Director Geeta Patel unpacks the emotionally charged eighth episode of season 1.
Warning: This article contains major spoilers fromHouse of the Dragonepisode 8.
The Many-Faced God has come to claim another soul with the eighth episode ofHouse of the Dragon.
Paddy Considine’s King Viserys in ‘House of the Dragon’.Ollie Upton / HBO
The hour’s final scene sees Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) putting him to bed.
She leaves her husband to sleep as the sound of Viserys' labored breathing grows louder.
He reaches a hand upwards to no one visible but to himself.
Olivia Cooke’s Queen Alicent Hightower on ‘House of the Dragon’.Ollie Upton/HBO
“My love…” he utters before another exhale is heard and the screen cuts to black.
The Dance of the Dragons can begin.
“I think the last scene of this episode was always a litmus test.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) defends her son at court in ‘House of the Dragon’.Ollie Upton/HBO
Patel says in an interview.
“Did we feel the loss?
Did we feel that Viserys has told his story?
Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon II Targaryen in ‘House of the Dragon’.Ollie Upton/HBO
Did we feel that he loved his wife who passed away?
Did he love Alicent?
Did he love Rhaenyra?
Did he regret anything?
All the complicated layers of Viserys, did we feel it for better or worse?”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: That day I was on set for episode 8 was kind of crazy.
There was smoke rising above the ground from this boiler in the floor for Dragonstone.
The biggest memory that sticks out to me, though, was Dragonstone was the coldest set.
GEETA PATEL: Yes, it was.
We all had layers on that day.
For you, what was the biggest memory that stands out from filming this episode?
There’s not even [just] one.
This was the best experience I’ve had as a director on a job.
This was everything I thought it was gonna be, in the best way.
There are beautiful moments.
One of the objectives of this episode was to get inside Rhaenyra and Alicent’s heads.
You have these two people who are at odds.
And particularly Alicent, [we] wanted to feel her vulnerability and just understand both of them.
So it’s almost like you’ve got two people you love and yet they hate each other.
That’s closer to reality and something we all relate to.
One of the moments I loved was when we were filming a scene with Rhaenyra.
It just felt like we were watching her instead of [being]withher.
She’s this little girl coming back.
As you probably saw when you were visiting, we’re always rushing, rushing, rushing.
Out of time, especially that day.
We don’t have any daylight left.
I had this thought of, “Well, why are we watching her coming out of this chariot?
It feels like the story is actually the moment right before she comes out.”
Everybody, the whole crew, was on board with this idea.
Everybody was about the story.
We were like, “Wow, that looks better than it did lit.”
It sounds like you had a very similar experience on this episode.
Is that fair to say?
Well, I think it was a partnership.
That’s the reason I do what I do, is to work with the actors.
My brother’s an actor [Meet the Patels' Ravi Patel].
He’s the one that introduced me to the magic that they have as performers.
Yes, I love all the bells and whistles of cinematography.
I think that’s why this was really fun.
There’s very little that’s more fun than that in this job.
That takes every level of storytelling, in my mind, to create.
It took conversations with the actors, understanding that nothing could be black and white.
Everything had to be tentative, in a way.
I don’t know how you felt about that dynamic in this episode.
Coming into the episode, I disliked Alicent.
He’s like, “Nope, sorry.”
She’s hanging out with Larys Strong last scene.
“You gotta figure it out.”
They don’t say to each other, “I’m lonely.”
They don’t say these things.
Finding those moments were really important to Ryan and Miguel and myself in letting everything be the subtext.
We talked about it before, we were like, “We can’t let that happen.
We have to feel Alicent.”
The idea was to make it a day in the life for her.
You’re going through the hallways, you’re going meeting to meeting to meeting.
She almost has to choose between worst-case scenarios.
It’s interesting how when we got to that scene, I was still concerned.
Olivia just blew it out of the water.
She just was Alicent in the most vulnerable, powerful, dimensional, emotional way.
We had such a great time shooting that scene.
It reminds me of something [executive producer] Sara Hess said even before this show premiered.
We have one scene that happens off camera and then we deal with the aftermath of it.”
And when I came across this, I was like, this must be that scene.
Did you and also Sara have very clear ideas about how to approach the Diana moment?
And then there’s the complication of the way society works during these times.
And going into that gray area, too, is quite interesting.
So there was a lot of conversation, particularly around this scene and this part of the story.
Another sequence I wanted to talk to you about is the Viserys of it all.
I remember it taking all day to complete.
Was this a particularly intricate sequence to pull off?
That was a very, very big sequence.
We had a lot of logistical obstacles during that time.
Like not really do it.
“Let’s just do it once.”
He is in an extreme amount of pain.
He is walking towards something.
He wants to save the realm.
So we just put our heads down and shot Paddy walking.
It was gonna be shot that way.
While we were rehearsing, Rhaenyra just happens to be standing there in the middle.
I was like, “Oh, wait a minute.
He’s not walking to the throne, he’s walking to her.”
That was a wonderful discovery.
I wish I thought of it a day before even.
I would’ve shot more of it.
I felt the exact same way with the crown, especially.
Is that the trajectory that you guys were going for?
I think the last scene of this episode was always a litmus test.
Did we feel the loss?
Did we feel that Viserys has told his story?
Did we feel that he loved his wife who passed away?
Did he love Alicent?
Did he love Rhaenyra?
Did he regret anything?
All the complicated layers of Viserys, did we feel it for better or worse?
Even the actors just trying constantly to check that that moment at the end worked.
I mean, I hope it works, but that was the goal, for sure.
This has become such a water-cooler chat moment between me and my coworker who’s seen the episode.
We’re debating who we think Viserys is seeing in his last moment.
Is this Rhaenyra or is this Aemma?
Is this Alicent, even?
After all they’ve been through, does he really love Alicent?
I’m curious what your take on that final moment is.
So I probably shouldn’t say it.
It’s just the best part of my job.
Then I worked with them on performance.
I can do it better.
What do you want me to do?"
I think he did a really good job finding who he was and giving that person nuance and discovery.
So I’m very proud of him.
And Tom, same thing.
And that moment where Alicent walks away from him, he’s naked in bed.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I felt the child in him.
And thank goodness we were able to.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
