House Of The Dragon's Cinematographer Explains How Season 2 Brings 'Real History' To The Fantasy Series, And Fans Might Not Have Realized It

The Dragon House Season 2 already has huge stakes after just two episodes on HBO, with major characters personally pruning the Targaryen family tree with fire and blood. The trailer for the next new episode, which airs June 30, features Rhaeny’s warning about the savagery of dragon-on-dragon combat… as well as Baela looking fierce on the dragon’s back. Cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt spoke with CinemaBlend about Season 2 and her work on Episode 3, including the combination of fantasy and real history.

While the rules are of course different in HBO’s version of George RR Martin’s Westeros than they are in the real world, one that can’t really be broken is the use of modern technology on screen. When asked about the challenges of working on Dragon House When even the most basic technology like electric lighting cannot be filmed, Catherine Goldschmidt said:

That’s a good question, because our show is a fantasy series, but we like to think of it more as a historical epic. So there’s this period that we tried to anchor in real history, in medieval times. When it comes to the light sources that I work with, I work with moonlight, fire, and daylight, and those are really the only motivations for lighting in this era. We love using flame on Dragon House.

You don’t need to be an expert in actual medieval history to know that there were never any dragons circling around, but George RR Martin confirmed to EW that Dragon House is based on the “Anarchy” period of English history. According to Catherine Goldschmidt, rooting HOT In both history and fantasy, this involves certain lighting challenges that fans may not have considered.

It’s also a good thing that they “love using the flame,” because the series is based on a book called Fire and blood For a reason. Like other dragons House of the Dragon run wild, it seems a safe bet that more people will burn. The cinematographer, who teamed up with director Geeta Vasant Patel for Season 1 Episode 8 as well as the upcoming Season 2 Episode 3, continued:

Our joke in season 1 was that even though it was House of the Dragon, we didn’t have dragons! Coming back for Season 2, we were really looking forward to working with dragons. And I think everyone can tell from the trailer that in episode 3 we get to spend time with Baela on her dragon. It’s in the trailer. This was a really exciting new thing for us.

Goldschmidt’s season 1 episode took place almost entirely within the walls of the Red Keep, with no dragon action to speak of. This will certainly not be the case this time. In case you missed it after the tragic deaths at the end of Episode 2, watch the trailer for what to expect on June 30 below:

The trailer also shows what appears to be a very wet demon riding on Caraxes’ back, so there are obviously at least two sequences of dragons in very different circumstances. Demon in the rain and Baela in the sun. Catherine Goldschmidt shared some insights into the differences between dragons in daylight and darkness, saying:

The thing with daylight is that there are a lot of different variations: where is the sun going to be when you’re actually shooting the set versus where you want it to be, and what happens if it’s cloudy on the day you’re shooting? So there’s a lot more variation, whereas with nighttime you can tell in advance what the nighttime is going to look like because I control the lighting and the exposure. I make a decision about nighttime and that holds true, whereas with daytime we tried to shoot the scenes first, just because we knew that would dictate a lot of the lighting choices.

Since she arrived The Dragon House Season 2 with already a full episode of season 1 under its belt, what has changed between the first and second seasons? Catherine Schmidt opened up on this very topic, saying:

In general, technology has advanced. Volume stages were all the rage when we started Season 1, and so a volume stage was built for the show and it was used for a lot of the sets and a lot of the dragon riding sequences. And by Season 2, the volume stage was taken down, and that’s because, ultimately, I think everyone felt it wasn’t worth it economically. I will say that what we did for the dragon rides this year was essentially a kind of volume-type space using big LED screens that surrounded the mechanical buck. But the difference was that what we were putting on those screens was purely for lighting purposes rather than treating it as a background that was going to stay in the camera. That’s one way we changed the approach from Season 1 to Season 2.

Catherine Goldschmidt’s season 1 episode “The Lord of Tides” was certainly pivotal, as Paddy Considine had some terrific final moments before Viserys finally died, and a deathbed misunderstanding with Alicent guaranteed conflict with Rhaenrya. Although we can only wait to see if there are any changes in Season 2 Episode 3, the wait isn’t much longer.

Tune in to HBO (or stream via a Max subscription) on Sunday, June 30 at 9 p.m. ET for the third episode of The House of the DragonThe second season of.