The haunted castle of Harrenhal is making Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) let his guard down, but the cast of House of the Dragon is keeping things professional.
In this week's episode "The Dragon in Winter," Aemond's visions and hallucinations bled into his burgeoning relationship with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), as well as the actual arrival of his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) at the keep. Their portion of the episode opened with a sex scene that was shocking to watch, but in a new interview with Variety, Rankin assured viewers that it was filmed by the book. As for its implications on the story, Rankin has a lot to say about Aemond and Alys.
"It was very intimate and very odd but very professional," Rankin said of the scene where Aemond hallucinated himself having sex with Alicent, only to realize that he was actually in bed with Alys. "We tried to like make jokes, just to keep it lighthearted because those scenes are not easy, and they’re complicated and very technical. So it was also just like it was another day at the office for being like a very odd, f—ed-up scene."
Rankin has hinted before that she knows where the show is going with Alys, and she did so again in this interview—though of course she isn't spoiling anything. She did share some surprising interpretations of Alys and Aemond's relationship, including her belief that Alys really does care for Aemond on some level. However, she believes Alys' read on people is heavily influenced by her prophetic gift and her psychic powers, leaving her exasperated in this episode.
Alys respects Aemond's authenticity
As Rankin sees it, Alys has feelings for Aemond beyond his political and magical utility to her plans. The actress said that Aemond is "pretty unabashedly himself. I think that's refreshing to [Alys]. I think that he’s, in some ways, very misunderstood," she continued. In some ways. And he has behaved horrendously, but he’s also gotten, in some ways, what he’s wanted, and I think she respects that. And I think they’re kind of like a dark power couple."
By contrast, she noted that Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) never "really let his guard down with Alys... And then he broke her heart." Rankin added, "And she’s prophetic and she also can read people like a book. So she knew that Daemon was never going to get there with her, and Daemon was not her answer. I think Aemond is a different story, and I think she knows that instinctively."
Back when season 2 was airing, Rankin told interviewers that she understood Alys to be about 400 years old, and she repeated that estimate here. She also said, "I think we're going to find out more soon," which is a tantalizing promise for the season finale and the final season after that. Now that we know Alys' ultimate goal is to hatch the dragon eggs she has hoarded, the field is wide open for speculation about her origins and her true goals.
In the meantime, Rankin sees the rest of this scene as Alys going through the motions, frustrated that Aemond won't trust her counsel when it comes to his mother. She joked that the awkward "family dinner" scene was "awful, but I kind of loved it." Their storyline in the episode ends with Aemond crawling to Alys for help after Alicent has poisoned him, with Alys muttering, "Idiot." Rankin said this was a combination of love and frustration, adding that "many people, and certainly many women, can probably relate to the tone."
Alys may be the key to House of the Dragon's biggest revelations
House of the Dragon kicked off by confirming for the first time that House Targaryen had prophesied the return of the White Walkers and had conquered Westeros specifically to combat that threat.
This was the show's answer to the typical problem prequels have with predictability and low stakes. Showrunner Ryan Condal intends to end the series with one more season, and many fans are expecting at least one more major lore revelation by the end. As an adherent of the old gods with ambitions of hatching dragons, Alys seems to be perfectly set up for this role.
Rankin's hints about Alys' age and her true feelings for Aemond only seem to make this more likely. It's possible the witch of Harrenhal has seen some prophecy of the Long Night as well, and she may be seeking dragons for herself due to her belief that House Targaryen can't handle the threat. Whatever the case, she's an important character to watch as we head into the climax of this war. House of the Dragon season 3 concludes on Sunday, August 9, on HBO and HBO Max.
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