HBO Dragon House sets one stage after another each episode. The eighth episode of the fantasy drama series has just been released and fans are understandably excited. The showrunners just crafted the story with an all-female writer, director, and cinematographer for the episode, and it turned out to be one of the series’ very first episodes. Which, to be fair, is high praise, considering every episode has been nothing short of stellar so far.
The eighth episode titled “Lord of the Tides” was written by Ellen Shim and directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, while Catherine Goldschmidt served as the cinematographer. The episode currently has an IMDb rating of 9.6/10 and is praised by fans for being one of the best to come out of production.
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How Dragon House Empowers its women behind the scenes
Dragon House tried to step out of the shadow of game of thrones, in the sense that they are very particular about the safety and comfort of their female cast members. Contrary to game of thrones, Dragon House the show runners have hired intimacy coordinators to ensure that the show’s sex scenes don’t put pressure on its actors. The coordinators made sure the actors felt safe performing such intimate scenes, especially when it came to young actors like Emily Carey (who plays young Alicent Hightower) and Milly Alcock (who plays young Rhaenyra Targaryen).
The showrunners hired female crew members – from writers to filmmakers to directors, so the show could have a female perspective. Showrunner Ryan Condal was initially hesitant to include any explicit scenes in the series, but said working with female crew members, as well as intimacy coordinators, helped a lot to allay his apprehensions.
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Speaking about the scene between Paddy Considine’s King Viserys and Emily Carey’s Alicent Hightower, Condal talked about how he wanted to make sure the actors, especially Carey, felt comfortable with what they were doing. He also talked about his writing partner, Sara Hess, being a major voice in shaping the series.
“Viserys married a much younger woman, basically his daughter’s childhood friend. We felt it was important to see the outcome of that. We had female directors on the show; one of them directed that particular scene. Sara Hess is my writing partner on the show. There were a lot of female voices involved in the decision-making there, and it was actually the women who were really pushing for it: “No , we have to see it, because we have to make the public feel the real results of this kind of political intrigue and what it really means – but do it in a way that protects the actors and, again, does not is not exciting.
Fans want the all-female team back for more
Fans of the show were very grateful for what having an all-female cast meant for the cast, as well as the show. Considering the result of the episode, which is one of the best, fans can’t help but want the team to come back for more. With the quality of the work being top-notch, it’s no wonder fans can’t help but rave about it. And we’re sure the actors, especially the female cast members, also felt much safer in the environment created to film such intimate scenes.
Take a look at some of the fan reactions since the episode was released:
Tonight’s episode of #HouseOfTheDragon was directed by Geeta Patel and written by Eileen Shim and it was fucking awesome pic.twitter.com/v628kHII6c
— Alec (@alec_warden) October 10, 2022
They have to do every episode 👌🏾
— Jada Holliman (@golden_lajada) October 10, 2022
Also Read: House of the Dragon Hits Rings of Power Out of the Park, Next Episode Gets ‘Battle of the Bastards’ Rating on IMDB
I love the diversity of writers and directors, kudos to showrunner Ryan Condal for bringing together an amazing group of creators 🥰🥰
— Driton Sulejman (@DritonSulejman8) October 10, 2022
NO WONDER IT’S SCREAMING EMMY MATERIAL
— starry north⁷💎💜 semi ai (@mins_polaris) October 10, 2022
The first season of Dragon House is nearing its end, with two more episodes to air. With each episode proving to be better than the last, we can’t wait to see what the final two bring.
Dragon House is available to stream, with weekly episodes airing every Sunday, on HBO and HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
