House of the Dragon season 3 opens with a shocking loss, as Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) is killed during the brutal Battle of the Gullet. Of course, his mother, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), is rocked by this. She doesn’t find out until the newly-released episode 2, when Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) returns to Dragonstone with her betrothed’s body.
In a devastating scene, Rhaenyra seems to disassociate when learning what happened, asking Jace’s corpse, “What have you done?” and talking to him as if he was still alive.
Emma D’Arcy talks Rhaenyra’s emotional scene
While speaking with Decider, D’Arcy admitted they were dreading this scene, even though they knew it was vital for the storyline.
“Yeah, it’s hard. If I’m honest, that was the only scene in the series that I sort of dreaded,” D’Arcy shared. “I think part of that is becoming necessarily very, very close with the people that we filmed the show with, and every time you film a character’s death scene, you also sort of lose an actor from the company.”
The actor went on to explain that the “What have you done?” line can work on several levels, adding: “I was cognizant of wanting to actually ask the question as opposed to it becoming kind of rhetorical. I just wanted it to sort of live and for her to hope for an answer because I think that that denial is the most honest. I think that denial communicates how kind of intolerable the sort of dawning reality is.”
The loss of Jace drives Rhaenyra on, as the episode ends with her finally sitting on the Iron Throne. It also sees her behead Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) walking in to see the scene just before the credits roll. Though her goal of taking her seat in King’s Landing has always been on the forefront, Jace’s death—and Daemon’s motivational words—forces Rhaenyra to finally make the move. She learns Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon are gone, so there’s no better time to take back her power.
D’Arcy has been applauded for their performance in this latest episode, with many fans calling for them to receive an Emmy Award nomination.
How Harry Collett feels about the emotional scene
Also speaking to Decider, Collett talked about how rather than use a dummy, he elected to “play dead” for the episode. (You can watch him getting into corpse makeup here.) He praised D’Arcy’s amazing performance, which was so good that the actors’ reactions were real.
“It was hard, and Emma [D’Arcy] did an amazing performance. All of the reactions you see in [the] room are all very real,” Collett shared. “I think there’s a scene where there’s a clip where Bethany [Antonia] actually has a tear rolling down her face, and that’s real. That’s just a real reaction to Emma’s performance.”
D’Arcy returned the compliment, praising Collett as “totally beautiful,” adding: “I’m always just deeply touched by the sort of beautiful intuition and grace that actors have and the respect that we give each other. He’s an ace person. He’s a really special person. I was very relieved when that day was over, actually.”
It’s an emotional way to finish up their time on the show together, but the scene also provided D’Arcy an opportunity to show their incredible skills in front of the camera.
House of the Dragon season 3 releases new episodes every Sunday night on HBO and HBO Max.
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