The Game of Thrones universe as a whole is filled with no shortage of heartbreaking moments. Still, few things are as devastating as watching dragons fall in battle, regardless of whether their rider also perishes in the process. These majestic creatures are often considered almost as gods, given how powerful they are and how few can even get close without being incinerated. However, the Targaryens are capable of riding them into battle to catastrophic results; whether it is entire civilizations burning or, worse yet, the dragon itself meeting its end.
House of the Dragon already has a long list of deceased dragons under its belt, and yet there's one in particular whose fate remains unknown. Back during the second season of the hit HBO show, audiences witnessed the Battle at Rook's Rest. It was a gruesome encounter that resulted in the death of Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) and her dragon, Meleys. Furthermore, thousands of men from the Green army were burned to ashes, and Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) nearly paid with his life. The former king's dragon, Sunfyre, was also heavily injured.
House of the Dragon season 3 has refrained from giving us a direct answer about Sunfyre's fate. However, the dragon's body was seen once more when Aegon went to visit it near Rook's Rest. Interestingly, a big part of what audiences saw in the final shot was actually present on the show's set, as revealed in a new behind-the-scenes video published by HBO.
A scale model of Sunfyre's head was recreated for House of the Dragon season 3
As revealed by Nick Heckstall-Smith—the 1st assistant director on episodes 2, 3, and 4 of HOTD season 3—the cast and crew couldn't return to the original location where Sunfyre's crash scene was filmed in season 2. As a result, the whole set was recreated in Caesar's Camp in Surrey, England.
To accomplish this, the art department created a huge hole in the ground that gave the impression that a "meteor hit it". Over the hole, big blue screens were laid to add some of Sunfyre's body in post-production through VFX. However, the dragon's head was actually present on the set.
Waldo Mason—the prosthetics designer of House of the Dragon—revealed that dragon heads have never been physically recreated before in the show because they have many moving pieces, like the eyes or mouth. Fortunately, this was the perfect occasion to finally recreate one from scratch since Sunfyre was completely motionless when Aegon went to visit his body.
First, the team had to carve out the dragon's head from polystyrene at an accurate scale. Then, the art team sculpted over this base, creating each scale individually. After the head sculpt was ready, it needed to be painted, with special attention paid to Sunfyre's wounds after the Battle at Rook's Rest.
Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays the role of Aegon, had nothing but praise for Sunfyre's full-scale head model: "That model was spectacular, even the texture, to touch him. It was, like, kind of soft. His skin moved."
Now, the million-dollar question is whether this detailed, full-scale model of Sunfyre was made for a single sequence in House of the Dragon season 3, episode 4, or if it will return at some point. It would be shocking if we didn't see more of Aegon's dragon regardless of his fate, and there are a few clues that indicate Sunfyre will be back in action. But when that will happen (or how) remains a mystery. So, let's hope that we'll get some much-needed answers sooner rather than later.
New episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 air every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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