"House of the Dragon" Season 2 Funeral Scene Inspired by Princess Diana's Funeral

The second episode of season 2 of "House of the Dragon," titled "Rhaenyra the Cruel," features a heartbreaking funeral scene. The director of the episode revealed that the scene was inspired by the 1997 funeral of Princess Diana.

Princess Diana's funeral caused a wave of grief around the world. In "House of the Dragon," the poignant scenes involving Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena (Phia Saban) in episode 2 were based on images from that day. Episode director Claire Kilner shared in an interview with Vanity Fair that she showed footage of the royal funeral to the extras to guide them on what to do during the scene.

Kilner, who previously directed several episodes of "Game of Thrones," also admitted they had to shoot the funeral scene for Jaehaerys multiple times. The episode "Rhaenyra the Cruel," at 72 minutes, is the longest of the season. The team worked hard to capture the intense emotions of the scene.

Kilner commented on the episode:

"We filmed many takes for the funeral. Before starting this really heartbreaking and difficult scene, we needed to find the right rhythm. Alicent and Helaena had to cope with the fact that everyone was constantly watching and looking at them."

The scenes were shot in Spain, with most of the extras being local residents. Kilner, who speaks Spanish, was able to communicate directly with them. These conversations helped the extras recall their own experiences of mourning, aiming to portray the emotion on screen as authentically as possible.