House of the Dragon boss reveals why fans didn’t see major battle in season 2

Many were assuming that the finale would signal the Battle of the Gullet, as featured in George RR Martin's novel Fire and Blood. Well actually, the battle never came to fruition – also meaning that the season didn't end on quite as tragic a note as season 1.

But during a press conference, showrunner Ryan Condal explained to RadioTimes.com and other media just why he decided to postpone the defining book moment.

He said: "One of the challenges of making television at any scale, even this scale, which seems to be one of infinite time and resources – it's just never the case. I mean, nobody has infinite time and resources.

"As a showrunner, you're always in the position of having to balance storytelling and the resources that you have available to tell that story.

"And you're also starting to think about – one of the things that really came into play in season two is, what is the final destination of the series, and where are we going? And I think it was a combination of factors that led us to rebalance the story."

Condal continued: "Knowing now where we're going, and we know what that end point is, to rebalance the story in such a way that ... to round out and tell this story. And we knew where we’re going, and we know how those things kind of break up and break out.

"And when you're trying to mount this show, which requires a tremendous amount of resources, construction, armour, costumes, visual effects, we were trying to give the the Gullet, which is arguably the most anticipated – well, I would say maybe the second most anticipated event of Fire & Blood – trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves."

Read more:

• House of the Dragon star reveals surprise at character survival in season 2 finale
• House of the Dragon boss reveals when season 3 filming starts – confirms season 4 will end show

So, when will the Battle of the Gullet be coming our way? Well, Condal explains: "Obviously, as anybody that's seen the finale, we are building to that.

"That event will will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling of House of the Dragon, and it should be – based on what we know now – it should be the biggest thing to date that we've pulled off, and we just wanted to have the time and the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans and the way in the way it's deserved.

"And we also wanted to build some anticipation toward it. I know everybody wants this to come out every summer. It's just that the show is so complex that we're really making multiple feature films every season.

"So I apologise for the wait, but I will just say if Rook’s Rest and The Red Sowing are any indication, the team that we have together is – we're gonna pull off a hell of a win with The Battle of the Gullet in the future."

It was recently confirmed that season 4 will be House of the Dragon's last and that season 3 will kick off filming sometime in early 2025. So, it's safe to say that fans will have to wait quite a while for the next instalment and the anticipated battle to unfold on screen.

As happens in the original novel, fans know that the battle itself won't be devoid of death, with Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) set to die while leading the dragonseeds on Team Black against the Greens.

Reflecting on the surprise omission of the battle (and his character's death), actor Collett told Variety: "So I was just stressing for no reason, but I’m so thankful that I’ve got to last a whole other season. And if I die, I die — I’m thankful to be in it anyway."

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