The Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, is one of the most successful HBO original series on Max. Its second season is currently the most viewed on the streaming platform and, a few hours ago, the third chapter was already available. The director of this last episode, Greeta Vasant Patel, has confessed that one of the scenes was almost eliminated.
Baela Targaryen, the eldest daughter of Prince Daemon Trgaryen and his second wife, Lady Laena Velaryon, has shown off her dragonriding skills in episode number 3 of the second season of House of the Dragon. In a scene that already appeared in the previews of the episode, the character played by Bethany Antonia is seen riding her dragon Moondancer. She does so to pursue Ser Criston Cole, the Kingmaker and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
The shocking scene of the dragon and Baela was initially going to be scrapped. Greeta Vasant Patel, director of the third episode, has acknowledged this in an interview According to Mashable, he didn’t like it during his first reading of the script. In one of his notes to the writers, he stressed that he didn’t understand why that scene was there: “I can take it out and nothing will change.”
Upon the director’s note, they removed the scene. It was then that Greeta Vasant Patel thought better of it and asked that it not be taken out of it, but rather that it should be fixed so that it would have a greater impact for the viewers. It seems that the final result ended up being so convincing that it even formed an important part of the chapter’s progress.
They gave more importance to Baela Targaryen
The director teamed up with series writer David Hancock, assistant director Jason Rickwood and director of photography Catherine Goldshmidt to fine-tune the scene, aiming to give meaning to Ser Criston’s pursuit of Baela on his dragon.
According to Greeta Vasant Patel, they had to pay more attention to Bethany Antonia’s role in this third episode. “One of the reasons I didn’t care for the scene at first was that I didn’t care for Baela, because I didn’t know her,” explains the director.
While Daemon’s daughter has made some appearances in The House of the Dragon, they have been very limited. To the point that we haven’t finished getting to know Baela. To change this, the director says that she had to “build her character” so that the scene gained importance in the development of the plot.
Baela and Rhaena now have a key role
Both Baela and her twin sister Rhaena, played by Phoebe Cambell, have more prominence in the second season of La Casa del Papel. Both have taken on larger roles in the service of Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), as she fights for her right to the Iron Throne against her younger half-brother Aegon.
The real challenge for Greeta Vasant Patel was to present Rhaena and Baela “without words.” The director and the other professionals involved in developing the sisters built their stories thoroughly, even though it was impossible for the audience to see everything on screen. That is why the interactions between Rhaena and Baela were crucial.
“At the end of that meeting, we felt that we had found and given light to these two characters in a way that we did not need in the first season,” explains the director. “It was absolutely brilliant the way the two of them were able to improvise.”
After the dragon chase, we learn from Rhaenyra that Baela was under orders to fly high and not engage anyone she saw while patrolling the continent. Daemon’s eldest daughter replies that she knew what she was doing, a defiant attitude all too reminiscent of her father’s ways.
