Creator of “House of the Dragon” on Sansa Stark’s Connection from Episode 2

“Dragon House”

(This story contains spoilers from the second episode of Dragon House season two.)

The second episode of Dragon House the second season featured a fan-favorite scene from George R.R. Martin’s book fire and blood: The fatal clash of the Cargyll twins, Arryk (Luke Tittensor) and Erryk (Elliot Tittensor), whose identical looks are weaponized by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) in an attempt to assassinate Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). Below, showrunner Ryan Condal answers some questions about the episode of the hit HBO series, which was recently renewed for a third season.

So the twins’ fight is a sequence that I loved in the book and that I was really looking forward to in the series. The plan is ridiculed by Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), but it almost works because it’s actually a crazy, brilliant idea. You enhance the scene by having them fight alongside Rhaenyra in her room, putting her directly in danger. Can you talk about your adaptive choices in this sequence?

The book describes a few different versions of this story. I was always fascinated by the story of the Cargyll twins because it was a story that Sansa Stark had fictionalized – going back to the time Song of Ice and Fire books. And, of course, Sansa has this very Sansa-like romantic vision of what that fight was like and how they fought for hours like it was the duel of The princess to marry. But the reality would be much more brutal and gritty. We wanted to try to find the center line through it. There’s a version where they curse each other and call each other “traitor” and that just doesn’t feel like the characters we created. We have these two people who have found themselves on different sides of this conflict and don’t know what to do with this oath. I think it makes it even more tragic when you see these two brothers trying to keep their oath but find themselves in mortal combat with each other in order to keep it.

My favorite scene in the first two episodes was the wagon wheel getting stuck during the funeral procession. I did not expect that. I thought it was very clever and there is a heartbreaking moment when the body of the decapitated child is expected to fall into the street.

Sara Hess wrote the script for the second episode. I think this is one of my favorite storylines so far, and Clare Kilner directed the hell out of it. What you mentioned was an invention of Clare Kilner. Sara wrote the sequence that the funeral is essentially a propaganda campaign that Otto is using Jaehaerys’ (Michael Carter) body to curry favor with the little people and turn against her against Rhaenyra. But the idea of ​​the procession then crossing the lowest parts of King’s Landing and Flea Bottom, then getting stuck and pulling Helaena (Phia Saban) out of this reverie she’s in – that was pure Clare, and I love this sequence.

You’ve wasted no time getting into the major beats of the book in these first two episodes, with the “Blood and Cheese” scene last week and now the Cargyll fight this week. Is this the kind of pace fans should expect for the rest of the season?

I just watched most of the season consecutively to see where we are, and it’s a pretty fast-paced season. There are ups and downs where something happens and then everyone collects their thoughts and recovers. But yes, the pace of the series will probably be faster than in the first season. We want the story to keep moving forward; we don’t want it to stagnate and drag our feet. There’s a lot of history in there. There are lots of characters to explore.