House of the Dragon season 3 sets stunt record before June 21 premiere

ISLAMABAD: The third season of House of the Dragon has drawn attention ahead of its debut after producers said filming for the opening episode set a world record during production.

According to details shared at the series panel at the SXSW London festival, the production ignited 23 stunt performers at the same time in a single take. The sequence is part of the Battle of the Gullet, a major clash in the Targaryen civil war that is described as one of the deadliest sea battles in the history of Westeros. Producers said the battle will appear in the Season 3 premiere, which is scheduled for June 21.

The production team also outlined the scale of the episode, saying it involved 15,000 stunt crowd participants, 3,500 props and 25 tons of propane. Filming used a wet tank, a dry tank, an underwater tank, four ship sets and more than three million litres of water.

Showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal said the action being prepared for the new season goes beyond what television has previously attempted. Speaking at the panel, he said viewers would see sequences unlike anything previously done for the small screen, adding that the scale of construction needed for the episode was vast but essential to properly depict one of the franchise’s central battles.

Condal compared the challenge to showing the Helm's Deep battle from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, saying a defining moment of that kind could not simply be referred to and instead had to be fully shown. He also said the Battle of the Gullet would only mark the beginning of the action in the new season, describing Season 3 as the most action-heavy instalment of the series so far.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is set to premiere on June 21 on HBO and HBO Max.