The first season of House of the Dragon climaxed with a dragon-on-dragon murder. Aemond Targaryen mounted his dragon Vhagar and followed his nephew Lucerys Velaryon, riding Arrix, into the skies around Storm’s End. Aemond intended to harangue his nephew, but both of them lost control of their dragons, and Vhagar chomped both Luke and Arrax to bits in one bite.
Obviously, this is a special effects-heavy sequence. How did it come together? Check out some behind-the-scenes footage below:
"Awesome behind the scenes footage of Elliot Grihault riding the “buck” and filming that infamous scene in episode 10! from HouseOfTheDragon"
That’s actor Elliot Grihault, who plays Luke, on a rig that stands in for Arrax, recalling similar scenes on Game of Thrones where Emilia Clarke rode a big rig representing Drogon.
But things have changed since HBO was making Game of Thrones. In 2019, Disney debuted The Mandalorian, which made use of the Volume technology. Instead of filming a scene against a big green screen (onto which CGI artists will later insert environments and events), the Volume surrounded the actors with LED walls that showed the actual scene. This really helps put an actor into the space. Sure, Elliot Grihault still has to pretend that his bronco rig is a dragon, but at least he doesn’t have to imagine that a green wall is a stormy sky; it actually looks like one.
Behind the scenes of the scene where Rhaenyra kills a boar on House of the Dragon
At the same time, filming special effects scenes requires a lot of pretending. Hell, that’s all acting is. For another example, remember the bit in Episode 3, “Second of His Name,” where Rhaenrya Targaryen kills a boar in the woods?
Well, obviously actor Milly Alcock didn’t actually kills a boar. But she pretended to while wrestling with some dude in a mo-cap suit:
"BTS of the boar scene in Episode 3. from HouseOfTheDragon"
Movie magic, people!
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