‘House of the Dragon’ Finale Director Unpacks the Secrets Behind the Huge Episode

In the Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, conversations fill the screen instead of big dragon battles. The lack of action, while a bit of a surprise, gives way for the show’s actors to show off their talents, and put to bed many of the season's central conflicts. At the heart of this, is a fated reunion between Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy).

The two speak as if they’re the only characters present in the world, sharing jabs that eventually give way to a tender understanding. The two women are undeniably the heart of the show, and it’s here with this reunion that writers Ryan Condal and Sara Hess remind the audience of what their adaptation is truly about. By the end of this meeting, Alicent and Rhaenyra trade places; with the heir to the iron throne trapped within the weighted prophecy her father once shared with her, and her childhood friend feeling the most free she has since her childhood.

From Daemon Targaryen’s (Matt Smith) hallucinations in Harrenhal forcing him to confront his misdeeds to Aemond Targaryen’s (Ewan Mitchell) slowly ebbing psyche, many characters this season have been forever changed. These changes have paved a unique path for the prequel series, and it feels as if the writers are adamant that House of the Dragon will only share a universe with its predecessor Game of Thrones, rather than narrative beats.

Director Geeta Vasant Patel, who also helmed Episode 3 of this season, masters these unraveling characters in a way that no other director could.

Patel, whose recent credits include Hulu’s Under the Bridge and Disney+’s Ahsoka, reveals all to The Daily Beast’s Obsessed about Alicent and Rhaenyra’s love for each other, the men in the two women's lives, and the emotionally heavy scenes in the House of the Dragon season finale.

When did you find out you would be directing the Season 2 finale and how is it different from say directing Episode 3 of this season?

I found out I was directing it when I was on set in Vancouver directing Under the Bridge. Ryan [Condal] called me from London and he told me that I would be directing the season finale and I was floored.

I’m a generally insecure person so I was happy to be called back–like I just wanted to know he was happy with Season 1. When I heard “season finale” it took me a minute because I was too busy celebrating that he was happy with the work on Season 1. As far as preparing for Episode 8 versus Episode 3, I definitely felt the responsibility of doing the season finale. I felt the responsibility of following Episode 7 which was huge and wonderfully executed.

That must be a lot of pressure.

I spent a lot of time on the season finale testing the rising action—working on it, watching it, making some tweaks— just the constant revision. I had done season finales before, so I also just had a methodology at that point, where I go back to the first episode of the season and try and figure out what the theme might be visually and then I apply it to the finale.

That makes a lot of sense as a strategy.

I tried to study what Alan Taylor did [in Episode 1 of Season 2] and see if there was any opportunity to mirror things and call back to things so it feels very much like it's all one film. And then lastly, I had the vision in the season finale, which was an entire project on its own. The vision required shooting every single piece but also taking what was in the script—which was more of a list—and creating a flowing, organic dream that had a story to it and also actually moved the story forward by convincing Daemon to make the decision to support Rhaenyra. So that felt like a huge challenge because it was entirely visual but it wasn't like there were words in between. We had to really do it through a silent movie. It was really exciting. Most things that excite me [also] scare me.

You directed the only two conversations Alicent and Rhaenyra have this season. What was that like and why do you think these moments are so pivotal?

It was special to be able to direct both of those conversations because I felt like it was easier to understand how to direct it, because I knew what the entire tapestry was of their relationship [was like]. It was awesome to have Ryan, Sara, Emma, Olivia and myself together workshopping both those scenes. We rehearsed both those scenes, [and] actually talked about the relationship between the two scenes. And so to be the same director on both of them helped me immensely, because by the time we got to Episode 8, I knew exactly what we had covered in Episode 3. I knew what the direction was, and then it was easier to figure out where we needed to go from there.

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What did you figure out?

For example, in Episode 3 there was a sense of them still caring about each other and in my opinion, Rhaenyra…yes she went to talk to Alicent about the war, but I believe she went to Alicent to ask her if her father still loved her and also to ask Alicent if there was a chance they could be friends. We’re talking about two women who ultimately love each other and have been through so much and find themselves isolated. Again, Ryan is the only one who holds the keys to the answers to all this, but for me as a director, that was where I was pulling all my direction from and all of it was from Ryan’s writing.

