Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers from the eighth and final episode of House of the Dragon Season 2: The Queen Who Ever Was.
The director of the Season 2 finale of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has explained the handful of surprising cameos which made an appearance.
These arrived as Daemon Targaryen saw visions of the future pulled from beyond House of the Dragon's narrative to even include scenes from the original Game of Thrones series. Emelia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen was seen with her three dragons alongside a commander of the White Walkers and the Three-Eyed Raven.
"I was so honored that I would get to be part of executing that," Geeta Vasant Patel, director of Season 2's Episode 3 and the final Episode 8, told Variety. "You have to figure out how all those things are going to flow together. You see Daenerys, but how do you see her? Do you see her face? What is she doing?
"I thought the dragons coming out of her in shadow would be really interesting because it’s not about Daenerys, it’s about the story of history. We’re in Daemon’s point of view, so that vision had to tell the story to Daemon of the history of his people and that Rhaenyra needed to be on the throne.
"It’s very tempting to be like, 'Let’s show Daenerys! Let’s zoom in on this.' But that’s not what it’s about. In fact, Daemon doesn’t know who she is. It has to make Daemon understand that he has to bend the knee to Rhaenyra willingly."
Patel said she focused on the scene as an important story beat instead of as a fun cameo for fans. "That’s why you don’t see a lot of extra stuff," she said. "There could have been, but that’s not the point. If we don’t focus on the point of the story, it just becomes a montage that has no meaning."
House of the Dragon is now wrapped for another season, and while more episodes were confirmed even before Season 2's premiere, it will be some time before fans get to watch them. The Season 2 finale set up plenty of plot points for Season 3 to dig into, of course, and you can read our full analysis of these here.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
