How Princess Diana’s Funeral Was Inspired by The Sad Procession of the Dragon
Hey brother, where are you? Identical twins Ser Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) and Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliott Tittensor) confront each other in the climax of episode two of Dragon’s House part two, “Rhaenyra the Cruel,” leaves both twins dead as the bloodshed begins to escalate in Westeros. Still watching host Hillary bus, Richard Lawson, And Chris Murphy explains the complex effects that tit-for-tat violence has on Hightowers, Targaryens, and the citizens of Westeros. Additionally, director “Rhaenyra the Cruel” Clare Kilner stop by the podcast to chat about filming Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen’s funeral scene and getting back in the director’s chair to watch Dragon’s House for season two.
After Prince Daemon Targaryen (Carpenter) accidentally caused the death of Prince Jaehaerys, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) was awakened in her bedchamber by Ser Arryk of King’s Landing, who had been sent by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) to infiltrate Dragonstone to impersonate his identical twin brother, a member of the Queen’s Guard, and kill the queen. Fortunately for Rhaenyra, Ser Arryk’s murder plot was exposed at the last minute by Ser Erryk. They dueled to the death, with Erryk killing his own brother and then taking his own life shortly after. “It was the worst reboot of Parent trap I’ve seen it,” Murphy said.
Outside Dragonstone, Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) the family fell into further turmoil when her grieving son King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) becomes increasingly impatient and bloodthirsty after the death of his young son. He hastily declared war on Rhaenyra and Dragonstone and hanged all the ratcatchers in King’s Landing, causing his grandfather Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). After punishing King Aegon for his reckless and bloodthirsty decisions, Otto was officially removed as Hand of the King and replaced by Ser Criston Cole.
Aegon’s haste is likely to have a negative impact on all of Westeros, although “in Westeros it is not always clear how important it is to have the support of the people,” Busis said. Lawson agreed, noting that the episode focuses on the people’s reaction to the feud between the Hightowers and the Targaryens. “All these people are terrible. Don’t the locals know that?” he says.
The 72-minute episode turned out to be the longest of the season. Despite its super length, there were still loved ones that Kilner had to kill to create the episode — most notably during Prince Jaehaerys’s funeral. “We shot a lot of scenes for the funeral,” Kilner said. “And we thought, Oh my God, we have to have the first beat before we start this procession, which is really heartbreaking and really difficult. Alicent and Helaena have to deal with people watching and observing.”
Kilner said that she pulled some images from Princess Diana’s funeral to summarize the extras for the shoot in Spain. “I grew up in Argentina so I speak Spanish,” she said. “I talk to them to find out what personal grief experience you’ve been through, and to bring that with you and let people really personalize it, so it’s not just a crowd doing one thing.”
Kilner directed many episodes in season one of Dragon House, and spoke at length about the feeling of returning Game of Thrones prequel series for season two. “The great thing about coming back for a second season is that you have the trust of the actors, the showrunners and the writers,” she said. “So you can be a little more daring when you have longer scenes. Sometimes you want to lose formality.”
But only because she’s a veteran Dragon’s House director doesn’t mean she can always tell apart Luke and Elliott Tittensor, the identical twins who play Ser Arryk and Erryk. She said: “I love those guys very much, but they look very similar and I still confuse them. “We were in a really important moment of the scene, and we were halfway through and I ran in and whispered, ‘Remember you have to kill the queen.’ And he said, ‘Clare, that’s Elliott.’ Everyone just burst out laughing. And I didn’t do it once. I’m ashamed to say I did it twice.”