The other thing is in Episode 8 of Season 1, which I also directed, that was where they both came together and admitted that they missed each other. So, having been there for that and then coming to a scene where they’ve [now] created so much pain between each other-–they’ve taken things from each other that are unforgivable-–it was fantastic to be able to go back into that scene with them and talk about the freshness of the pain. Somehow their relationship and their love was still there, miraculously, underneath it all. That’s what kept bringing them together, but again at the end of the scene the pain won.

Episode 8 [was the] same thing. Rhaneyra sees Alicent and immediately in my mind became childlike and juvenile. That’s what we do around the people we love.

It's interesting that you mention Rhaenyra becoming childlike again. There’s that line, “You speak as if from a distant dream,” and it does feel like these two want to go back to their childhoods and this friendship they had, but it's nearly impossible now.

Yeah, and that’s the conflict in the room. Otherwise I don’t know how things would have turned out. But that's what for me was so interesting. It’s a very long scene, and I think what Sara Hess did so brilliantly in writing it was that she allowed the scene to expand and meander in places and come back in a very natural way—that’s the way we speak. I have a background in documentaries so I especially loved how it felt very grounded in the way it was written in the hands of those two actors who are the top of their trade in so many ways. It was exciting to see how they took something that could be seen as a very long scene—it's a dangerous thing to do—and yet I feel that they achieved it.

Rhaenyra and Alicent are almost speaking in glances they’re sharing. There’s a lot of talking but there’s also a lot of silence. Was that silence in the script or was that a directorial choice on your part?

We did a rehearsal before we shot the scene and during that rehearsal [...] there were moments they were silent in the actual rehearsal of it—when they became Rhaenyra and Alicent. So I did emphasize at a certain point “Hey, there was a silence here, how do you guys feel about actually printing that?” But, I also thought [they should] let it be there as long as it can be…don’t let it come to you so easily. That wasn’t just me. That is a collaborative experience where we’re all standing around. We all felt it.

I think part of the job of a director is to study what the actors are doing, study what the point of the writing is, and then just point out small things of interest from the outside. “Hey, I really felt that,” or, “That silence right there really felt so palpable, it felt like you were screaming, so allow yourself to go there again if you feel like you agree with me.” It's that kind of conversation. Myself and the actors, all of us are just trying to serve Ryan’s vision so there is a collective effort to make sure the story is the same.

The season ends with Rhaenyra inside the Dragonstone library and Alicent outside in nature. It almost feels as if their roles have been reversed here; Rhaenyra is shackled by the family prophecy and Alicent feels like she’s finally free. Did you know you were going to end on this mirroring of the two?

I knew that this was the season finale and I knew that we needed to feel something at the end, so I spoke with Ryan and we talked about [...] an image at the end that we can look at. So I wrestled with that throughout the scene, trying to figure out what it could be. I called Sara Hess and picked her brain on it. I just kept having bad ideas all season [laughs].

I was sitting in the library one day and I was thinking about something Ryan said: “Alicent has been carrying this burden around her entire life. She’s been collecting all this responsibility that she never chose. And in that scene with Rhaenyra she’s literally giving it all to Rhaenyra.” So now she’s free and Rhaenyra is stuck with the burden that she’s chosen. And she has this burden to call war, and do exactly what she has feared, which is kill innocent people [...] so that’s when I came up with the image.

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That’s fascinating.

I thought it was like Rhaenyra was stuck in a cobweb. I didn’t want to introduce a new visual theme at the end of the season. It felt better to find something within the world we had already built. The heart of it is that Rhaenyra is stuck in this web in my mind, and Alicent isn't actually as free as we think. In my mind, she has never been alone with her own voice and that's what she chose—she chose to have her own voice. In my opinion there’s also the burden of finally being free. I’m excited to see what Ryan and Sara write going forward and what Alicent’s journey is going to be. I keep asking them and they won’t tell me [laughs].

This is a show that is very centered around women. As a woman of color, what is it like directing House of the Dragon, a show that exists in a genre that hasn’t really given space to people of color?

It’s a dream come true. It’s been a hard journey, I won’t lie to you. I don’t know what the reasons were, but when I started directing, there were just so many people that didn’t think I belonged there and made that very clear. I don’t know why, but it's easy to think about the reasons that are obvious. So it’s been a very long journey for me…not an easy one at all. I’m so proud and thankful to be working on this show.

