House of the Dragon director geeks out about new Iron Throne

When HBO dropped the first teaser trailer for House of the Dragon last month, the first thing that really caught my eye was the new design for the Iron Throne. The base chair we all remember from Game of Thrones is still there, but now there’s a thicket of swords tangled around it threatening to cut anyone who gets too near. It’s the Iron Throne as it was 200 years before Game of Thrones, when the Targaryens were at the height of their power and willing to do just about anything to keep it.

I wasn’t the only one who took notice. Veteran TV director Greg Yaitanes, one of several people stepping behind the camera for the first season of House of the Dragon, was itching for people to see the revamped throne. “I was so glad that they showed the throne room, cause that was the thing I was most geeking out about when I saw the concept art for that,” he said on a new episode of the Dune Pod podcast.

"Everybody had always heard about the legend of a thousand swords and such, and then Littlefinger said, y’know, ‘it’s barely 200.’ And now you understand what it once was. So I was so glad they showed that, cause it’s about the coolest thing you’ve ever seen when you see it in person."

The Iron Throne was forged by Aegon the Conquerer when he took over Westeros a century before the events of House of the Dragon, made from the swords of his enemies. Littlefinger did indeed say that there were only 200 swords in the Iron Throne, which is less than described in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

At the time, the Iron Throne likely had so few swords because HBO just couldn’t afford to make a more elaborate prop chair; no one knew how bit the show would get back then. Now, of course, HBO is willing to throw a lot money money at the show, but they can’t just create a whole new throne now that we know what it’s supposed to look like. Adding swords around it is a nice compromise; I wonder if we’ll see them removed by the end of the series.

House of the Dragon director wants to be a voice for the audience

That House of the Dragon was watched by 40 million people in the days after its release, which Yaitanes is obviously happy to see. “The response was crazy, and that’s exciting. I’m excited that everyone is excited for it.”

Of course, that puts some pressure on Yaitanes and team to do a good job. While Yaitanes was a latecomer to Game of Thrones — he got sucked in around the time of the Red Wedding and is reading Martin’s books now — he’s happy to lean on co-showrunner Ryan Condal for the details while still bringing his own perspective to things. “Ryan is such an encyclopedia of everything about the books and about everything,” Yaitanes said. “It’s exciting to be able to have somebody like that to get all my questions answered and everything.”

"You have to make something that’s accessible for people, and I think that if I don’t have the answer…I can help be the audience to bring that out a little bit…Ryan wrote incredible scripts and I’m very excited that I get to do the ones I’m doing."

House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2022.

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