House of the Dragon Season 3 just gave fans their best look yet at the battle that could change everything. The show’s creators and cast revealed new details about the epic sea battle sequence arriving this June.
House of the Dragon 3 unveils new look at Battle of the Gullet
Entertainment Weekly revealed exclusive details about House of the Dragon Season 3’s Battle of the Gullet. Showrunner Ryan Condal called it “arguably the craziest episode of television ever made.” The episode premieres as part of the new season on June 21.
Condal compared the battle’s importance to iconic fantasy cinema. “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,” he said. He added the episode required “dragons and ships and multiple theaters of conflict.”
The production filmed the sequence at Leavesden Studios in the U.K. using elaborate practical sets. A massive ship sat on giant gimbals programmed to simulate ocean movement. Crews pumped 1,000 liters of water per minute into a tank for wet scenes. A robotic arm wielding a flamethrower set about a dozen soldiers aflame on deck.
Actor Abubakar Salim, who plays Alyn of Hull, described the experience vividly. “I don’t even know how to begin to [describe] the euphoria that hit when I was on that set,” he said. He added, “It was like I was living my kiddish dreams come true of sailing the seas with a sword.”
The battle features the Triarchy fleet attacking the Velaryon blockade of the Gullet trade passage. Abigail Thorn plays Admiral Sharako Lohar, who leads the assault against Lord Corlys Velaryon. “She’s Captain Ahab in this episode,” Thorn said. “She’s on a quest for her white whale.” Actor Harry Collett recalled director Loni Peristere shouting at him over a megaphone during filming. Condal confirmed that the Gullet marks the midpoint of the Dance of the Dragons conflict.
