House of the Dragon is upping its game, in terms of intrigue and plot twists. A spin-off of the award-winning Game of Thrones, HOTD is set 200 years before the original show and chronicles the bitter rivalries, jealousy, lust in the House of Targaryen. The show, which focuses on Princess Rhaenyra, has just seen a 10-year leap, which led to several actors being replaced and older stars stepping into the roles. While Milly Alcock played the role of the younger Rhaenyra, Emma D’Arcy is playing the older Rhaenyra.
Talking about her evolving role, Emma said in a statement, “She’s living multiple lies at once, believing she’s getting away with it, and ultimately no one’s buying it. When Viserys names her heir, that comes with an understanding that she’ll have to change, but that piece of information is never received, so behaviours that she had previously are suddenly met completely differently.” At the beginning of the show, Rhaenyra was named as heir to the throne, as there were no other heirs to fight for the throne. However, her father Viserys I (Paddy Considine) married Rhaenyra’s best friend Alicient Hightower to produce more heirs for the throne—something that ends their friendship for good. Meanwhile, a questionable romance continues to brew between Rhaenyra and her uncle Daemon, played by Matt Smith.
The actor added, “There’s a sort of territory war going on over her father. There’s a desire to be on the inside of the family that she can’t quite budge on. This fear of ill-feeling being fed to her father by Alicent is so present that it sits on her, and it’s the thing that currently ties her to King’s Landing and stops her being able to leave,” she added.
House of the Dragon, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Geeta Vasant Patel and Greg Yaitanes, is streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar in India.
