During a tense conversation with his mom, Alicent (Olivia Cooke<\/a>), he then kissed Alicent on the lips. It’s a moment that, as Mitchell tells PEOPLE, “kind of makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, it’s kind of shocking,” Mitchell says. “But then also, I just recognized a tremendous challenge and an opportunity to show Aemond in a new light.”<\/p>\n “It’s quite a difficult pill to swallow, isn’t it? Kissing your mom on the lips, especially in that way,” the actor says of the scene. “I mean, Aemond, growing up, he never felt like he was loved enough by his mom and his family around him, and a kid needs that unconditional love to develop a balanced view of themselves. And Aemond, because he never had that, he’s got a very skewed perception and a very strange way of showing love.”<\/p>\n “I think what you see in that scene in episode 1 is that skewed love,” Mitchell says.<\/p>\n Olivia Cooke as Alicent and Ewan Mitchell as Aemond in ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3 There’s no doubt that “something’s skewed” with Alicent’s second son, but for Mitchell, the reality of filming the moment wasn’t as intense. “Working with Liv Cooke in that scene is just \u2014 it’s a masterclass working with Liv Cooke in any scene, yeah she’s a real one.”<\/p>\n From Cooke’s perspective, her onscreen son is “f—ed,” as she tells PEOPLE. “I think it was quite odd for both of us,” she says of filming the scene with Mitchell.<\/p>\n “There has been this Oedipal undercurrent \u2014 unbeknownst to Alicent. And I think it’s shocking,” she says. The kiss is also “really dangerous, because he’s a very dangerous person.”<\/p>\n “She knows that one wrong facial expression, one perceived rejection, will cost her her life. So she’s trying to tread very, very carefully,” Cooke, 32, adds. “But I do think she’s sort of stupefied in that moment.”<\/p>\n![\"Olivia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4913143ad9965dcf5b179aecbbf5c5ec.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Ollie Upton\/HBO<\/p>\n
![\"Olivia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd5acfef0cb5481e5b914567e43f173c.jpeg\"\/)
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