SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 2 of “House of the Dragon,” now streaming on HBO Max.
“House of the Dragon” fans have had a week to accept the death of Jace Targaryen (Harry Collett), but at the top of this week’s episode of the “Game of Thrones” prequel, his tragic passing was brand new information for his queen and mother, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). And she, understandably, did not take it well.
In fact, Rhaenyra was so devastated by the death of another son — this one her heir — that she repeatedly demanded his dead body respond to her when she first faced the news in Episode 2, Season 3 of the “Game of Thrones” prequel.
“I think the truth is, for Rhaenyra, it’s an insurmountable loss, and it’s a reality that is too terrible to reckon with,” D’Arcy told Variety. “So the first feeling, the first instinct, is sort of utter denial and to try to push back against that dawning terrible reality. It was a hard day at work.”
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D’Arcy said there was “only one scene” that they “dreaded shooting” this season, and it was that moment when Rhaenyra breaks with reality by trying to engage with Jace’s corpse.
“There’s such a strange part of our job, which is there is a sort of business, this gentle mirror between story and lived experience,” they said. “And whenever you shoot something like that, it does mean letting go of a really treasured cast member and friend — and added to which, imagining those things is painful. And you don’t really have an option but to commit to that, at least for the period that you’re shooting it.”
D’Arcy said their co-star Collett “was totally beautiful that day” on set in helping them prepare for the scene.
“We didn’t really speak in the morning, and he gave me a very wide berth, and then he was so gorgeous at lunchtime, he sort of came up to me, and he said, ‘Hey, sorry, I wasn’t sure, I thought you might just want a little bit of space, I just thought I’d give you that space, but I’m also here if you want anything,’” D’Arcy said. “And I’m perpetually amazed and very moved by actors and their intuition, and their care and their professionalism — so that’s very lovely.”
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Learning of Jace’s death is just the beginning of the trials Rhaenyra faces this episode: The hour opens with the aftermath of the Battle of the Gullet (in which Jace was killed), and ends with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) coming before Rhaenyra seated on the Iron Throne, looking down at the bloody, beheaded body of Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), just after Daemon (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra have taken over the Red Keep.
The episode concludes with Rhaenyra looking completely mortified at the idea of having to explain to Alicent what happened, since Alicent had set Rhaenyra up to take King’s Landing and thus the Iron Throne from Alicent’s son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) — but hadn’t expected this. Now, the tentative alliance Rhaenyra and Alicent struck at the end of Season 2, when Alicent reluctantly caved to Rhaenyra’s insistence that she’d need to kill Aegon in order to properly take the crown, could be completely dissolved depending on how Alicent reacts to this choice.
“Rhaenyra still perceives Alicent as her judge and jury, regardless of how polarized their positions have become,” D’Arcy said. “I think, because they were friends — best friends — in childhood, and because they were so close at the point of Rhaenyra’s mother’s death, I think there was some sort of transference there. Ultimately, I still think that Rhaenyra craves Alicent’s affirmation. So to find herself so far from Alicent’s kindness and affirmation is really stark. And as with those long relationships where we witness one another through our life, Rhaenyra sees something of herself from the outside: sort of everything that’s come before.”
Whether Alicent agrees or not, Rhaenyra has a compelling argument for why they had to kill Otto once Daemon discovered him held captive in the prison under King’s Landing. And why Rhaenyra had to muster the courage to hack off his head herself in front of the guards before taking the Iron Throne.
“I think Rhaenyra has had a two-season-long battle with both colleagues and subjects to be recognized and respected as a potential ruling queen,” D’Arcy said. “This is an instance of having to present as something that is familiar to a patriarchal idea of power. And whether or not that’s a line that she should have crossed, morally and ethically, and whether that’s a departure from herself or a step towards, is for audiences to determine”
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D’Arcy and Smith spent the better part of “House of the Dragon” Season 2 filming scenes away from the center of the action in King’s Landing, as their constituency, the Blacks, were no longer in power, and Rhaenyra and Daemon were busy trying to shore up their allies elsewhere. So to return to the palace prepared to shoot their cautious but cutting infiltration of the Red Keep was a homecoming.
“It was interesting, that day was — because for us, also having not really been back on that set — a bit like returning home in a way, because it is sort of ours,” Smith said. “They’ve got all that gunk up on the walls and stuff. It looks shite. I’d have that straight down, get that off the walls. All these fucking big religious things. So there was a sort of life-imitating-art-and-art-informing-life feeling and all that stuff, which was going on, which was entertaining for me.”
D’Arcy added: “I totally agree. Even within the studio complex that we shoot, the Red Keep is the sort of locus of power. And I’d been in exile on the Dragonstone set for a season, and so it’s nice to be back at the heart of things. And Rhaenyra and Daemon operate as one organism in that homecoming.”
While Daemon has solidly had Rhaenyra’s back since pledging his allegiance to his wife and queen at the end of Season 2, he’s recently made a mistake that could cost her a great deal soon. At the end of this second episode of Season 3, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) happens upon Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) when he takes Harrenhal while Rhaenyra and Daemon are busy taking King’s Landing. And based on how Daemon turned down Alys’ request that she be granted Harrenhal as reward for her support of Rhaenyra’s side, it appears Alys may be ready to switch sides to try to get a better deal.
Will this turn into a tragic mistake Daemon soon regrets?
“I think in Daemon’s peculiar world of affection, on some level, his time at Harrenhal was productive for him, in terms of opening up slightly with Ser Simon Strong and his cohorts,” Smith said. “So perhaps there is a degree of gratitude that has gone unsaid with Daemon that he’s not expressed to Alys.
“So yeah, most probably.”
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