Alan Taylor, director and executive producer of House of the Dragon, spilled the beans to Deadline about Season 2, Episode 4, “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” which hit screens on July 7, 2024. This episode’s massive dragon brawl at Rook’s Rest is the kind of jaw-dropping moment fans have been waiting for, and Taylor gave us the lowdown on what it took to pull off this epic clash while keeping the heart of the story front and center.
The Battle of Rook’s Rest throws Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) and her dragon Meleys into a brutal showdown with King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) on Sunfyre and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) on the beastly Vhagar. Written by showrunner Ryan Condal, the episode builds to a gut-wrenching moment where Rhaenys decides to take on Vhagar, knowing it’s probably a one-way trip. Then there’s Aemond’s wild move, turning Vhagar’s flames on both Rhaenys and his own brother, Aegon, leaving us wondering if the king will pull through. Taylor called it a “proxy nuclear event,” which is a fancy way of saying dragons in war are next-level chaos.
Having directed heavy-hitters like Game of Thrones’ “Baelor,” Taylor knew the battle had to be more than just fire and scales. “I was thrilled we got a dragon fight this big,” he told Deadline, “but then I dug into the characters’ perspectives.” Rhaenys’ choice to fight, tied to her regret over sparing the Greens in Season 1, hits hard, and Eve Best nails it, even while stuck on a dragon rig for hours.
Filming was no walk in the park. The show’s block-shooting style, where directors juggle multiple episodes at once, made things a bit of a mess. “You’re bouncing between sets while other directors are doing their thing,” Taylor said. To make the dragon fight feel real, they used a slick new rig called “Buck 2.0,” with a moving saddle and a camera that swooped like it was riding another dragon. “We wanted the camera to feel alive, like it’s on a dragon too,” he explained.
Taylor wasn’t even supposed to direct this episode. He was lined up for Episode 9, which would’ve had the Battle of the Gullet, but when Season 2 got trimmed from 10 to eight episodes, plans shifted. Still, he knocked it out of the park with “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” blending heart and spectacle. The episode pulled in 8.1 million viewers, making it a Season 2 high point. You can catch it on Max, and as we wait for Season 3, Taylor’s Rook’s Rest battle has set the bar sky-high for the Dance of the Dragons.
Source: Deadline