Inside the making of ‘House of the Dragon’s’ ‘spectacular’ aerial battle

As an Emmy-winning director on “The Sopranos,” “Mad Men” and “Game of Thrones,” Alan Taylor has made a name for himself on some of television’s most highly regarded series. Still, when he learned that he would be helming the most consequential action sequence in the history of “House of the Dragon,” he took a moment to consider the enormity of the task at hand. “I hadn’t really realized what a big deal it needed to be,” Taylor said.

Action set pieces rarely come bigger than the three-way dragon battle that concludes “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” the fourth episode of the fantasy series’ second season. A landmark event in “Fire & Blood,” author George R.R. Martin’s fictional history of the royal Targaryen clan that inspired the show, the so-called Dance of the Dragons sees a trio of fire-breathing beasts clash in the sky, leading to the death of one major character, the hideous disfigurement of another and countless soldiers killed in the fallout.

Camera operator Claire Pie, left, with director Alan Taylor.

(Theo Whiteman / HBO | Max)

To bring the roughly 12-minute sequence to the screen required a serious battle plan, one that involved multiple departments and took more than a year to execute. “Everything I was doing with the dragons was trying to make them feel real and palpable and alive,” Taylor said. “Dragons have to be characters, not just transportation or weapons.”

The sequence begins with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) leading an army toward the castle of Rook’s Rest. He intends to claim the territory on behalf of King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), who is at war with his half-sister Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). But the assault is really a strategic ruse. Cole and Aegon’s mercurial brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) expect Rhaenyra to launch an offensive of her own at the site and plan to use Aemond’s enormous dragon Vhagar to kill her.

Instead, Rhaenyra’s lieutenant Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) arrives on her dragon Meleys to take on Cole’s forces. To her great surprise, the king himself rides his dragon Sunfyre into battle, hoping to prove his valor. Once Rhaenys orders Meleys to attack the king, Aemond rushes forward, commanding Vhagar to unleash a torrent of fire. The blast strikes Aegon and sends the young monarch and his dragon plummeting to the ground.

Locking talons, Meleys and Vhagar collide, but the larger beast gains the upper hand. Soon, Rhaenys, Meleys and Sunfyre are dead, while Aegon barely clings to life.

Alan Taylor directs actor Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen.

(Theo Whiteman / HBO | Max)

“We had to dramatize this thing that everybody’s been so afraid of, which is dragon-on-dragon war,” said showrunner Ryan Condal, who wrote the episode. “You see how terrible it is, and also how stunning and spectacular, as these gods are fighting in the sky.”

Working with his longtime partner Jane Wu, director Taylor began storyboarding the sequence in the early weeks of 2023. During their research, the pair discovered footage of birds of prey engaging in midair, and they chose to incorporate those movements into the dragon fight. “One usually turns upside down, so they meet talon to talon,” Taylor said. “That means they’re locked together, so then it becomes a death spiral. The idea of doing that but with [creatures the size of] two 747s seemed like it would be appropriately big.”

Wu’s images became the foundation for the previsualization, or “previs,” of the Rook’s Rest battle. Serving as a kind of road map, the “previs” allowed the filmmakers to plot out every detail of every scene — from what camera angles would be used to how the CG dragons would move. Understanding precisely how and when each creature would bank, tilt, soar or nosedive was necessary for planning the dragon-riding scenes.

VFX production manager Adam Lawrence on set.

(Theo Whiteman / HBO | Max)

For those shots, largely filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, the series’ production headquarters, the actors were seated on a buck atop a motion-controlled base surrounded by large blue screens. The base was then programmed to simulate the specific movements of each character’s dragon, while wind machines and special lighting re-created aerial conditions.

“Trying to find a way to make these clashes look as violent as they would really be while keeping the actors safe was a challenge,” said visual effects producer Thomas M. Horton. “How do we shoot this with a buck and a motion-controlled camera so it looks like they’re being spun around at 90 miles per hour but actually they’re not?”

It’s not the easiest environment in which to create authentic emotional moments, noted Taylor, who singled out Best for delivering heartbreaking work under difficult circumstances. “She’s doing a very intense, subtle performance while she’s being slammed around on this bucking bronco with wind machines and a robotic camera,” Taylor said. “She was a trouper.”

Mitchell described the buck work as something of a thrill ride that greatly informed his performance. “Having that feedback from what is effectively a machine, it really brings the scene to life,” the actor said. “It’s almost like a horse jockey. I’m leaning over as opposed to sitting back handling the reins, really putting all my body into it.”

Behind the scenes of “The Red Dragon and the Gold.”

(Theo Whiteman / HBO | Max)

To capture certain shots of Aemond and Vhagar against the Rook’s Rest tree line, a makeshift buck was brought to Bourne Woods in the English county of Surrey, where the physical battle was filmed — the first time the series attempted to do buck work on location. “To be suspended 30-40 feet up in the air? Nothing beats it,” Mitchell said. “It’s escapism to the max.”

During the roughly 10-day shoot, which took place in August 2023, drones approximated the dragons’ flight path so the actors on the ground knew where to look when they craned their necks toward the sky. Stunt performers posed as knights, donning layers of protective gear beneath their costumes so that they could safely be lighted on fire and burn for up to 15 seconds before being extinguished.

The ground was also littered with artificial burning bodies to simulate the dragons’ victims. “Obviously, there’s a safety issue with real fire, but for the most part, it’s a help because it motivates the ability to put lots of atmosphere through [the shots], and putting lots of atmos and smoke into the shot helps photographically,” said cinematographer P.J. Dillon.

The various elements of the sequence were stitched together during postproduction, with the final scenes completed just weeks before the episode aired. “Three dragons, buck shots, fire, we had to create the castle, the whole cliff and the sea, there was a big army enhancement as well — the ratio of super complex, very heavy-lift shots in that episode is off-the-charts high,” said VFX supervisor Daði Einarsson.