Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.
House of the Dragon stars Paddy Considine (HBO’s The Third Day and The Outsider), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint (It’s a Sin, Doctor Who), Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, and Rhys Ifans. Additional cast members include Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn.
Few people have noticed, but the last episode of The House of the Dragon has broken a record.
The first season of The House of the Dragon reaches the middle, and there is an important plot break. There are also some technical curiosities. The show has broken many records in its first airing season. HBO Max‘s La Casa del Dragon Episode 6 has introduced major changes to the series. On a technical level, it has broken a record: it includes the two longest shots in Game of Thrones history.
We are going to introduce some spoilers for the first 6 episodes of The House of the Dragon, so if you haven’t seen the series, better stop reading. The sixth chapter of La Casa del Dragon is important for many reasons.
The first is that there is a plot jump of 10 years, concerning episode 5, and the younger leading actors change, including the actress who plays Rhaenyra Targaryen. The Australian Milly Alcock has been replaced by the British Emma D’Arcy.
The same goes for Queen Alicent Hightower, where the young Emily Carey leaves her role in the hands of Olivia Cooke. There is some more relief with other secondary actors.
In these 10 years, many things happen. Rhaenyra Targaryen has just had her third child, and just after giving birth, still not recovering, Queen Alicent requests her presence at court to meet the child. Almost in the first scene of The House of the Dragon, in chapter 1, Rhaenyra’s mother pronounces a phrase that is part of the common thread of the entire series: ” Childbirth is our battlefield “.
It is important because to start the second part of the season with the new actors, director Miguel Sapochnik decided to shoot the two longest shots of all the Game of Thrones series, with 2.5 minutes each, as he has verified. Mashable. Miguel Sapochnik, who is also the showrunner of La Casa del Dragón, is a specialist in long shots. His are some of the most remembered of Game of Thrones.
He is also the director of some of the most improvable chapters of the series. Such as The Battle of the Bastards or The Winds of Winter.
The long shots of The House of the Dragon
Shooting a long take is very expensive and complicated, so they are usually left for important moments.
In the case of episode 6 of The House of the Dragon, two long shots link Rhaenyra’s exhausting labor. This reminds us of the one her mother had with her lost son and the torturous journey. Just after giving birth, along the road from the Red Tower to court. These long shots serve to link the two parts of the season, under the common thread: ” childbirth is our battlefield “.
And at the same time, it is a kind of “introduction” of the new actress who brings Rhaenyra to life, Emma D’Arcy, so that the viewer gets used to her, and begins to forget the previous one.
Everything in La Casa del Dragón is thought out down to the last detail.
This shows why we are facing a great series, although without the epic scope of Game of Thrones. Here the entire plot and setting are practically reduced to a single House. At least for now…
Episode 6 of The House of the Dragon, features the longest shots in the franchise. Which has aired exclusively on HBO Max. There are 4 episodes left of the first season, at the rate of one a week.
