4 House of the Dragon stars who should have gotten Emmy nominations

Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen

As much as I liked Alcock as Rhaenyra, I don’t think her being left out of the Emmy conversation is a travesty; she was very good, but so are the women nominated for Outstanding Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress; not everyone can make the short list.

But Emma D’Arcy as adult Rhaenyra…them being left off is a travesty. D’Arcy was given a very high bar to clear and jumped over it with ease. We meet her older Rhaenyra while she’s giving birth to her third son, Joffrey; D’Arcy gives us a woman in the final pains of childbirth, a new mother deliriously happy to meet her new child, and a canny political player who knows she needs to display that her new baby is healthy to people at court, since her every move is watched for signs of weakness. And she does this in the space of one shot. It’s a hell of an introduction.

D’Arcy plays another, much more brutal birthing scene in the season finale. And then there’s her staredown with Alicent Hightower at Driftmark, and the final moment of the season where Rhaenyra glares at the camera after learning of her son Lucerys’ death, her eyes flame with war.

D’Arcy seemed to give us iconic moment after iconic moment. Their performance recalls Alcock’s work, but there’s more steel, more strength, which isn’t to say D’Arcy abandons Rhaenyra’s vulnerability. It’s a well-rounded, flexible performance that draws on deep wells of feeling, and very exciting to watch.

If future seasons of House of the Dragon are as good or better than the first, I have hope that D’Arcy will eventually take home some gold. Unfortunately, we can’t say that for Alcock, or for our next entrant: