House of the Dragon Season 3 near end of UK filming, bigger scope

Production on House of the Dragon Season 3 is approaching its final weeks, series star Matt Smith said on the TODAY show, as the HBO prequel moves into the final third of filming in the United Kingdom. Smith, who plays Daemon Targaryen, told interviewer Craig Melvin that the production is in "month six of eight" and that there were about 35 shooting days remaining, adding that the cast was "about to get to the real meat of, you know, the end of the series" and that filming had become "hectic."

Smith's comments follow a string of updates from the showrunners and cast suggesting Season 3 will significantly ramp up scope and action. Olivia Cooke, who returns as Alicent Hightower, told Collider that Season 3 "starts off with a bang" and that the opening two episodes were originally intended to serve as the prior season's finale. "It is bigger and more ferocious than ever before," she said, signaling a shift after criticism that Season 2 lacked largescale battles and on-screen confrontations.

Showrunner Ryan Condal has likewise signaled an expansion in scale, telling a podcast audience he underestimated how much larger Season 3 would be compared with Season 2. Condal has said the...