house of dragons
Actor Paddy Considine recounts the intense labor and delivery sequence from the pilot episode of Dragon House become much more unpleasant to shoot. The incidents of House of the Dragon actually occur centuries before the events of Game of Thrones and tell the story of the strained relationship within the Targaryen dynasty and the horrific civil war that would break out in the future.
Ryan Condral and Miguel Sapochnik, the directors of the HBO series, which premiered Aug. 21 with a record viewership of nearly 10 million, up about 8 million from its predecessor.
The pilot episode wasted no time in establishing the protagonists’ competing goals, and it was filled with all the sensuality and brutality that viewers have come to expect from the realm of Westeros in Game of Thrones.
In the first chapter of House of the Dragon, the Guardian of the Iron Throne chooses to have his wife Aemma (Sian Brooke) undergo a C-section after things don’t go as planned during the delivery, resulting in the untimely death. and tragedy of Aemma. .
According to Considine
Considine explains in a recent chat with Insider that filming the delivery sequence was far more traumatic than seeing it. The actress recalls the sequence being more intense when they first shot it, but was called back for the season finale. Considine admits that was probably the best course of action, as perhaps the opposite was too much to swallow.
“It was difficult to shoot. It’s all imaginary, but it was hard. It was very moving. In fact, it was much more brutal and much more emotional than it ends in the final episode. And I wasn’t sure when I first saw it. Maybe it was too much because Viserys is completely devastated, and maybe it was too much to show it early on. I think they cut it really well. We went there and there were a lot of tears. But props for Sian because she was going through the physicality of everything. It was very physical work on his part.
Although there have been many violent and bloody sequences spanning the eight seasons of Game of Thrones, the caesarean section sequence in Dragon House stands out not only for its visual nature, but also for the harsh conditions in which it is performed. Faced with the choice of saving his wife or his unborn child, Viserys opts for the latter so that he can eventually have a son to succeed the throne. Regardless of the apparent sincerity of their affection, Aemma is attached and has no control over the situation.
Considine argues that cutting the scene in the conclusion was probably for the best. The birth sequence in House of the Dragon does a great job of setting up the world’s greatest hierarchies and gives us fascinating insight into Viserys. Maybe if it had been much harsher, people would have considered it superfluous, which would have had the opposite effect of what was intended.
