Soldiers assemble as House of the Dragon films the First Battle of Tumbleton

Filming on the third season of House of the Dragon has been going on for a while now, and we've gotten looks at some very impressive stuff. For a long time, we watched as they filmed the Battle of the Gullet, a major naval clash that will very likely air in the season 3 premiere. Filming on that has finally wrapped up, and the cast and crew have moved right onto the First Battle of Tumbleton, a major land clash that will feature towards the end of the season.

If you've read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, you know what happens at Tumbleton. I won't reveal specific spoilers, but the gist is that Tumbleton is a town in the Reach, about 200 miles southwest of King's Landing. The town was mentioned in season 2 by Kat (Ellora Torchia), the wife of newly minted dragonrider Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew). Kat wanted to flee to Tumbleton rather than stay in King's Landing, which is getting dangerous as the ongoing civil war between Queen Rheanyra Targaryen and her half-brother King Aegon Targaryen heats up.

That's not a bad instinct, but unfortunately Tumbleton is the last place she'll find safety. Soon enough, the Hightower army — which was gathering strength in the Reach at the end of season 2 — will march through Tumbleton on its way to King's Landing. The Hightowers are loyal to King Aegon. At the town, they'll be met by soldiers loyal to Queen Rhaenyra. Add in some dragons, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The X account House the Dragons has been steadfastly bringing us images of filming, and they came through again today as shooting on this battle scene got underway in the Hankley Common nature preserve in Surrey, England:

Here we see lots of Hightower soldiers as well as soldiers from Houses Fossoway and Florent, both houses from the Reach. House Fossaway supported King Aegon during the Dance. It's harder to come by info about House Florent during that time, but it looks like they are too.

Also note the guy in a blue bodysuit holding a dragon's head on a stick. The Hightower army marches with Daeron Targaryen, Alicent Hightower's fourth child whom we haven't seen onscreen yet, although he was mentioned in season 2. Daeron rides the dragon Tesserion, whom we saw at the tail end of season 2. Daeron and Tessarion have a role to play at the First Battle of Tumbleton, so it makes sense they'd show up here. We still don't know who's playing Daeron, though; we'll keep an eye out.

Huge camera rigs, guys in armor on horses...as usual, House of the Dragon is going all-out for these battle scenes. They'll be filming the First Battle of Tumbleton over the course of about a month over multiple locations. In addition to this on-location shoot, they also built a whole Tumbleton set back at Leavesden Studios:

House of the Dragon will shock and awe us when it returns for its third season on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2026.

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