After a much longer wait than viewers expected, House of the Dragon finally delivered the Battle of the Gullet. It was big, bold, and bloody. But what was it like to actually film it? We asked one of the infamous Dance of the Dragon conflicts biggest players exactly that. When we spoke to star Abubakar Salim before the season about what to expect from Alyn of Hull and the show this year, we also asked him about shooting the seismic sea fight. Now that the episode is aired we can share his insights into bringing the Battle of the Gullet to HBO.
Nerdist: What’s it like getting to film a big, giant, epic sea battle on these massive sets with all of these people?
Abubakr Salim: It’s bonkers. The closest description I can give is remember when you’re at school as a kid and you’d be playing with your friends? All these fantastical sort of games, be it like you’re playing with sticks and you’ve got swords and you’re chasing one another and screaming and shouting because you’re so enraptured in this world? That was the feeling. That was what it was. Filming that whole sequence was like being a kid again.
The hardest part of it was to not smile at every single take, because it was just pure elation and joy and ridiculousness. You’re swinging t
hese swords pretending to kill people, and then also jumping and seeing explosions. I recently went to Disney World in Florida and there’s a show, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. It’s watching that and being like, “Oh man, that’s so cool!’ Well, you’re in it. And it’s like, “Oh my God, what do I do? ” That’s the best way I can describe it. It’s just mad and great fun.
What can you tell us about shooting that episode that a viewer would never know just from watching it?
Salim: We we spent a good six to eight weeks doing that whole sequence. And it was chopped and chewed. Different sets, different environments. There was a massive gap before Lohar’s ship crashes into our ship. We didn’t film that bit until I think another two, three, or four weeks even afterwards. It was a completely separate session.
The amount of detail that was put into everything, into this huge set piece, was mad. For something that happens and kind of erupts, it took so much time. And the amount of explosions and people that were set on fire. I think we broke a record because of the amount of people that we set on fire on set. It’s nuts.
In terms of what viewers can see, what do you most hope they will notice from the Battle of the Gullet that might not be obvious?
Salim: The one thing I remember Loni (Peristere), the director of the sequence, shouting at us was “fear.” It was the idea that going into battle isn’t this cool, epic thing. It’s fear. And that’s something I think you see and feel in everyone’s performance. Even the stunt guys. If you look and you watch people’s expressions and you see the way people fought, there is almost this primal animalistic fear that permeates through it all. That’s a big one.
When Alyn goes after Lohar, it seems like he’s full of rage. What is actually driving him in that moment? And what I mean by that is how much of it is duty versus admiration for a great sailor versus concern for a father?
Salim: The way I played it was in my mind, I didn’t know how much I loved Corlys until you see him gone. That flash of realizing what you have just lost or what you were about to gain. Because the scene just before that, before everything escalates, was us reconnecting and having a drink in his quarters and almost seeing each other eye to eye for a moment.
And there was something really beautiful that day when we filmed that scene. To then have that ripped and stripped from me so viciously and violently and chaotically, that’s the thing that drives Alyn. Especially when you’re so that far deep into the fight. It doesn’t even become about beauty, it becomes about survival and it becomes about really trying to ensure that you can at least breathe and return home.
Actually, you don’t even care about that. You simply are just present, you are there. And Alyn at that moment, seeing that being taken away from him, just evokes this pure age. This pure sense of a childish tantrum of something being taken away from him that he deeply loved and he didn’t realize how much he loved until he got into it.
I’d say there was no duty there. There was no duty. There was no sense of avenging. It was almost purely selfish of you have just taken something away from me that I might not ever know about.
(Note: While House of the Dragon has made major changes to George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, he following portion of the interview alludes to Alyn’s future based on the source material. They can be considered spoilers.)
Every actor always tells they try to stay in the moment and they try to use what’s in front of them, but considering you know who Alyn of Hull becomes, and you kind of referenced this a little bit, the esteem that he is held in both by readers and within the world of A Song and Ice and Fire, does that help you shape your performance because you can say to yourself, “What kind of person becomes that?”
Salim: Yes, it absolutely does. I’m such a big fan, or big believer, of giving us the arc and the story from the beginning to the end. Because if I look at a play like Hamlet or Othello, or even a film script, you know where the character begins and you know where they ends. And the fun part is seeing the journey of how they get from A to B.
The beauty of what George (R.R. Martin) has crafted and what he has created, and also what (showrunner) Ryan (Condal) cares for is honoring this stuff. And we know where we’re going, we know where we’re playing, so let’s have fun on the journey and lay little seeds there. Then when audiences do come back to watch it all at once, they can see that full arc and really revel in it. Because you can really tell when audiences definitely can tell when stories shifts and turns and goes in a direction that feels almost like it had to make sense in the moment.
There is a real beauty of knowing where the story ends. And again, to those who know the stories and those who don’t, there is a comfort in knowing like, “Oh, there is a source material, a truth that we can always rely on,” which is great.
It’s funny, it’s how I approach a lot of things that I hope that I create, be it with my game studio, or even whenever as I work as an actor, I always want to know, “What’s the end goal here?” Because then I can really have fun and push boundaries and push the limitations of where I’m going as a character to then come to the middle ground or make sense of where I end and feel satisfying with that and go on that journey with an audience.
So knowing that the noble accomplished, respected person he becomes, what’s the most meaningful way that’s shaping your performance now?
Salim: It’s the stoicism and the discomfort that you’re seeing me play with. And really sort of seeing Alyn almost learning from what he’s seeing. He isn’t reacting or engaging or pushing to be the star. He’d rather learn and soak up. Then when the time is right, act. And I think there’s a really lovely moment actually in episode one, which will hopefully make … do you know which moment I’m talking about?
Is it when Corlys is lost and he just takes over?
Salim: Exactly.
It’s your best moment in the whole episode.
Salim: Thank you. Thank you. Because that is exactly the moment where I felt like that’s where you plant the seed for where he is about to go. Where he sees there’s a moment, there’s an opportunity here of taking all that he’s learned, what he’s seen from his father, and stepping up to the plate.
It was so great, because I remember talking with Loni about that, that specific moment being like, “This is key.” To the people who are watching this who don’t know about the book and where Alyn goes, it’s a pretty cool moment of like, “Oh man, he’s stepping up to the plate.” For the people who do know, they’re like, “Oh, kid, this is it!”
That was exactly how it came across to me. I was like, “There it is. There he is. That’s our guy.
Salim: I’m glad you saw that. I’m glad you saw that because that was a real powerful moment. That was an enjoyable moment for me.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He would have immediately drowned during the Battle of the Gullet. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.