Spoilers for the first two episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2 is coming! If you are not up to date, you can watch the episode with a Max subscriptionand don’t miss the new episodes every Sunday at 9pm ET as part of the TV schedule 2024.
When it comes to the world of House of the Dragon, There are many moments that either make you sad or shocked. One such scene occurred in episode 2 of season 2, when Alicent and her daughter Helaena were in a carriage that followed the carriage that was transporting Helaena’s dead son. While the scene itself is harrowing, both Olivia Cooke and Phia Saban had their way of dealing with the emotions – and believe it or not, it involves karaoke.
The World of A song of ice and fire has many shocking moments. Most of the shocking cases on game of Thrones to the deaths that stay with us for years (I’m still not over the Red Wedding), they ultimately become cultural shifts. One such moment occurred during the season two premiere, when Prince Jaehaerys, in a long-awaited Fire and blood Book moment.
In the next episode, Alicent and her daughter Helaena (Jaehaerys’ mother) follow the wagon containing the boy’s body as the common people mourn around them and the wagon containing Jaehaerys sways and threatens to tip over. To put it simply, emotions are running high. I had the opportunity to talk to Olivia Cooke (Alicent) and Phia Saban (Helaena) about what it was like to film this scene – and Cooke honestly said they were “singing songs” because emotions were running so high:
Yeah, we sang karaoke in the train car because of the subject matter, because it was just so… the reality was just so hellish… and so we sang a lot of songs with this kind of prosthetic body in front of us.
Saban agreed, saying they were “literally delirious” trying to get through that scene and that singing songs that day helped in those moments.
I could imagine that happening. There is almost too much to keep up with when it comes to House of the Dragon, whether it is Targaryen family tree, who has which dragonor who is betraying whom – and we don’t even want to talk about the number of fatalities.
The second episode even contained another death by a punch to the stomach right at the end with Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk, so I can only imagine what else the cast could do to somehow get through the scenes that really touch them deeply.
Saban also revealed that the carriage scene was not shot entirely on the same day. Many of the shots in which she is overwhelmed were shot much later:
I think the actual moment where it was really overwhelming was just… it was months later in the backyard.
Cooke commented that it was “movie magic” on the part of the show’s creators that they were able to combine the scenes and make a great “cut” to give us the scene that really shook the internet:
That’s movie magic, isn’t it? That whole sequence – part of it was set in Spain, part of it was set in Watford. So it seems disjointed, but in the editing it all comes together beautifully.
While we all sit at our laptops Hatred of Ser Criston Cole or compare from the fabulous Otto Hightower to Kris JennerThere is no denying the emotion that went into this funeral procession, nor the effort that went into bringing it to life, even though it breaks my heart to see it.
However, I am prepared for more pain and tears – and I need to see some dragons fly to war now, dammit.
