

House of the Dragon season 2: Behind the scenes

From intricate camera techniques to building entire sets from scratch, the grandeur of this season is unparalleled. Showrunner Ryan Condal, director Alan Taylor, and the cast of House of the Dragon season 2 appear in an exclusive video to talk about their experience working on this massively intriguing story.

One of the most crucial aspects of such behind-the-scenes videos is how they break the tension between the actors and their respective characters. We see them all angry and ruthless on screen but in reality, they have fun at work and are all laughs and smiles. Take Matt Smith for example, he is such a happy-go-lucky sort of a person, and yet he plays Daemon Targaryen aka the Rogue Prince with such tenacity. So, with such videos, the showrunners bridge the gap between the masses and their favorite actors.

Bigger and better House of the Dragon season 2

Credits: Max

Matt Smith has complete faith in House of the Dragon season 2. The actor claims,

“It was wonderful to see everyone. Nice to be back on set, to be aiming for something that’s bigger and better.”

There is no doubt that season 2 of House of the Dragon is going to be better than season 1. This is mostly because season 1 formed the sort of prologue where characters and their individual storyline were being set. Now, the war is afoot and both factions are preparing to fight the battle of their lifetime.

Tom Glynn-Carney feels season 2 of House of the Dragon is beyond his expectations. He says,

“The scale of season two has been above and beyond my expectations, at least.”

Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke also chime in with nothing but love for their costars and crew. They share how they feel amazing on set and the deep love they share for each other. Moreover, their chemistry translates well on screen. Only when the actors work well together in reality, they are capable of creating magic on screen.

Eve Best compares House of the Dragon to Harry Potter

Not just the fans, but it seems like the cast of House of the Dragon was also dying to get back on set. They are enjoying their work immensely and wanted to get back to it at the earliest. Eve Best, who plays Rhaenys Targaryen, even compared filming House of the Dragon to being at Hogwarts. She said,

“Just exactly like being in Harry Potter, and it is your second year at school, and you’ve got a better wand.”

While Fabien Frankel calls them “the favorite cast he has ever worked with,” others claim that the show feels like home to them. Having spent such a long time first preparing for the role and then eventually filming the series, it’s only understandable for the cast to find a second home on the sets of House of the Dragon.

Filming on a massive set

Credits: Max

As they say in the video, they have taken the show up a notch and everything scores a ten on ten in every department. More drama, more action, more characters, and most importantly, more dragons! The set of House of the Dragon 2 is massive, to say the least. They have built entire council rooms, castles, and even towns to give the show an authentic feel.

Jim Clay, who designed the production set expressed, “It had been my ambition on this season to build part of King’s Landing. So, the point was to make it seamlessly connect to the real place. Hopefully, we’ve done that with the look and the style.”

Director Alan Taylor adds, “We’ve made the slightly crazy, but efficient choice to block shoot the entire season, which means we have two units shooting continuously. Five different directing teams, four different DPs. And that’s how we started, and now we’ve got two units, plus a splinter unit, plus an elements unit. And sometimes units are split into two to accomplish more things.”

Another brilliant aspect we got to see in the first episode itself was the sewers. Maegor’s tunnels had been a forgotten part of the fictional world which seamlessly blended into the show’s narrative. Phillipa Goslett said, “We have all these monumental sets. We have Dragonstone, we’ve got the Red Keep, and we’ve got Driftmark, but the most intense reaction the crew had to a set was when we shot the sewer for Blood and Cheese. I’d never really thought about Maegor’s tunnels, but we had to explore them, we had to represent them.”

Given the scale at which they are making the show, such intricacies make sense. This further means that the manpower required to manage everything is also larger. The number of people in the crew has increased and so has the effort people have put in to bring this majestic story to life on screen.

Also Read: Mexican officials might sue House of the Dragon creators for flying the Targaryen flag on a castle

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Wall and Winterfell spark nostalgia

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For Condal and Taylor who were also integral parts of Game of Thrones, it was emotional for them to bring Winterfell back. Surrounded by snow and the honorable Starks, the first episode witnesses Jace trying to convince them to support his mother in the war.

“Hearing that music and seeing Winterfell be revealed over the mountains and then going to the Wall, it’s hard not to get emotional, even as a salty, old veteran like me,” said Condal.

The aspects of the Wall and Winterfell have remained true to the original specs we saw in Game of Thrones. The makers have tried to keep that look and feel alive through their work. Bringing the Northerns to the upcoming season will surely add more excitement and nuanced dimension to the series.

Changes in the House of the Dragon set

The supervising art director of House of the Dragon also chimes in with his view on a few changes on set. Building their own sets allows the makers to align the atmosphere based on the narrative. If they use a pre-made set, it would be difficult for them to customize it according to their needs and aspirations. Dominic Masters, who oversaw the sets and other artsy details on the show shared,

“The main changes really have been different people have moved into different spaces with the change of regime. There was a thinking in how we distribute those apartments. Obviously, when Helaena became the Queen, she would inherit the Queen’s apartments. When it was Alicent’s reign, it was quite monastic and minimal to support her character. And now Helaena, who is much more dreamlike and of the natural world, has actually scrawled what we could respectfully call graffiti on the walls to illustrate her thoughts, her thinking process, just as any writer or artist might make notes in a book or a sketchbook.”

Such attention to detail and intricate craftwork is what sets House of the Dragon apart from the other shows. Fans can’t wait to see what direction the story takes in the upcoming episodes.

Also Read: New House of the Dragon season 2 poster hints towards a massive dragon fight

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