House of the Dragon's season finale was a nail-biting affair that kept fans on the edges of their seats. A recent post by storyboard artist Adam Pescott revealed an alternate ending to the season that was quite different in tone from the final version.
House of the Dragon ended with a silent, slow scene wherein Daemon (Matt Smith) informs Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) of her son Lucerys' (Elliot Grihault) death. With war now assured, Rhaenyra slowly turns towards the camera and gives the audience a silent glare full of rage and pain. House of the Dragon's final scene was impactful, and actually was Matt Smith's idea. As it turns out, the final scene would not have played out the same way originally.
Pescott's Instagram post reveals that the final scene was originally to take place in Dragonstone's throne room (it takes place around the war table in the final version). According to the storyboard, Daemon would walk down a corridor, pausing as the camera turns 90 degrees around him to reveal the throne room. He approaches Rhaenyra, who sits on the throne, and delivers the news. The camera pans into Rhaenyra, who processes the news and then suddenly screams. She stares at Daemon, who stares back, before giving the same look to the camera as she does in the final version.
The scene then changes over to Rhaenyra's dragon, Syrax, emerging from the darkness of a cave, symbolizing a dragon waking in Rhaenyra. The reaction shot of Syrax actually remains in House of the Dragon's season finale. In the final version, however, she growls and roars as Rhaenyra delivers her baby prematurely, seemingly sharing the pain of her rider. Everything else about the scene, however, is much more muted compared to the storyboard.
Ultimately, the final version of the House of the Dragon scene probably works better than the storyboard, which gets a bit, well, camp. The center of the conflict is Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke), and the final version keeps the focus on Rhaenyra rather than a CGI dragon, a symbolism that is a bit too on the nose. Rhaenyra's scream is also a less compelling reaction than Rhaenyra's cold silence, which calls to mind Emilia Clarke's performance as Daenerys (though there's no doubt D'Arcy could pull off either version).
With House of the Dragon's time jumps and recasts being 100% over, it feels right to end the season, which largely felt like a prelude of things to come, around Rhaenyra. It cemented who she will be for the rest of the series. She's done trying to appease her enemies, who have roused the dragon inside of her. The symbolism is apparent without an actual dragon appearing.
House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Adam Pescott/Instagram