House of the Dragon Showrunner Explained No Battle of the Gullet in Season 2

House of the Dragon fans have found a lot to love about the latest season of dragons, dynasties, and death, which is the Game of Thrones universe. However, many have voiced the same complaint about the Season 2 finale – the lack of a huge battle. Many seemingly expected the sophomore season of the show to culminate in the Battle of the Gullet, but instead the show went out with a whimper, disappointing those expecting to see fire rain down on Westeros. Showrunner Ryan Condal addressed why Season 2’s ending was more about building expectations than delivering another brutal, visual piece of eye candy.

During a virtual Q&A (via IGN), Condal explained that he did not want to rush into the pivotal battle, and wanted to make sure it had the “time and the space that it deserves.” He said:

“I mean, one of the challenges of making television at any scale, even this scale, which
seems
to be one of infinite time and resources, it’s just never the case. Nobody has infinite time and resources. As a showrunner, you’re always in the position of having to balance storytelling and the resources you have available to tell that story, and you’re also starting to think about — and one of the things that came into play in Season 2 — is, what is the final destination of this series and where are we going? And I think it was a combination of factors that led us to rebalance the story, knowing where we’re going and where that endpoint is, to rebalance the story in such a way that we had three great seasons of television [after Season 1]… to round out and tell this story.

That event (the Battle of the Gullet) will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling in House of the Dragon. And it should be, based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing to date that we’ve pulled off. And we just wanted to have the time and the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans in the way it deserves. And we also wanted to build some anticipation towards it.”

House of the Dragon is Following a Game of Thrones Trend

For those who have followed the Game of Thrones franchise from the beginning, there is one rule that seems to have been unofficially followed throughout the entire saga. The biggest episodes happen prior to the season finale. Almost every season of Game of Thrones features a huge battle or brutal massacre, but frequently these occur in the penultimate episode of a season, leaving the finale to set up the next.

This is something that has now been carried forward into House of the Dragon, and with good reason, as there are many storylines that need to be expanded on before The Battle of the Gullet can realistically take place. The relationship between Corlys and Alyn needed some attention during the Season 2 finale, as without their difficult conversation, their alliance would have been done a disservice, and be far too rushed to have made any sense in the grand scheme of things.

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On the other side of the battle, the Greens needed to spend time during the finale building their alliance with the Triarchy, another important piece of storytelling that could not be rushed through in a couple of throwaway lines. Then there were also several individual character storylines that needed to be resolved, including Rhaenyra Targaryen’s complicated relationships with Alicent and Daemon.

While some fans expected more from the finale, the majority knew exactly what to expect. A teasing build-up to what will be an eventful Season 3 – and a long wait to see it pay off. Season 2 took almost two years to come to fruition after the conclusion of Season 1, and fans should set themselves up for a similar wait to see the show’s biggest battle play out in all its glory.