House Of The Dragon Season 3's Weird Opening Has A Surprising Explanation

Contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon" Season 3 Episode 1

Did the action-packed start of Season 3 of HBO's "House of the Dragon" — the first major spin-off and prequel set in Westeros, the fictional continent made famous by "Game of Thrones" — seem a little wild to you? That's probably because the battles we got to see in the Season 3 premiere of the Targaryen-centric series should have taken place at the end of Season 2.

We are, of course, referring to the shocking, harrowing, and beautifully shot Battle of the Gullet, a huge skirmish that's a big part of George R.R. Martin's Targaryen family history "Fire & Blood" that chronicles the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. As Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) takes to the open seas to fight for his chosen leader — Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), who represents the Black faction — and Rhaenyra's husband, uncle, and consort Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) rallies his own army in the Riverlands, we know, during the Season 2 finale of "House of the Dragon," that two huge battles are coming. Then ... that season just ends.

Because of this, we don't get to see if Rhaenyra's forces reign supreme or those siding with her former friend turned enemy and stepmother, dowager queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), prevail. As a reminder, those Green faction forces include Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) — who's heading to challenge Daemon at Harrenhal — or Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), who joins forces with Triarchy admiral Sharako Lohar (YouTuber and actor Abigail Thorn, best known as Philosophy Tube), prevail. So why did Season 2 of "House of the Dragon" lose two huge battles? The budget, apparently.

In 2023, ahead of the 2024 release of Season 2 of "House of the Dragon," Deadline writer Nellie Andreeva exclusively learned that the episode order from HBO was unexpectedly cut from 10 episodes down to eight. The reason, Andreeva said, was budgetary. After noting that HBO pointedly did not confirm the number of episodes in Season 2 when they renewed "House of the Dragon" for its sophomore season, Andreeva continued: 

"I hear the initial plan was for another 10-episode arc, which eventually changed, leading to some script rewrites. Given the leadership change at HBO's parent company, some pointed at Warner Bros. Discovery leadership's focus on cost-cutting. An HBO spokesperson, who confirmed to Deadline that Season 2 will contain 8 episodes, stressed that the episode count trim was story-driven."

Andreeva's report also notes that showrunner Ryan Condal "envisioned" the show running for either three or four seasons — four did turn out to be the magic number, as it would eventually be confirmed that "House of the Dragon" will wrap up after Season 4 — but that's still a pretty brief number of seasons. With that in mind, it feels more than a little confusing that HBO would axe two huge battles from the end of a season. Thankfully, there's some good news: since this was apparently a budget issue, moving the Battle of the Gullet to Season 3 of "House of the Dragon" was worth the wait, because it looks spectacular.

This is where we get into spoiler territory for the Battle of the Gullet that makes up the end of the Season 3 premiere of "House of the Dragon," so buckle up. After the Season 2 finale puts all of the chess pieces on the board — or, is as the case with the Battle of the Gullet, on the seas of Westeros — Season 3 finally brings the action. Despite the long wait, this battle is totally worth it.

With Corlys and Lohar facing off on their respective ships — and Rhaenyra's eldest son Jacaerys "Jace" Velaryon (Harry Collett) heading into battle with his cousin Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) above the fray on dragonback — the battle begins, and before long, Lohar makes a shocking decision. Instead of attacking all of the enemy forces alongside Tyland, Lohar, who catches sight of her old nemesis Corlys, switches focus and decides to exclusively attack Corlys' ship. In the process, Corlys lures Lohar's ship into a narrow bottleneck, seemingly trapping her ... so Lohar steers her ship directly into Corlys' massive ship, letting both parties engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat. 

Lohar is killed by Corlys' bastard son Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) in combat and Rhaenyra's forces win the battle, but Jace is killed ... only because Baela's younger sister Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) shows up riding a wild dragon named Sheepstealer and causes absolute chaos in the skies. The Battle of the Gullet is probably the most exciting battle on "House of the Dragon" yet, and again ... it was worth the wait.

"House of the Dragon" airs new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m.