This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 3.
Summary
- Director Geeta Vasant Patel discusses Milly Alcock’s return as young Rhaenyra in
House of the Dragon. - Alcock’s appearance highlights Daemon’s first experience of regret and feeling, emphasizing the impact of his actions.
- The scene showcases the emotional depth of the characters and the show’s focus on relatable human experiences.
The big cameo from House of the Dragon season 2, episode 3 gets a detailed breakdown from director Geeta Vasant Patel. In the newest installment of the Game of Thrones spinoff, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) ventured to Harrenhal and found himself face to face with a figure from his past: A young Rhaenyra, once again played by Milly Alcock.
In an interview with Screen Rant, episode 3 director Patel broke down Alcock’s return and explained how it impacts Daemon’s story going forward. She said:
Is the intentionality behind her appearance that this is when she looked up to him, rather than looked down on him?
Geeta Vasant Patel: You’re absolutely right. At least in my eyes, that’s what it was. “That’s the Rhaenyra I know.” And in that dream, she looks at him — and the way we talked about it is she doesn’t need to say anything. We just worked on the look; the meaning that comes from all the episodes before she looks at him, and she cuts him. She says, “Hey, you killed a boy. You don’t do that.”
People have said that to him all the way through. But when young Rhaenyra says it to him, it’s the first time he feels it. It’s the first time he processes his actions, though he’s been killing people left and right since the beginning. This is the first time we see him regret. We see him feel. We actually kept talking, in between takes, about how this is something we’ve never seen before in Daemon.
There was a take where Matt went in, and he just kept saying, “No, I need another take. I need another take.” He was really such a hardworking actor on this, and all of a sudden I saw his face break after Milly looked at him. I just saw his hands loosen, and I saw the tear in his eye. Then I had a tear in my eye because we both felt it. Even the crew got emotional at that moment. And it wasn’t about House of the Dragon, it was about making a mistake that you deeply regret that hurt somebody else. It’s just that simple. That’s what I love about working on this show. I like to think that it is a documentary with dragons. We always try to make it feel real; like something we can relate to.