All the brilliant improvised moments from the first season of House of the Dragon

The first season of House of the Dragon ends with Rhaeryra Targaryen, who’s fighting for her place on the Iron Throne, hearing the news that her son Lucerys has been killed by her half-brother Aemond. Her back is to the camera as she learns this. We see her body react, we see her racked with grief, and then we see her slowly turn around, her face a mask of cold fury. This. Means. War. It’s a chilling way to end the season.

According to director Greg Yaitanes, some of the best things about this shot were improvised on set, with ideas supplied by Matt Smith, who plays Rhaenyra’s husband Daemon. “Matt had the idea, ‘Do we want to see her get the news? How do we want to see?’ And, in that discovered that taking her away from the table felt right, to give her this news privately, and then that evolved into wanting to not see her face him for that and then stay behind her,” Yaitanes told The Playlist.

"And then, to see her whole physicality change, and then turn around, and the last line of the script was “we see war is in her eyes.” And, to bring that alive in performance, and that was the last take we shot, and I had the shot one take before, but technically it wasn’t the best one, but the performance was good. And I asked [actor Emma D’Arcy] if she had one more in her. And she’s like, “I’m about to dry out.” And I’m like, “Let’s just see what we get. We don’t like it, I won’t print it, I promise.” And then, magic happened. The best performance and the best technical thing, like the heavens parted, and the perfect shot got created for that finale. I was so happy with that."

When Daemon thought about withholding the crown from Rhaenyra

That wasn’t the only moment where the actors got to improvise a bit. Earlier in the episode, a rogue member of the kingsguard arrives on Dragonstone with the crown of Rhaenyra’s father Viserys Targaryen, who had just died. Daemon takes the crown and then puts it on Rhaenyra’s head, symbolizing her rise to power.

But remember that Daemon himself has lusted after this crown for years, so Yaitanes and Smith played up the drama of what might happen. “And so, I thought there was a moment to have there of holding the thing that he wanted, or maybe didn’t want, or has a complicated relationship to, that represents his brother in so many ways to look around and take the read of the room as to what to do in this moment,” Yaitanes said. “And because it’s Daemon, it was a nice unscripted moment of character suspense of what he was going to do at that moment. And then he turns and puts it on Rhaenyra, so. And, there are things like that as you get to know the characters, you can discover and create.”

Yaitanes also directed the second episode of the season, where a young Rhaenyra (played then by Milly Alcock) names Ser Criston Cole to the kingsguard, a choice she will come to rue. Again, the director got to play around with the blocking a bit and came up with one of the most charming things about the scene: Rhaenyra having to stand on a little block to survey the candidates.

“And the set was so overwhelmingly huge that she had to get up on her tiptoes to look over in rehearsal,” Yaitanes remembered. “And I thought it would be great to represent how this world was built for men to have them run and find a stool. That wasn’t a scripted moment. And so, you find those things along the way and find those little bits of magic as you’re going.”

Yaitanes isn’t directing any episodes for the second season of House of the Dragon, which is filming right now. But that doesn’t mean he won’t ever set foot in Westeros again. “I had an incredible experience on season one that I don’t rule out returning to King’s Landing someday,” he said.

Here’s hoping. House of the Dragon season 2 is due out on HBO and Max sometime in the summer of 2024.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels