Posted in: Game Of Thrones, HBO, TV | Tagged: Eve Best, HBO, house of the dragon, Rhaenys Targaryen

House of the Dragon Star Eve Best on Filming That Epic Dragon Battle

Eve Best on the difficulties of filming that epic, game-changing, three-dragon fight in the latest episode of HBO's House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon delivered another gut-wrenching blow in the episode "The Red Dragon and the Gold" as season two gets to its midway point with plenty of blood spilled in the escalating "Dance of the Dragons" Targaryen civil war between Green (Aegon) vs Black (Rhaenyra). The previous episode, "The Burning Mill," found Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) husband and king consort, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), trying to recruit Harrenhal to Rhaenyra's side. Now, Eve Best (Princess Rhaenys Targaryen) discusses what it was like preparing for those epic, game-changing dragon battle scenes. The following contains major spoilers.

House of the Dragon: Eve Best on That Epic Dragon Battle

Near the end of "The Red Dragon and the Gold," Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) leads King Aegon II Targaryen's (Tom Glynn-Carney) forces to Rook's Rest as King's Hand. As Rook's Rest tries to mount a defense, Rhaenys (Best) rides her dragon Meleys into the fray. As Cole's forces start to panic, Aegon takes flight himself on Sunfyre, revealing themselves to meet Rhaenys and Meleys in combat. As the dragons scuffle, Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who shockingly took out Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) by accident in the season one finale, ambushes Rhaenys, riding the oldest and largest dragon, Vhagar.

The result doesn't end well as Vhagar smolders the two combatants in battle, mortally wounding an already-injured Sunfyre while Meleys barely escapes. Vhagar would come in for the killing blow, suffocating Meleys with a bite on his neck with both dragon and rider, Rhaenys falling to their death, collapsing one of the keep's walls. "The point is, ultimately, whatever we feel…the bigger picture is we must not send dragons into war, we must not go nuclear at all costs," Best told Variety on Rhaenys' motivation to fly into battle. "So for her then to say, 'I will be the one to do this,' she knows that there's no living after that."

Rhaenys has been a reluctant ally of Queen Rhaenyra, not shying away from criticizing her decision-making to her less-experienced counterpart, having borne her share of loss in the conflict. When it came to filming her dragon sequence, "What you see — cut together, obviously — is absolutely polar opposite to what actually happens. First of all, we're all on our own. We all do it individually. This particular sequence, because it was so long, the boys each had about a week to shoot their stuff. Mine was two weeks, because she's through the whole battle, she's there," Best said.

"It was a really complicated sequence. And it was two weeks of just me on this — it's like the size of a small house, really — this big, electronic, moving thing. I've been told it's a bit like a bucking bronco. I've never been on a bucking bronco, but I've been told that's similar. It's got a saddle on the top of it, and you have to go up a flight of steps to get to it. Then you're strapped into the saddle, and the house starts to move. When we did it in Season 1, it was moving a fair bit, but it never got really, really violent. But this time, there were some complicated moves. It was quite intricate choreography that had to be plotted — all these turns, and she was upside down. So you're moving around, my legs crushed under me as it's going around and around. I tell you, it was a very good workout for my thighs and for my core strength. Pilates, eat your heart out!" she continued.

Best broke down the cues she got and her discomfort, "I felt extremely not in my comfort zone. I definitely kept asking for more cushions, and needed more padding on my knees, and feeling very ill-equipped to cope with all of this. And at the same time as it's moving, they've got four guys with enormous leaf blowers blowing wind in your face. You can hardly hear a thing because there's all this sound of the wind, and then you've got a director yelling into a microphone somewhere in the distance. 'Look up! There's Vhagar! Aemond's coming in!' And you can hardly think straight. You're thinking, 'I've got this really intense moment for Rhaenys, and I've got to focus,' but you're just clinging on for dear life in some cases."

Check out the entire interview for more, including Best discussing getting psychologically prepped for the battle, Rhaenys and Corlys' (Steve Toussaint) relationship, and her future. House of the Dragon airs on Sundays on HBO and streams on Max.

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