Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen) shows up on House of the Dragon set for big battle scene

For the past couple of weeks, House of the Dragon has been filming a battle scene in Bourne Woods in England. Judging by how long they’ve been out there, this sequence is going to be enormous, and the images and videos are still rolling in.

Before we go forward, some context: in George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Criston Cole eventually leads an army of soldiers loyal to King Aegon II Targaryen to the castle of Rook’s Rest, near King’s Landing. The lord of Rook’s Rest, Lord Staunton, is loyal to Aegon’s half-sister Rhaenyra Targaryen, with whom Aegon is fighting for control of the Iron Throne. Lord Staunton appeals to Rhaenyra for aid, which she sends.

Eventually, armies clash on the ground just as dragons do in the sky. It’s the Battle at Rook’s Rest, and it’s gonna be a big deal.

Criston Cole is banged up during the Battle at Rook’s Rest

Today, we’ve seen more images of destruction, most of them courtesy of hero @UnBoxPHD. When dragons fight soldiers, the soldiers don’t stand much of a chance:

There are multiple dragons involved in the Battle at Rook’s Rest. And where there are dragons, there are

green

blue screens:

Here’s video of an explosion on set:

We already mentioned that Criston Cole is involved in this fight. We’ve seen plenty of shots of actor Fabien Frankel and his stunt double. It looks like Criston will join the battle, if this shot of him covered in blood and grime is any indication:

Okay, now it’s time to get into some SPOILERS. Reader beware.

Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen) is on set for the Battle at Rook’s Rest

Recently, we saw a new character show up on set: King Aegon’s brother Aemond Targaryen, played by Ewan Mitchell:

Indeed, Aemond does ride his dragon Vhagar into the Battle at Rook’s Rest. This next shot hints that he may mix it up on the ground too, or maybe Mitchell is just practicing his swordplay:

And here’s Mitchell talking to Frankel. Or maybe it’s Aemond talking to Criston, hard to be sure:

King Aegon suffers an injury on the House of the Dragon season 2 set

That’s a lot of greens in one place. And there may be yet more. Although we haven’t seen visual evidence, fansite Redanian Intelligence reports that crew members were carrying a burnt costume labeled “Aegon”:

Here come even more spoilers: at Rook’s rest, three dragonriders clash in the sky. There’s Aemond Targaryen on Vhagar, King Aegon II Targaryen on his dragon Sunfyre, and Rhaenys Targaryen on her dragon Meleys. King Aegon is badly wounded — although not killed — in the fight, which could explain the “burnt” Aegon costume.

Ewan Mitchell is the first of the three dragonriding actors we’ve seen on set. Perhaps Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon) and Eve Best (Rhaenys) will show up in time.

So far as we can tell, the Battle at Rook’s Rest will go down in the fourth episode of House of the Dragon season 2, which is set to premiere on HBO and Max sometime in 2024.

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