Fantasy fans are in for a treat next week as the highly anticipated third season of House of the Dragon sets a world record with its epic premiere. The runtime of the bumper season three premiere has been revealed, and the episode will break a world record for the most stunt performers set on fire in a single production.
Record-Breaking Premiere
HBO's Game of Thrones prequel will return on Sunday, 21st June, and is set to feature the Battle of the Gullet, one of the most pivotal moments in Targaryen history from George RR Martin's original novels. Season three promises to be the most explosive instalment yet, pitting the forces of Westeros against each other in a brutal naval battle known as the deadliest in the continent's history.
Showrunner Ryan Condal promised, per TV Insider: "These sequences, I will confidently say, are unlike anything that's ever been done on television before. The amount of construction that [the crew] did for just the one episode is kind of crazy and frankly irresponsible. But it was necessary to tell the story, and this is such a seminal moment for the show."
Unprecedented Production Scale
Condal likened the ambitious naval sequence to The Lord of the Rings' Battle of Helm's Deep, though this was an even greater undertaking thanks to the use of two real interactive ship sets built in the same tank and operating on separate gimbals. "No one has practically produced anything like this before," Condal added, teasing: "This is by far our most action-packed season. The Gullet is huge… but it is only the beginning."
In addition to the two ship sets, the sequence required a wet tank, a dry tank, an underwater tank, four boat sets, and three million litres of water, as well as weeks of stunt choreography training for the cast. The new teaser reel confirmed the third season involved 15,000 stunt crowds, 3,500 props, and 25 tons of propane during filming, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
World Record Stunt
One action set piece involved 23 stunt performers being set on fire, the most for any film or television production. The record was previously held by flagship series Game of Thrones, which set 20 stunt performers alight in season seven. With House of the Dragon season three shaping up to be the biggest and most thrilling outing yet, fans should prepare for a king-size first episode to kick off the summer season.
Episode Runtime and Schedule
HBO's official TV schedule lists the premiere as airing from 9pm to 10:12pm Eastern Time, giving the episode a total length of 72 minutes. It is one of the longest episodes of the show so far, surpassed only by the second season's 73-minute finale. The episode will air live on HBO on Sunday, 21st June in the United States before being available on HBO Max the following Monday morning. Season three will consist of eight episodes that will broadcast every Sunday until the finale on 9th August.
House of the Dragon season 3 premieres Monday, 22nd June on HBO Max, Sky, and NOW.
