The cast and crew of House of the Dragon are currently hard at work filming the third season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show. That includes showrunner Ryan Condal and production designer Jim Clay, the man responsible for the epic sets on the show.
The two of them sat down for a joint interview with Gold Derby, where Clay reminisced about his favorite set he made for season 2. "I got particularly excited by Harrenhal, and now we've expanded that again this season, so that experience continues," he said.
Harrenhal is a huge crumbling castle in the Riverlands where Daemon Targaryen spent a lot of time puttering around in season 2. If the show follows the story laid out in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, we'll go back there in season 3, but to say much more would be to spoil things.
Condal and Clay also spared a few words for Corlys Velaryon, the head of House Velaryon and the richest man in Westeros. Corlys, played by Steve Toussaint, also spent a lot of time puttering around in season 2; he seemed to never leave that dock on Driftmark. But at the very end of the season, he boarded his huge ship The Queen Who Ever Was and set sail.
Apparently, when Toussaint talked with Gold Derby, he had a question to pass along to Ryan Condal: will he get to look sexy in season 3? "He always looks sexy!" Condal laughed. "I'm insanely jealous of him. He's such a tall and handsome man. But I think we have some real heroic moments for the Sea Snake this year. So, Sea Snake fans should look forward to 2026."
Corlys does indeed have some interesting material coming up in Fire & Blood...but he also had some interesting material completely cut out of the second season, so let's hope they make the right choices for season 3.
Gold Derby couldn't let Condal and Clay leave without asking one last question: have they ever sat in the Iron Throne? "Do you know, I never have," Clay laughed. "In a way, it's a conscious decision. I daren't!"
Condal was more daring. "I've sat up there. I mean, I had to, you know?" he said. "That room has incredible power. That set obviously goes back to the early days in the show, and that was one of the first sets we walked around. That was my biggest 'take my breath away' moment, because I was such a fan of the original series. That is a recreation from the old series, because it was so important that world was familiar to the fans. But it's also 150 years before, so the challenge that I presented Jim with was, how do we make it feel like it's the throne room, but from a much more decadent time, when the Targaryens are at the height of their power, wealth, and influence?"
If I worked on a Game of Thrones show, I would absolutely sit on the Iron Throne. Would you?
In any case, new episodes of House of the Dragon will air on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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