The House Of The Dragons is on a streak of filming amidst global challenges!
The Game of Thrones prequel filmed its first season during the pandemic, and the second season’s filming coincided with the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes. The creators reveal having a “rough” time on sets!
HOTD creators share their experience filming the second season
In May 2023, the creators were prepping for the next chapter of the highly anticipated period drama when the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Shortly after, the Screen Actors Guild followed in their footsteps, throwing a wrench into the production’s plans.
However, the situation of the HOTD creators and writers was trickier than that! The show’s filming takes place abroad, with London's Leavesden Studios acting as their base camp for major operations.
The production is in contract with the UK-based actors' union Equity, which wasn’t on strike. This put the showrunner Ryan Condal and his writing partner Sara Hess in a pickle. "It was rough. It felt real s–tty, I'm not going to lie,” Hess told Entertainment Weekly.
They had to consult WGA about continuing the production, which they “didn’t love” but agreed to. "We were prepared for it," Condal says. "The writing really was done. The writing is always done on the show because it has to be.”
The creators are deep into writing the show’s third season
Creating such a massive show requires years of planning and preparation. The writers keep writing the story’s continuation to gift fans a new season every year. Condal revealed to Entertainment Weekly that they are deep into writing the third season. That's why we spend a year writing in advance," he said.
After the final draft of the script is prepared, the creators go through a “polish” session, which takes actors' and directors’ feedback into consideration.
Condal says that the strike compressed their “polish” sessions from two months into one, which probably was the most stressful consequence. "But thankfully, we had very polished scripts," he added.
The House of The Dragon season 2 will be released on June 16 on HBO and Max and Jio Cinema in India.
