House of the Dragon Episode 8 Season 2 - Season Finale - Go behind the scenes of the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale with cast and crew. The complete second season is now streaming on Max.
- House of the Dragon 2x08 Season 2 Episode 8 Inside
- House of the Dragon 2x08 Season 2 Episode 8 Inside
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00:00The final episode is such a great build for everywhere we've been in season 2 and promising what's to come.
00:15Rhaenyra has choked King's Landing with the blockade and people are starting to get hungry and they're going to revolt against the King or the Prince Regent.
00:23Break the blockade and it will benefit you.
00:26It seems you need us more than we need you.
00:30There is a Lannister navy, there is a Hightower navy, but they're on the other side of the blockade.
00:35And so they end up going to bargain with the Triarchy, which Tyland is very not on board with but ends up having to do.
00:42But it's a sign of how extreme their position is.
00:46This is where the seat of power sits and this is a very rich cartel of three different nations that are in the shipping and piracy business.
00:53And they hate Westeros and they want to seek a profit off of them.
00:58He gets sent to Pirate Land to treat with the pirates, to see if he can get the Triarchy to ally with the Greens.
01:06Admiral Loha.
01:08He needs to impress me before he can get what he wants.
01:11I put him through absolute hell.
01:15Singing was the worst. I can handle mud wrestling but singing is miserable.
01:19But it worked because Tyland can't sing.
01:21She's a bonkers character that feels like one of these very colorful characters ripped right out of the pages of George's books.
01:28The people there take her entirely seriously and we're sort of looking at her the way that Tyland does, which is, what's going on and is this real?
01:34One of our season highlights was bringing in Sherako Lohar and it can be a rough show.
01:40It's grim, it's a war, a lot of people die.
01:43Having that moment of levity and just sort of off-kilterness was really important to us and a really welcome little bit of fun.
01:52A jest, my lord.
01:57How goes the sea snake?
01:59I've given her a new name.
02:01The Queen Who Never Was.
02:03We really wanted to find a way for him to honor and keep alive the memory of Rhaenys.
02:07Because it shows the arc that he's been on across the season where much of his life was about him and his own glory.
02:13I mean, he named his ship after himself.
02:15Corlys always went out to sea, so Rhaenys never felt like his priority.
02:20And when she died, it finally came to Corlys that he always thought about himself.
02:27And so he did the one thing he could do, take his namesake, his ship, and make it hers.
02:33He's lost all the people he loves.
02:36He's sort of come to this place of acceptance and understanding that his great exploits are less important than just having his family around him.
02:46Do you know what hunger does to a boy?
02:50What grief does.
02:52Rhaenys always had the conversation with Corlys about his heir.
02:56And none of them really feel like they're the right person.
03:00For the first time, Corlys considers Adam and Alan.
03:03Yes, they are bastards, but they are more qualified.
03:06One of the things that we talked about, myself, Abu, and Geeta, was that nobody speaks to Corlys that way.
03:13Not if they've got any sense.
03:15The only person who does is Rhaenys.
03:17When it came to the tirade, this emotional speech, it came down to the words.
03:22And playing off Steve and his reactions, Alan doesn't expect it coming out of him.
03:26I wasn't expecting it coming out of me either.
03:29It was one of those moments where I genuinely felt like I could really let go.
03:33I am trying to help you.
03:35Now you remember I live.
03:39He watched me with my other son picking up wonderful gifts and walking into the castle.
03:43And he, who knew I was his father, had to grow up in poverty.
03:47For me then to come into his life and sort of go, I'm trying to help you.
03:50Well, of course he's going to be resentful.
03:52You understand the hurt and everything that he's carried for all of these years.
03:55You see the way it lands on the Sea Snake.
03:57And I think he knows that he hasn't been the patriarchal figure that he needed to be to these guys.
04:02But I don't think he realizes until this moment the cost that it had on this human being.
04:07If it is all the same, I will decline any offers of help.
04:20Aemon lashes out.
04:22It's also a strategic act because Sharpoint is the seat of House Massey, who serves on Rhaenyra's council.
04:27It's a punishment to them for siding with the Pretender.
04:30Aemond is showing that he's not running.
04:32He's burning cities filled with innocent people instead.
04:36Aemond is now, for the first time this season, I think, scared.
04:40From the time in season one when he got Vhagar as a boy, that's changed his entire outlook.
04:45And now that he's been challenged by these new dragons,
04:48it's the first time that, like, oh no, I don't have the upper hand in any situation I go into.
04:53The stakes are so high that if he doesn't get another rider, he will have no chance against the Blacks.
05:00And they will lose the throne if Aegon continues to be king.
05:05In his mind, he's doing what's right for his house.
05:08Why must I run?
05:10Because the Prince Regent is going to kill you.
05:12I think in Larysa's experience, those who look through you, they never see you coming.
05:17That's what he's trying to say to Aegon is, as long as Aegon is not a threat, he's relatively safe.
05:24Larysa sees the light at the end of the tunnel, or at least he's made Aegon think he knows what that could be.
05:30After his encounter with Aemond in episode six, Aegon knows that Larysa's correct.
05:35In that moment, Aemond gets desperate with a newfound potential threat.
05:38He overextends and gets forceful with Helene.
05:42I think it's desperation that reeks off him in that scene when Alison and Helene are both like, bro, calm down.
05:50This is not how somebody who feels really sure about what they're doing behaves.
05:56Helene admits, she saw how I burned Aegon.
05:59And it's hard-hitting for Aemond to hear that he's going to go down.
06:03He kind of envisioned after the war had finished, he'd be seen as this war hero.
06:07But Helene's prophecy puts a stop to that.
06:10Helene has probably put herself in more danger with Aemond than she ever has been before.
06:15Would you not have us prevail?
