House of the Dragon season 3 breaks from source material in new on-set video

The cast and crew of House of the Dragon have been filming the third season for a while now, and we've gotten an eyeful. For a while we watched them film the Battle of the Gullet, a naval action sequence that will likely kick off the season. At it looks like they're still picking up shots from that scene, if these new photos from House the Dragons are any indication:

That's Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), all of whom fight for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and all of whom will be involved (or just offsides during) the Battle of the Gullet. If I had to guess, I'd say this beach pow-wow happens after the battle as Rhaenrya's followers, known as the Blacks, take stock.

But mainly, the cast and crew have moved onto another huge set piece: they've built a Hightower army camp in Surrey, England. The Hightowers support King Aegon II Targaryen, Rhaenyra's rival; their faction is known as the Greens. We've seen some major new characters in action, including House Hightower head honcho Ormund Hightower (James Norton) and Daeron Targaryen (Charlie Gordon), the youngest son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). Daeron rides the dragon Tessarion, whom we glimpsed at the tail end of season 2.

In George R.R. Martin book Fire & Blood, Ormund and Daeron march on King's Landing, which by that point has been taken over by Queen Rhaenyra. And maybe they will in the show as well. But we were surprised when, in a new on-set video, Rhaenyra's husband Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) showed up in the Hightower camp; Daemon seems to speak with Ormund and Daeron before walking off with the younger Targaryen, whose hands appear to be tied behind his back.

In another photo making the rounds, Ormund kneels down in front of Daemon in what looks like a gesture of surrender. Nothing remotely like this happens in the books. Daemon never meets with Ormund or Dareon, at least during the Dance of the Dragons civil war. Ormund never surrenders to him and Daeron never goes with him anywhere. I'd make a guess as to what's going on in these images, but it would be pure speculation. We're too far off the beaten path for me to come up with anything sensible.

And that's in keeping with how things went in the show's second season, when the writers changed major plot beats and character motivations. I think I would enjoy the show more if I hadn't read Fire & Blood, because while the show has its virtues, I don't really consider it an adaptation anymore. I can't help but think of last year, when George R.R. Martin publicly called out House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal and his team for straying from the source material. At the time, Condal said Martin "became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way." But looking at stuff like this, where characters who never meet in the book meet and do things they never did, I have to wonder if that was really the problem.

I hope House of the Dragon still ends up being an entertaining show in its own right, even if it's basically left the book behind. The third season will likely air on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2026.

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