In episode 8, Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) describes Alicent as a beacon, and when Daemon sees Rhaenyra in his vision she’s clouded in a heavenly light. I’m interested in how you view the relationships these two men have with these women and the weight they hold in their lives.

Oh, that’s a great question. I never really put it together to be honest, the way you just said it. With Criston there’s a respect that I feel he has for Alicent and there is a layer of depth to [him] that we see in that moment that I felt we hadn’t seen before.

And it supersedes sex, male or female. It's a collegiate dialogue in my mind, because Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) is talking about the fact that [Alicent and Criston] are sleeping together and “you’re taking advantage of her.” But the way that Criston speaks of her, it’s [clearly] something higher than that. It is about two people who have a relationship and respect for one another and that's what I love about so many scenes in this.

When Daemon sees Rhaenyra on the throne…I thought that was a beautiful moment because Daemon is a man and there’s been a lot of talk about females not being able to lead in this season. For Daemon to see Rhaenyra on the throne and give up his own desires for the throne, that vision had to be powerful enough to convince him of it. It also had to be something outside of that vision. It had to be something we had seen built throughout the season and I think Ryan did an excellent job crafting Daemon with Matt.

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s reunion is filled with tension but also a sense of fondness, and Emma and Matt portray this so well. What was it like filming this reunion?

For me, it was one of my favorite moments working on House of the Dragon because I got to see all the behind the scenes before we got there. I got to see these two beautiful artists prepare for that scene. We had had some phone calls, conversations around it. Ryan and Sara had talked about it in so many different ways making sure that we hit this note and that note. There’s so much conversation, I could see the actors processing what they needed to do.

That must have been amazing.

One of the things that was important to Emma and Matt was the fact that this was a story about their love for each other. Yes, there was a greater story about politics and distrust and action. [...] but the truth was this is about their relationship. The two of them were very clear and dedicated to that. The other thing is that Matt knew his character so well. He knew he couldn’t just get on one knee and say, “Hey, you’re queen now.” He needed to bring Daemon to that action. So the conversations we had leading up to the day were that Daemon is not giving up power, Daemon is gaining power. It’s easy for me to say this as a director [but] it's harder for him to execute.

I was at the edge of my seat waiting to see what he was going to do but we talked about how Daemon is saying to Rhaenyra, “I had a vision, I know that we’re part of something bigger. And I’m telling you as someone who can see things that this is your role in this.” He’s an advisor. He’s a Yoda in my mind. [...] That’s how I felt and that’s what I told Matt, and I think in the way Matt executed it, I was so incredibly impressed because as he was speaking to Rhaenyra I felt like he was speaking to all of us. Saying, “You can do this, you got this, you belong in this position…I am the power behind you. It’s not because I’m a man, it's because I love you and I see you.” So that was a big moment.

Aemond is one of this series’ most unpredictable characters, and we never really see him show emotion. When he’s speaking with Helaena (Phia Saban) about the war, it looks like he's about to shed tears. Was that in the script? Do you think his actions are finally weighing on him?

The great thing about House of the Dragon is that Ryan Condal believes in skipping exposition. He doesn’t try to put actors’ feelings into the writing. And Sara Hess is an incredible writer, so the two of them were the heart of this scene. They had told me that Aemond shuts everyone out and it’s a reaction to his childhood. When he sees Helaena she is the one person who stands out; she is the exception.

Helaena can say whatever she wants to him and it actually goes through his armor somehow [...] and gets to his heart. So, that direction is not on the page but just like every other scene I directed for Ryan and Sara, I knew that’s where my job comes in and where Ewan and Phia’s job comes in. The three of us got together before that scene and talked about it and they delivered. They are outstanding actors and I was also feeling incredibly surprised by how deeply it hit Ewan.

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You recently worked on Hulu’s drama series Under the Bridge. How does something like that compare to something grandiose like House of the Dragon?

It’s interesting because the two projects overlapped. I don’t think there’s a comparison except that yes, there’s more visual effects in House of the Dragon and there's none really in Under the Bridge.

I do feel like there’s more similarities, because the writing on both is really great. I got lucky enough to work on two well written shows and that's all a director really wants. The characters in both shows had conflict that I thought was grounded and relatable. So that's all we want. For me at least, I work a lot in genre, and the thing I always want is for it to feel like a documentary. To somehow feel like when it comes down to it, you can relate to the conflict that these characters are having right now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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