The second season of House of the Dragon ended in a weird way: with a montage of armies and navies on the move, none of which actually met in battle. It left the season feeling like it was missing a climax. We know now that the season was originally going to end with the Battle of the Gullet, a major military conflict drawn from the pages of George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. For a variety of reasons — the Hollywood strikes of 2023, budget concerns, timing, etc — that battle got pushed to the beginning of season 3, which is about to start filming.
It's a shame that this happened, but at least the cast is hyping up the chaos to come. Abubakar Salim, who plays Corlys Velaryon's bastard son Ayln of Hull on the show, recently tweeted that the "Battle of the Gullet is gonna be BEASTLY":
Battle of the Gullet is gonna be BEASTLY.
— Abubakar Salim (@Abzybabzy) March 1, 2025
Without spoiling things too much, the Battle of the Gullet takes place at sea; the Gullet is the name for the stretch of water that separates the islands of Dragonstone and Driftmark. At the end of season 2, we saw Corlys Velaryon and Alyn of Hull take to the sea at the head of a fleet. Lord Corlys fights for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Tyland Lannister convinced the pirate Sharako Lohar to sail their fleet into battle on behalf of King Aegon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's rival. These two navies will clash in the Battle of the Gullet. Dragons may also be involved. Salim does say it's beastly, after all.
And it better be beastly, since the show will need a way to hook viewers in after making them wait a long time between seasons; while season 3 is getting up and running just now, we likely won't see new episodes until sometime in 2026.
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