The House of the Dragon season three premiere, which dropped on HBO Max Sunday, opened with the long-delayed Battle of the Gullet — a massive naval engagement between Rhaenyra Targaryen’s Blacks and the Triarchy fleet that was originally cut from season two when the 2023 writers’ strike forced budget reductions across production. Showrunner Ryan Condal held it back, rebuilt it bigger, and used it to open the new season instead. The gamble paid off, but it cost Rhaenyra her eldest surviving son.
After defying his mother’s orders and riding his dragon Vermax into the battle, Jace watches the tide turn against him when the Triarchy deploys giant harpoon mechanisms that anchor Vermax underwater. Unable to save his dragon, Jace frees himself and surfaces — only to be cut down by a volley of arrows from a nearby enemy ship.
Collett, 22, says he has no complaints. “I got goosebumps reading the script,” he told interviewers this week. “It was like, ‘How are they going to do this on screen?’ And it was huge.” He learned Jace’s fate long before cameras rolled. “Season 1, actually. I’ve always known. And that’s actually kind of special, because it gave me something to look forward to.”
Filming the death proved its own physical challenge. “It was really hard to act dead — it’s actually one of the hardest acting I’ve ever done in my life,” Collett said. “It was really fun, but also really challenging trying to keep my eyes open in the water and staying afloat, while also not getting any up my nose.”
Director Loni Peristere, who drew creative inspiration from the historical Battle of Trafalgar and the 2003 film Master and Commander, said Collett deliberately played Jace’s final moment with defiant certainty rather than fear. “Even when the arrow comes, Jace is like, ‘I’m a god, I’m a dragon rider,'” Peristere explained. “Harry really leaned into it, and God bless him, because we put him through the wringer.”
Baela actor Bethany Antonia said Jace’s death reframes Rhaenyra’s entire war. “You have to remind yourself why Rhaenyra is even doing any of this in the first place when everyone around her is dead,” she said. “What’s the goal of the war now, if the people aren’t there to get the thing you were fighting for?”
Collett says Jace’s death has opened the floodgates to all-out conflict. “It’s no longer going to be, ‘We shouldn’t really go to war, how can we avoid it?’ Now, no one’s going to be thinking about that.” He left the set with two souvenirs: Jace’s sword and the stunt head of Vermax. “We’ve lost a really good dragon as well,” he said. “People should take that into account.”
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