Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke name their favorite House of the Dragon scenes

The first season of House of the Dragon came to an end on Sunday with the death of Prince Lucerys Velaryon, making a full-blown clash between the blacks and the greens inevitable in season 2.

As war looms, Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke talked to Vulture about their characters, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. D’Arcy and Cooke, who have become quite the friends over the duration of filming House of the Dragon, each named the scene played by the other person they most liked.

Cooke picked D’Arcy’s very first scene as Rhaenyra, where she births her third son Joffrey:

"Emma, I know you’re probably sick to death of birthing people, but your first birth scene was mesmeric. I have never seen someone pull off a more realistic portrayal of birth. It was so insular, like you were about to set off a rocket inside you. Then just the relief, and the pain as well — you perform pain so f***ing well. It’s really hard to do, but you don’t overegg it."

Meanwhile, D’Arcy chose Cooke’s performance opposite Paddy Considine’s Viserys in the scene where Alicent demands an “eye for an eye” after Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys blinds her son Aemond.

"Watching you speak to Paddy in the “eye for an eye” scene, I’ve watched it actually quite a lot of times, just getting some tips — Your eyes speak in full sentences. Living, not showing. There are not that many people who can actually do that. I’m amazed at the rigor with which your whole body lives that painful, undermining relationship. I’m really moved by characters who are so cornered."

What would Westeros be like if Rhaenyra and Alicent could rule together?

D’Arcy and Cooke also addressed the evolution of their characters and the different ways Rhaenyra and Alicent came together and drifted apart over 10 episodes. They revealed that the first scene they shot together was the funeral for Laena Velaryon in Episode 7, and the last scene the dinner sequence in Episode 8, shot 10 months apart.

Talking about the dinner scene, Cooke said that she felt Alicent’s toast was a “thank you card” for Rhaenyra, an olive branch in a world where keeping up with patriarchal traditions has pushed the two childhood friends apart. D’Arcy agreed that by merely attempting to reconcile, the two women were trying to undo the damage that has been done, and possibly will be done in future. “For a patriarchal system, the rift works,” D’Arcy said. “To stand up in front of their whole mini-universe and offer the possibility of reconciliation is a radical act.”

Watch Rhaenyra and Alicent’s toast scene below:

D’Arcy and Cooke were asked to predict how Westeros might look if Alicent and Rhaenyra were allowed to rule it together. D’Arcy called it the “ultimate scenario,” one where Rhaenyra’s “masculine leadership and fiery decisive thing” would have perfectly blended with Alicent’s foresighted planning.

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