House of the Dragon returned to HBO with one of Westeros’ most consequential battles ever, but not every shocking moment in “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood” involved war-related violence. As the smoke settles and the dust clears from the season three premiere, two of the show’s stars explain what it was like filming the scenes that made viewers gasp the most.
Probably the episode’s most crucial moment—the one that will no doubt reverberate throughout the season—is one that George R.R. Martin book readers were already anticipating: the death of Jacaerys Velaryon, aka Jace, aka Rhaenyra’s oldest son and the heir to her throne. Before he meets his end, Jace makes the decision to lock Rhaenyra in her room, preventing her from taking part in the battle. Viewers were screaming at the betrayal, but Jace is convinced it’s the right move.
“I think it all came from a really good place,” Harry Collett, who plays Jace, explained at a recent House of the Dragon press day attended by io9 and other outlets. “Everything’s for the protection of his family. So I think it was a good decision. I know he lost his life, but his mother could have lost hers.”
Jace’s dramatic death comes after his dragon tangles in midair with an out-of-control wild dragon (ridden by his cousin, Rhaena, who’s in way over her head). Once he’s in the water, Jace is then nailed by arrows launched from a nearby Triarchy ship. Again, if you read Fire & Blood, you knew Jace wasn’t making it out of the Gullet alive. Still, it was a poignant farewell. © HBO “I was told what would happen in season one,” Collett explained. “So I’ve been preparing for this, and I’ll always be grateful for being in this show in the first place … I filmed all of the battle stuff before, and then I left House of the Dragon, went and shot a movie, came back, and then basically played all the dead bits, and my last ever day on set was me dead. But what a great way to go. It’s a really impactful episode … it’s been done amazingly, so I’m very, very happy.”
