Harry Collett (Jace) explains why he was surprised by that House of the Dragon finale

The second season of House of the Dragon was big for Jacaerys Velaryon, aka Jace, the totally legitimate and definitely not bastard son of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. While he was only in the last few episodes of the first season, he was in season 2 throughout, negotiating with Great Houses on behalf of his mother and coming up with the idea to look outside the immediate Targaryen family for potential dragon-riders.

That said, he didn't like it when his mother decided to recruit Targaryen bastards for the cause, rather than members of other noble houses with distant Targaryen ancestors. Actor Harry Collett talked all about Jace's dilemma to Variety. "[H]e believes that, because he is a bastard...the only thing that’s separating himself from the other bastards is that he has a dragon," Collett explained. "And now that these other bastards are coming in and taking the dragons, that is sort of threatening Jace in a way of legitimacy. And it’s scaring him because his future in his eyes is, he will sit the throne, but what if he sits the throne and everyone is just looking down on him, because he’s the one who put a load of bastards on the dragons?

"I think he just is constantly beating himself up about that. I feel like he knows it’s good that we have people on those unknown dragons, and that they’re going to do something. But the fact that he’s responsible and that people could possibly look down on him because of that — he’s just going to beat himself up about it. And it’s going to send his stress levels through the roof, as well as all the other stuff that he’s dealing with currently."

The finale stopped short of showing us Jace and the other dragonriders in action together, so we'll have to wait to see how that shakes out. For now, all Collett can look back over his work this season, which included a lot more one-on-one time with Emma D'Arcy, who plays Rhaenyra. 'The conversations I had with Emma were, “We’re in a fantasy show, but how can we make this as real as possible?' We discussed having these mother-and-son conversations where Rhaenyra is sort of like, “Oh, no, you can’t go. You’re too young.' And it’s the classic 16-year-old, 'Oh, you’re not old enough to do that.' Having those real conversations, apart from just it being completely fantasy."

"Jace wants to get revenge for what happened to his little brother Luke. He wants to be more involved. He wants to be a mini Daemon, I always say, as that’s the only predominant father figure that he has had through the last few years. We wanted to make sure it just felt very real. And I’m just so glad that Jace isn’t just always in the corner leaning on his sword, and he’s actually doing something this season. It makes me feel proud of the character, because he has something to do with this whole journey — which is how it should be."

Much of that journey is drawn from the pages of George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, which Collett has read in summary, if not word for word. Regardless, he knew there was a bit plot twist coming up for Jace, and was surprised when it didn't happen this season. Beware SPOILERS beyond this point!

Harry Collett thought Jace was going to die in House of the Dragon season 2

The season 2 finale ends with Rhaenyra getting ready to send her new dragonriders out into the world to fight for her. Elsewhere, in Essos, we see Tyland Lannister secure the allegiance of the Triarchy, which sends its fleet to Westeros to try and break the blockade on King's Landing. In Fire & Blood, these two forces clash in the Battle of the Gullet, where Rhaenyra's dragon air force lights up the Triarchy fleet as it attacks Corlys Velaryon's ships.

Rhaenyra and her allies win the battle, but at a cost: Jace is killed when he and his dragon Vermax are brought down by one of the ships. “I did think this would be it for me and Jace,” Collett said of this season. “And it’s always that awkward moment of going to the script reading going, ‘Oh, I don’t know if this is the time, and am I gonna have to do this in front of everyone?’ But it got to the point where we read the last episode in the script read, and it was just a surprise. I went up to [showrunner Ryan Condal], and I was like, ‘Dude, I thought this was it? I thought I was gonna die!’"

"I said to Ryan, ‘I thought this was my time.’ And he said, ‘Mate, I would have called you!’ You get something called ‘the death call,’ so you don’t have to do it at the script read in front of everybody, which I think is very nice. So I was just stressing for no reason, but I’m so thankful that I’ve got to last a whole other season. And if I die, I die — I’m thankful to be in it anyway."

The cast and crew are currently getting ready for season 3, where it seems like Jace is a goner for sure. In fact, we've heard that the Battle of the Gullet was originally planned for the end of season 2 but was moved to season 3, so he might go pretty early in season 3.

If and when that happens, Collett is ready. "[M]y reaction to Jace’s fate from the books is I’m quite happy with it," he said. "I feel like it’s quite a heroic death. I’m not just getting stabbed or poisoned. It’s a death in battle, which I think everybody wants or wishes for."

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.