House of the Dragon director breaks silence on major Daenerys nod in episode 3

*Warning - The following article contains spoilers from House of the Dragon season 2, episode 3 and Game of Thrones.*

House of the Dragon season 2, episode 3 packed a major punch, with huge plot points and intriguing characters being introduced ahead of the impending civil war between House Green and House Black. However, many fans may have missed a literal Game of Thrones Easter egg that arrived on the show this week.

In fact, the HBO prequel series just gave a direct nod to the future Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), 200 years before her time. House of the Dragon director Geeta Vasant Patel has since confirmed the reference in Sunday night’s episode.

It’s a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, as plenty of plotlines are now underway as the show lays out the story of epic proportions set out in George R.R. Martin’s books. During the episode, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) decides to send her youngest children away to keep them safe as the civil war looms.

She places them under the care of her step-daughter Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell), asking her to take her sons Aegon and Viserys to the Vale. She also asks them to take their young dragons Tyraxes and Stormcloud, along with four valuable but fragile dragon eggs. 

The hope is that, by sending the children away, they can eventually travel to Pentos and seek refuge there. 

While young Rhaena is not happy with the idea of playing nursemaid to her younger step-brothers, it seems her mission will actually be much more important than she realises. 

In fact, the dragon eggs she is protecting will actually end up in the hands of Pentoshi merchant Illyrio Mopatis (Roger Allam), who gives them to Princess Daenerys in the very first episode of Game of Thrones.

By this time, many people are sceptical about the existence of dragons in their more modern world.

However, thanks to Daenerys, three of those eggs hatch into the trio of Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

Episode 3 director Geeta Vasant Patel has since confirmed this is the case, explaining: "Those are Daenerys' eggs.

"All of us who work on this show are big Game of Thrones fans, so it was very exciting to shoot that scene,” she told Mashable.

Fans have also been speculating online that there’s a fourth egg, that may hatch into a dragon that will become important in House of the Dragon’s time.

House of the Dragon season 2 lands in the UK on Mondays at 2am BST (British Summer Time) on Sky Atlantic and NOW, with a repeat airing later on at 9pm.