[This story contains spoilers from the second episode of House of the Dragon season two.]

The second episode of Home of the Dragon season two featured a fan-favorite scene from George R.R. Martin’s e-book Hearth & Blood: The deadly conflict of the Cargyll twins, Arryk (Luke Tittensor) and Erryk (Elliot Tittensor), whose an identical seems are weaponized by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) to attempt an assassinate Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). Under, showrunner Ryan Condal takes a number of questions in regards to the episode of the HBO hit collection, which was not too long ago renewed for a 3rd season.

So the twins combat is a sequence I liked from e-book and was actually wanting ahead to within the present. The plan is ridiculed by Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), but it virtually works as a result of it’s truly a mad sensible thought. You improve the scene by having them combat alongside Rhaenyra in her bedchamber, placing her in direct jeopardy. Are you able to discuss your adaptive decisions in that sequence?

The e-book depicts a number of completely different variations of that story. I used to be all the time fascinated by the Cargyll twins story as a result of that was a narrative that Sansa Stark romanticized — going again to the Track of Ice and Hearth books. And, in fact, Sansa has this very Sansa-like romantic imaginative and prescient of what that combat was like and the way they dueled for hours as if it was the duel from The Princess Bride. However the true factor could be rather more brutal and gritty. We needed to attempt to discover the central line via it. There’s a model the place they’re cursing one another’s names and calling one another “traitor” and that simply didn’t really feel just like the characters we’d arrange. We’ve got these two individuals who discovered themselves on completely different sides of this battle and never figuring out what to do with this oath. I feel that makes it extra of a tragedy whenever you see these two brothers making an attempt to carry to their oath however discover themselves in literal mortal fight in opposition to one another as a way to uphold it.

My favourite scene within the first two episodes was the wagon wheel getting caught through the funeral procession. I didn’t count on it. I believed it was very intelligent and there’s a harrowing second there that you simply count on the decapitated little one’s physique to go tumbling into the road.

Sara Hess wrote the script in episode two. I feel it’s considered one of my favourite scripts up to now, and Clare Kilner directed the hell out of it. What you talked about was a Clare Kilner invention. Sara wrote the sequence that the funeral is mainly a propaganda marketing campaign that Otto makes use of the physique of Jaehaerys (Michael Carter) to curry favor with the small people to show in opposition to her in opposition to Rhaenyra. However the thought of the procession then going via the extra down components of King’s Touchdown and Flea Backside after which getting caught and pulling Helaena (Phia Saban) out of this reverie she’s in — that was pure Clare, and I like that sequence.

You’ve wasted no time leaping into main beats from the e-book in these first two episodes, with the “Blood and Cheese” scene final week and now the Cargyll combat this week. Is that this form of the the tempo followers ought to count on for the remainder of the season?

I’ve simply watched many of the season again to again to see the place we’re, and it’s a fairly pace-y season. It has peaks and valleys the place one thing occurs after which all people form of collects their ideas and recovers. However yeah, the tempo of the present goes to most likely really feel quicker than it did in season one. We wish to hold the narrative shifting; we don’t need it to stall out and drag our toes. There’s loads of story in there. There’s loads of character to discover.