- Warning: Spoilers ahead for “House of the Dragon” season one, episode eight.
- Matt Smith instinctively picked up Viserys’ crown when it fell off Paddy Considine’s head.
- Director Geeta Patel says it was a “turning point” in brothers Daemon and Viserys’ relationship.
“House of the Dragon” episode eight features yet another time jump in the series, as Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) watch their children grow a little older. Unfortunately for King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), his mystery condition only gets worse with age. But in one powerful moment, he perseveres to walk up to the Iron Throne by himself.
But when the king stumbles up the steps, his crown falls off — prompting his brother, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), to pick it up and place it back on his head in a surprisingly touching scene.
But director Geeta Patel told Entertainment Weekly that this wasn’t meant to happen in the original script. Actor Matt Smith instinctively picked it up in a spot of improvisation.
Patel said: “When we were shooting that — I think the rehearsal again, the first day — the crown fell off of Paddy’s head and Matt picked it up and we just kept going. We didn’t stop [filming].”
It worked well to make the episode even more impactful, and the director said everyone recognized how powerful it was.
Patel added: “There was a discovery there of this moment. So then the three of us got together and they were like, ‘We felt this. This felt like the turning point in our relationship.'”
The director also explained that she was “so thankful that accident happened,” because it made Daemon’s growth as a character feel quite heartfelt compared to how he started out at the beginning of the season.
This is the prince who schemed to steal the crown for himself before undermining the king in a variety of ways.
Patel explained: “Because it proved to be, at least for me, quite a heavy moment and quite a turning point for a storyline that had started in the pilot: ‘Hey, I want your crown and by the end here I’m gonna put the crown back on your head and I’m gonna help you to your throne.'”
The director also told the outlet that the dinner scene following the moment with the crown was originally meant to include a speech from Daemon, but Entertainment Weekly noted that it was cut for time. Patel pointed out that the moment with the crown would’ve overshadowed Daemon’s speech.
“Then when you got to the dinner, it was more of an aftermath moment. It was more about the dinner when Daemon gives that speech, there’s too many people in the room almost for that to be the emotional moment,” she said.
New episodes of “House of the Dragon” air Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.