Clare Kilner (‘House of the Dragon’ director): ‘It was really exciting… to entertain and shock’ with pivotal ninth episode [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“I’ve never actually worked with so much CGI and so many different elements. It was really challenging,” reveals director Clare Kilner about taking on the pivotal ninth episode of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” For our recent webchat she adds, “when the episode came out, my friends threw a party and I saw everyone’s reactions when that dragon came out. It was really exciting and fun to connect with the audience in that way, to really be able to entertain and shock.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
SEE Exclusive Video Interview: Paddy Considine (‘House of the Dragon’)
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“House of the Dragon,” the prequel series to HBO’s megahit “Game of Thrones” was created by author George R.R. Martin and writer/producer Ryan Condal, and stars Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen alongside Emmy nominee Matt Smith (“The Crown”) as Prince Daemon and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra, among a sprawling cast that includes Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint and Eve Best. The 10-episode first season is set two centuries before the events of “Game of Thrones,” 172 years before the birth of the now-iconic “Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), depicting the events leading up to and covering the bloody Targaryen civil war of succession known as the “Dance of the Dragons.”
Kilner directed three episodes last season, and is submitting the ninth (and penultimate) episode for Emmy consideration, entitled “The Green Council,” which was written by Sara Hess. In the aftermath of the death of King Viserys (Considine), Queen Alicent (Cooke) tells her father, Ser Otto Hightower (Ifans) that the King’s dying wish (which she misinterpreted) was that their son, Prince Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) succeed him rather than his daughter and chosen heir Rhaenyra (D’Arcy). This sets off a chain of events that leads to Aegon’s illegitimate coronation in the Dragonpit, where Otto announces Viserys’ death and Aegon is crowned king before a cheering crowd and ends with Rhaenys breaching the hall from below astride her dragon Melys, causing mayhem and casualties. Rather than obliterate the cowering Green faction before her, Rhaenys, “The Queen Who Never Was,” spares them all and flees on dragonback to deliver the news of King Viserys’ death to his daughter and rightful successor Rhaenyra.
Fans of the show’s predecessor “Game of Thrones” know all too well that each season’s penultimate (i.e. ninth) episode is usually the most spectacular. “Baelor,” “Blackwater,” “The Rains of Castamere,” “The Watchers on the Wall,” “Battle of the Bastards,” to name a few. Kilner acknowledges that the creative team were well aware of the inevitably high expectations that fans wouold have for the episode. “I felt a big responsibility,” she admits. “I knew that episode nines are often big turning points of the season, and I was also aware that I think I was the first woman to direct an episode nine, so I did feel a big responsibility,” she explains, referring to her being only the second woman to to sit in the director’s chair for the saga (after Michelle MacLaren, who directed four episodes of the original series) and the first to direct an iconic penultimate episode of either series, after helming episodes four (“King of the Narrow Sea”) and five (“We Light the Way”), with Geeta Patel the third female director to helm an episode with the eighth instalment (“The Lord of the Tides”).
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