House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 deals with the aftermath of the devastating Battle of Gullet from the first episode. Co-head writer and executive producer Sara Hess revealed that they had to change Rhaenyra’s reaction to Jace’s dead body for a heartwrenching reason.
Quick look:
- Rhaenyra was going to hit Jace’s corpse harder.
- They had to change that because it was about Jace’s death.
- Daemon convinces Rhaenyra to continue her pursuit of the throne.
Rhaenyra’s reaction to Jace’s corpse was supposed to be stronger in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2
Baela Targaryen brings Jace’s corpse back to Dragonstone. Rhaenyra Targaryen stumbles in right as it is placed on the floor of a chamber. Her first reaction is fury. She asks Jace, “What have you done?” She even starts hitting his body, clutching at him and shaking slightly, repeating the question with tears rolling down her cheeks.
While speaking on the official Game of Thrones podcast, Sara Hess explained that Rhaenyra was going to hit Jace harder. “In the script she actually starts hitting him like yes she’s so furious that he went off and got killed that she starts shaking him and is like angrily she’s almost like attacking his body.”
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Explaining why they did not do that, she said, “We actually couldn’t do that because it’s actually Harry… it was either going to be like a dummy or it’s Harry… we couldn’t get as physical as like I actually wanted it to be where she’s just like literally physically attacking him and has to be pulled off.”
Hitting Collett hard was certainly not possible. So, they had to tone it down a few notches. Ultimately, Ser Lorent pulls Rhaenyra away from Jace’s body, only for her to turn her fury towards him for his betrayal.
Jace’s death brings Rhaenyra’s relentless drive to a halt
When Daemon arrives at Dragonstone, he finds Rhaenyra in her bed, crying over Jace’s death. Upon his insistence that she should continue to pursue the throne, she replies that two of her sons have died so that she can sit on “a throne of swords.” Yet, Daemon convinces her to head back into her pursuit of the throne so that her sons’ deaths are not in vain. By the end of the episode, she finally claims the throne.
