Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship is the heart of House of the Dragon
By Daniel Roman
House of the Dragon premieres in a few short weeks, and the hype are flying high. HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series will detail the events of a brutal civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, where rival factions of the Targaryen family tore the realm apart fighting over who should sit the Iron Throne. The show is about a war of succession, which should be familiar to any Game of Thrones fan, as well as a family saga about the decline of House Targaryen.
On one side, we have Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Mily Alcock as a teenager and Emma D’Arcy as an adult), the daughter of King Viseryes I Targaryen and his preferred heir to the throne. On the other, we have Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey for the younger version, and Olivia Cooke for the older), Rhaenyra’s childhood best friend, daugther of the Hand of the King, and eventually the second wife of the king, which technically makes her Rhaenyra’s stepmother even though they’re around the same age. The rivalry between these two women is at the heart of House of the Dragon.
Speaking with Empire Magazine, showrunner Miguel Sapochnik reveals that the show wasn’t always so focused on Alicent and Rhaenyra. His wife Alexis Raben, who is a development executive at Sapochnik’s production company, suggested the show would be better if it honed in on Rhaenyra and Alicent’s rivalry; after that, the larger themes of the show came into clearer focus.
House of the Dragon will explore “the patriarchy’s perception of women”
“One day, she said, ‘This would be much more interesting if it was about the two main female characters, rather than the male characters,’” Sapochnik recalled. “‘If you really focused in on the patriarchy’s perception of women, and the fact that they’d rather destroy themselves than see a woman on the throne.’ That wasn’t a perspective I have ever told before. I think it made this show feel more contemporary too… We said, ‘What if Alicent is like ‘Women for Trump,’ and Rhaenyra’s like punk rock?’”
That schism between Rhaenyra and Alicent isn’t the only thing that drives the Dance of the Dragons, but it might be one of the most heartbreaking. Despite the fact that they eventually end up on opposite sides of the war, Rhaenyra and Alicent were once childhood friends.
“They grow up in the same backyard, which happens to be the royal court,” Emma D’Arcy said. “But Alicent is better at conforming to the requirements of court manoeuvres, and Rhaenyra is humming with the fire of old Targaryenism. It’s like an ally that lives inside her, and she has to learn when to dampen that fire and when to trust it. She’s surrounded by a trail of ashes.”
Being surrounded by a trail of ashes sounds about as Targaryen as it gets. I can’t be the only one who had a flashback to Daenerys walking through an ash-covered throne room…
House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.
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