House Of The Dragon Showrunner Explains Why Two Characters Were Cut From The Battle Of The Gullet
by Jeremy Mathai · /FilmHalt! This article contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon" Season 3 Episode 1, "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood."
Many minor details tend to get overlooked in the midst of a massive naval engagement likes the Battle of the Gullet, but "House of the Dragon" fans will have noticed two of its most glaring omissions. We've covered the many changes that the Season 3 premiere made to "Fire & Blood," author George R.R. Martin's original novel that (broadly) chronicles the events of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. One of the biggest would have to be the complete absence of Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) two youngest sons: Aegon III (styled Aegon the Younger, to differentiate between Tom Glynn-Carney's deposed King Aegon II) and Viserys II.
Just how important a change is this? In the official canon, these young princelings are sent away to safety on a ship to Pentos. Unfortunately, they're caught by the invading Triarchy navy, and the disappearance of Viserys adds an extra layer of tragedy on top of the traumatizing death of Jace. In the show, cutting out this subplot inevitably makes the military engagement significantly less personal and high-stakes for Team Black.
Still, "House of the Dragon" showrunner Ryan Condal has his reasons. While speaking to IGN (via Total Film), the writer revealed that it had to do with compressing the timeline in Season 1 and the realities of working with much younger actors. As he explained:
"The kids that we had for Aegon and Viserys [...] are just not of an age where you can involve them with complex dramatic sequences, complex action. It's not safe, it's not practical. So it was just something that we had to dispense of rather early on in the process."
House of the Dragon fans can expect Aegon and Viserys to factor into the story ... eventually
It's undeniable that removing the plight of Aegon III and Viserys II completely changes the context of the sequence in the "House of the Dragon" Season 3 premiere. In "Fire & Blood," Aegon manages to escape atop his young dragon to warn Team Black of what's happened, while his younger brother Viserys is left behind. A battle to repel an invasion is one thing, but one that's actually about recovering a lost prince in the middle of the carnage — or avenging him in the event of his death — hits much harder.
But Ryan Condal insists that he intends to revisit these characters down the line. Later in his interview with IGN, he emphasizes the importance of Rhaenyra's two youngest sons and what their lineage represents. According to Condal:
"It's not to say that those characters are out of the show or anything. We all realize what an important role they play as Rhaenyra's sons with Daemon [Matt Smith] and the heirs to their particular bloodline and where they sit in the history. So we haven't forgotten about any of that. It just requires changes and adaptations to make it safe and practical when we are going to tell a story with those kids, to be able to do so in a way that we can actually do."
Without spoiling anything for TV-only fans, these princes go on to play a significant role in the latter stages of the Dance of the Dragons. It sounds like fans can expect this to remain the same in the show, whether it be later this year or in the fourth and final season. New episodes of "House of the Dragon" air on HBO every Sunday.