{"id":732736,"date":"2026-06-29T11:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/732736\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T11:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:25:10","slug":"house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-rhaenyra-and-daemon-take-iron-throne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/732736\/","title":{"rendered":"House of the Dragon, Episode 2: Rhaenyra and Daemon Take Iron Throne"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 2 of \u201cHouse of the Dragon,\u201d now streaming on HBO Max.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d fans have had a week to accept the death of Jace Targaryen (Harry Collett)<\/a>, but at the top of this week\u2019s episode of the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d prequel, his tragic passing was brand new information for his queen and mother, Rhaenyra (Emma D\u2019Arcy). And she, understandably, did not take it well. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, Rhaenyra was so devastated by the death of another son \u2014 this one her heir \u2014 that she repeatedly demanded his dead body respond to her when she first faced the news in Episode 2, Season 3 of the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d prequel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the truth is, for Rhaenyra, it\u2019s an insurmountable loss, and it\u2019s a reality that is too terrible to reckon with,\u201d D\u2019Arcy told Variety. \u201cSo the first feeling, the first instinct, is sort of utter denial and to try to push back against that dawning terrible reality. It was a hard day at work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of HBO<\/p>\n

\n\tD\u2019Arcy said there was \u201conly one scene\u201d that they \u201cdreaded shooting\u201d this season, and it was that moment when Rhaenyra breaks with reality by trying to engage with Jace\u2019s corpse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s such a strange part of our job, which is there is a sort of business, this gentle mirror between story and lived experience,\u201d they said. \u201cAnd whenever you shoot something like that, it does mean letting go of a really treasured cast member and friend \u2014 and added to which, imagining those things is painful. And you don\u2019t really have an option but to commit to that, at least for the period that you\u2019re shooting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tD\u2019Arcy said their co-star Collett \u201cwas totally beautiful that day\u201d on set in helping them prepare for the scene.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t really speak in the morning, and he gave me a very wide berth, and then he was so gorgeous at lunchtime, he sort of came up to me, and he said, \u2018Hey, sorry, I wasn\u2019t sure, I thought you might just want a little bit of space, I just thought I\u2019d give you that space, but I\u2019m also here if you want anything,’\u201d D\u2019Arcy said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m perpetually amazed and very moved by actors and their intuition, and their care and their professionalism \u2014 so that\u2019s very lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of HBO<\/p>\n

\n\tLearning of Jace\u2019s death is just the beginning of the trials Rhaenyra faces this episode: The hour opens with the aftermath of the Battle of the Gullet (in which Jace was killed), and ends with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) coming before Rhaenyra seated on the Iron Throne, looking down at the bloody, beheaded body of Alicent\u2019s father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), just after Daemon (Matt Smith<\/a>) and Rhaenyra have taken over the Red Keep.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe episode concludes with Rhaenyra looking completely mortified at the idea of having to explain to Alicent what happened, since Alicent had set Rhaenyra up to take King\u2019s Landing and thus the Iron Throne from Alicent\u2019s son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) \u2014 but hadn\u2019t expected this. Now, the tentative alliance Rhaenyra and Alicent struck at the end of Season 2, when Alicent reluctantly caved to Rhaenyra\u2019s insistence that she\u2019d need to kill Aegon in order to properly take the crown, could be completely dissolved depending on how Alicent reacts to this choice.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRhaenyra still perceives Alicent as her judge and jury, regardless of how polarized their positions have become,\u201d D\u2019Arcy said. \u201cI think, because they were friends \u2014 best friends \u2014 in childhood, and because they were so close at the point of Rhaenyra\u2019s mother\u2019s death, I think there was some sort of transference there. Ultimately, I still think that Rhaenyra craves Alicent\u2019s affirmation. So to find herself so far from Alicent\u2019s kindness and affirmation is really stark. And as with those long relationships where we witness one another through our life, Rhaenyra sees something of herself from the outside: sort of everything that\u2019s come before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhether Alicent agrees or not, Rhaenyra has a compelling argument for why they had to kill Otto once Daemon discovered him held captive in the prison under King\u2019s Landing. And why Rhaenyra had to muster the courage to hack off his head herself in front of the guards before taking the Iron Throne.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think Rhaenyra has had a two-season-long battle with both colleagues and subjects to be recognized and respected as a potential ruling queen,\u201d D\u2019Arcy said. \u201cThis is an instance of having to present as something that is familiar to a patriarchal idea of power. And whether or not that\u2019s a line that she should have crossed, morally and ethically, and whether that\u2019s a departure from herself or a step towards, is for audiences to determine\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of HBO<\/p>\n

\n\tD\u2019Arcy and Smith spent the better part of \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d Season 2 filming scenes away from the center of the action in King\u2019s Landing, as their constituency, the Blacks, were no longer in power, and Rhaenyra and Daemon were busy trying to shore up their allies elsewhere. So to return to the palace prepared to shoot their cautious but cutting infiltration of the Red Keep was a homecoming.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was interesting, that day was \u2014 because for us, also having not really been back on that set \u2014 a bit like returning home in a way, because it is sort of ours,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got all that gunk up on the walls and stuff. It looks shite. I\u2019d have that straight down, get that off the walls. All these fucking big religious things. So there was a sort of life-imitating-art-and-art-informing-life feeling and all that stuff, which was going on, which was entertaining for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tD\u2019Arcy added: \u201cI totally agree. Even within the studio complex that we shoot, the Red Keep is the sort of locus of power. And I\u2019d been in exile on the Dragonstone set for a season, and so it\u2019s nice to be back at the heart of things. And Rhaenyra and Daemon operate as one organism in that homecoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Daemon has solidly had Rhaenyra\u2019s back since pledging his allegiance to his wife and queen at the end of Season 2, he\u2019s recently made a mistake that could cost her a great deal soon. At the end of this second episode of Season 3, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) happens upon Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) when he takes Harrenhal while Rhaenyra and Daemon are busy taking King\u2019s Landing. And based on how Daemon turned down Alys\u2019 request that she be granted Harrenhal as reward for her support of Rhaenyra\u2019s side, it appears Alys may be ready to switch sides to try to get a better deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tWill this turn into a tragic mistake Daemon soon regrets?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think in Daemon\u2019s peculiar world of affection, on some level, his time at Harrenhal was productive for him, in terms of opening up slightly with Ser Simon Strong and his cohorts,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo perhaps there is a degree of gratitude that has gone unsaid with Daemon that he\u2019s not expressed to Alys. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo yeah, most probably.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 2 of \u201cHouse of the Dragon,\u201d now streaming on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[315440,88,315441,45675],"class_list":["post-732736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-emma-darcy","tag-entertainment","tag-house-of-the-dragon-tv-series","tag-matt-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}