House of the Dragon boss not surprised fans ship Daemon and Rhaenyra

House of the Dragon is forging ahead with its storyline, but some moments have lingered even as the episodes have continued. For instance, it may be a while before I forget the bit in Episode 4 where Daemon Targaryen takes his niece Rhaenyra to a brothel intending to have sex with her, and only stops because she’s into it and that turns him off. I mean…that was intense even for Game of Thrones.

What’s more, a lot of fans have been shipping Daemon and Rhaenyra together, I assume because they believe in families sticking together. “[N]othing surprises me these days,” showrunner Ryan Condal told Variety. “I really didn’t know what people were going to make of that at all. Look, it’s part of the story, and I think that’s what makes it fascinating.”

"It’s even pretty taboo as far as Game of Thrones goes, maybe not for — well, I think even so for Targaryens, because it’s different generations. But, yeah, it’s amazing what a great performance can do to make people accept things about a character. That’s credit to Matt and Milly, and soon, I think, to Matt and Emma, because you’ll see they also have a complex relationship. But look, I mean, I went back to Back to the Future, which is just like, you know, Marty goes to the prom with his mom and you’re kind of creeped out about it, but also you’re kind of like, “Huh! These are two good looking people. Are they’re going to make out tonight?!” Look, it’s not your uncle. So, you know, I guess people are OK with it, or the original series did enough groundwork to normalize Targaryen mating rituals that we don’t have to worry about it.What Daemon does to young Rhaenyra is, in modern terminology, an act of abuse. And, as a traumatic event would, it shapes who Rhaenyra becomes."

There were other sex scenes in Episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea,” including between Rhaenyra and Criston Cole and between Alicent Hightower and Viserys Targaryen. The show won’t shy away from this stuff, although they’re not Condal’s favorite scenes to write. “Those scenes are always a challenge,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable writing them, to be honest with you. But sometimes it’s necessary to tell the story. We always come back to: Is this a necessary thing to reveal character, to tell a certain story point? I think we’ve been really restrained in the making of the show — that those kinds of scenes have never been done to titillate. It’s always been done with a purpose to either reveal character or to reveal the world or to tell a bit of story.”

"Viserys married a much younger woman, essentially the childhood friend of his daughter. We felt it was important to see the outcome of that. We had female directors on the show; one of them directed that particular scene. Sara Hess is my writing partner on the show. There were lots of female voices involved in the decision-making there, and it was actually the women who were really pushing for it: “No, we have to see it, because we have to make the audience feel the actual results of this kind of political scheming and what that actually means — but do it in a way that protects the actors and is, again, not titillating.”"

And then there’s the intimacy coordinator, who helps actors rehearse sex scenes and considers their input so that everyone is as comfortable as possible during these charged moments. “The big thing, at least in my experience, with intimate scenes, is that the actors understand that it’s part of the job, but they want to know what they’re walking into,” Condal said. “We put a lot of effort and thought into that. I’m proud of what we did, and I just hope our cast felt as taken care of as we tried to make them.”

Ryan Condal contemplates running House of the Dragon by himself come season 2

For season 1, Condal managed the sex scenes (and every other scene) alongside his fellow showrunner Miguel Sapochnik. But with Sapochnik leaving the series ahead of season 2, Condal will have the run the rest of the show on his lonesome, which is a tall order for a series as complicated as this one.

“It’s a lot,” Condal sighed. “It’s one of those things where, like, I’ve heard presidents say that they always have more trepidation about their second term than their first because they know the job that they’re going into. I definitely am not comparing this job to the presidency at all. But it’s lonely at the top, and now I find myself alone at the top. Thankfully, I have a wonderful team around me. I’m excited for the story that we’re going to tell in Season 2. There are thousands of people that go into the making of this. It’s on me to be able to be a great leader and try to inspire people, hopefully with some good writing, to get the very best work out of them and make another great season of the show.”

I mean, you can say that you’re not comparing the job to the presidency but you just did. We all saw it.

Still, so far House of the Dragon has gotten a tremendous reception, so at least Condal has a lot of goodwill heading into the rest of the series. “It feels good,” he said. “I’ve been doing this job for 15 years. I’ve never been involved with anything even remotely like this. It’s pretty crazy. It is hard to celebrate, because it is so intense and all consuming. Season 1 has really folded over on Season 2. We’ve been writing Season 2 for months, through post and premieres and press. So there’s not really a moment to take stock and go to some Mediterranean island and stand and look off into the sunset, proud of your work. Maybe that day will come, but not today.”

New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

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