06:16Not like this.
06:18Aemond is going to be an interesting loose cannon in season three, because when Aemond is scared, laughed at, or feels small, he lashes out.
06:26You're either with him or you're against him.
06:28You get in his way, you're in for a shock.
06:35All your life, you've sought to command your own fate.
06:40But today you are ready.
06:42There are different magics and worlds in play here in George's universe.
06:46And Alis has been a bit of a guide for Daemon, and has made him ready for this thing that Alis is going to show him that he was not ready for in episode three when he showed up at the castle.
06:57He's evolved in some way, and he's ready to see the future.
07:04We wanted Daemon to have this final experience that was undeniable to him.
07:07He's somebody that has rejected the supernatural his entire life.
07:10We definitely wanted to tie what Daemon sees to Game of Thrones, because where it picks up, it's Daenerys Targaryen finding those eggs.
07:19She is a descendant of Daemon and Rhaenyra, and so what he ends up seeing is that he's just this tiny piece of this massive story.
07:27And once you start to see that, you gain an entirely different perspective.
07:31This vision brings Daemon into the story of Fire and Ice, and takes him to his death.
07:38And after his death, it shows him that if he continues to only think of himself, great loss will be had.
07:46And then he sees a hope. We know it's Daenerys, but he doesn't know who it is.
07:51I mean, he sees a White Walker, which is cool. I was like, come on, that's cool.
07:55Even though Rhaenyra and Daemon are not going to save the realm from the White Walkers, their actions do have an impact on how that future is going to play out.
08:05You know your part.
08:08To evolve from the character that stormed out of Dragonstone in Episode 2, we had to see Daemon go through all of his trials and tribulations, and Rhaenyra not knowing what Daemon is going to do.
08:18And you believe he has changed, and he sees that he is not the player, but a piece on the board, as Alys tells him.
08:24He sees Rhaenyra on the throne, and I think it gives him the confidence in himself to go, I serve you, and I'm yours.
08:32And it's not that everything's been resolved, but Daemon realizes that his job is to facilitate Rhaenyra getting to the throne,
08:39and that he understands now that Viserys wasn't trying to punish him, and so he's able to let go of his anger at Rhaenyra,
08:48just sort of let everything go, and let's go do this together.
08:51I'm on your team.
08:53She wasn't sure throughout the entire season if he was going to try to set himself up as king,
08:57and it's this moment of validation that she gets from him that I think is incredibly meaningful.
09:01We fight for our queen!
09:02For our queen!
09:09Will you see it through, and make your sacrifice?
09:13A son for a son.
09:16You've seen the massive way that things have changed between meeting number one and meeting number two,
09:21and I think both of them have been through further trauma,
09:24and it's brought them back around to a place where they're wondering what the cost of all this is for.
09:29It's massive that Alicent travels to Rhaenyra.
09:32It's treason, if Aemond found out, head on his bike.
09:36But it's also to look at Rhaenyra in the eye as my rawest self.
09:40This is me shedding whatever power or queenly status I had.
09:45I was wrong, take it, I don't want anything to do with it, I'm done.
09:48She's had this journey of self-naturalization, and she's got a lot of power within her,
09:53and I think she feels much more capable.
09:55It's funny to be offered a huge gift at the point where you think you already have what you need.
10:01The climax of that scene is Rhaenyra, I'm going to have to kill your son,
10:05and Alicent acceding to it, which is huge for Rhaenyra,
10:09because that is not something that Alicent would ever have done before.
10:12So I think that causes her to really believe what Alicent is saying.
10:16Rhaenyra has these new dragon riders, she's just gotten Daemon back, she has this big army.
10:20If she wanted to, she could probably win this war herself,
10:24but at the cost of thousands and thousands of lives.
10:27And then she's sort of given this backdoor by Alicent.
10:30And so I think we leave season two with Rhaenyra in this place of, what am I going to do?
10:37It's such a beautiful scene, so wonderfully written by Sarah,
10:41wonderfully performed by Emma and Olivia, and Geeta beautifully directed it.
10:45And the way it launches us into the third season and the unknown,
10:47of what's to come, it's a tour de force.
10:53There's so much in play, there are armies, there are dragons,
10:57there's castle strongholds and political maneuvering,
11:00but at the end of the day it comes down to these two women trying to figure it out.
11:05The Lannisters are arriving in the Riverlands,
11:07the Hightowers are marching through the Reach,
11:09the Winterwolves are coming from the north,
11:11the Triarchy's sailing, we see the Sea Snake going back out to sea,
11:14Daemon has his army in the Riverlands,
11:16Alicent's fourth son and his dragon, the Blue Queen,
11:19is now flying in support of this massive Hightower army.
11:22We find Otto in this cell somewhere,
11:24and we don't know quite where he is or what happened to him.
11:27Rhaena discovers a dragon, and we see a forest outside of King's Landing,
11:32and there is Aegon.
11:34Larys and Aegon basically escape King's Landing
11:36because shit's about to hit the fan.
11:38It's just a reminder of, things have been put in motion,
11:40which they can't pull back.
11:42And similar to Daemon's vision,
11:44where you're seeing the things that are all going to come to play a part
11:47in the whole story.
11:49While this season was very much about the fits and starts
11:51of an early medieval war,
11:53season three is clearly going to be about total war.
11:56I think Team Black are in ascendancy.
11:59A desperate aimment is a dangerous aimment.
12:01I will never, ever concede.
12:03The whole thing is just so volatile.
12:06Baelor's gonna do whatever it takes.
12:07Whatever it comes down to, she's prepared to do.
12:09She has the better hand,
12:11and an inevitably positive shot at the throne.
12:15The pendulum could swing the other way very quickly.
12:17We shall see who the last man standing is.