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House of the Dragon‘s surprisingly subdued season two finale, “The Queen That Ever Was,” left a lot of threads dangling for season three to address. But since new episodes aren’t coming anytime soon—and fans want answers, dammit!—it’s time to scour morning-after interviews for any insight or hints. Fortunately, the episode’s director, Geeta Vasant Patel, is here to help with some of the heavy lifting.
In case you haven’t watched last night’s finale yet…
In an interview with Variety, Patel, who also directed this season’s third episode (“The Burning Mill“), talked about Daemon’s vision. It directly references some crucial Game of Thrones moments—including White Walkers and the birth of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons—and experiencing it convinces the wayward King Consort to support Queen Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne.
House of the Dragon first referenced A Song of Ice and Fire in season one; King Viserys explained it to his daughter as a prophetic dream had by Aegon the Conqueror, and said it’s a tale every Targaryen ruler must understand as they unite the realm against this supernatural threat. In season two, Rhaenyra passed the story to Jace, her son and heir. But “The Queen That Ever Was” was the first time House of the Dragon has visualized the oral history—and it was also the first time the show has directly glimpsed its Game of Thrones future.
“I was so honored that I would get to be part of executing that,” Patel told the trade. “When I received the script, all these beats of the visuals were listed, but there was space for direction. You have to figure out how all those things are going to flow together … I thought the dragons [next to Daenerys] in shadow would be really interesting because it’s not about Daenerys, it’s about the story of history. We’re in Daemon’s point of view, so that vision had to tell the story to Daemon of the history of his people and that Rhaenyra needed to be on the throne. It’s very tempting to be like, ‘Let’s show Daenerys! Let’s zoom in on this!’ But that’s not what it’s about. In fact, Daemon doesn’t know who she is. It has to make Daemon understand that he has to bend the knee to Rhaenyra willingly.”
The vision also features hints of Daemon’s own doom-laden future, but Patel wasn’t willing to talk about what may or may not be coming in season three (“I can get in trouble if I reveal anything,” she said).
Less cagily, she admitted she—like everyone watching—would like to know what’s up with Otto Hightower. He’s been MIA since leaving King’s Landing in disgrace, and a quick cut in the finale reveals the reason for his absence: he’s been locked away in a prison… somewhere. “I was asked to shoot that scene,” Patel said, but she wasn’t given any context for it. “I want to know where he is, too. I don’t know!”
Head to Variety to read the full interview, which also digs into that tense scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent, and gives some details on the two new dragons that made their debut in the finale.
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