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Spoilers forHouse of the Dragonepisode nine, The Green Council, below.
Am I answering your question?
Is that what you wanted to know?
Or were you asking something quite different?
What shell do when she lands is anybodys guess.
Okay, so: Why didnt Rhaenys just torch the royal family and the whole Green crew?
[Laughs long and hard.]
The temptation is there, right?
In the end, she makes a bigger choice.
Thats an important thing for us all to remember right now.
Its why she would have made such a great leader.
She had, in that moment, all the power.
Yet she has respect for Alicent as a woman and a mother.
They understand being in the grip of other people who might torch them.
They know the only right choice is not to go there.
Whats to be gained?
In the end, its not her battle.
Its this yearning just to get the hell out and get away from the whole ruddy lot of things.
When she bursts out of that arena, shes internally saying, Fuck you all.
Its more about that than a need for revenge or destruction that the men mightve jumped onto.
Shes breaking her own glass ceiling.
Snip the word iron out of that sentence and it feels very familiar.
Shes clearly the right person for the job in every respect apart from her sex in this context.
That is the one thing that disqualifies her.
That is phenomenally frustrating.
Shes holding inside all kinds of feelings, from resentment to humiliation to frustration to rage.
I think its something most women resonate with.
Alicent is the first person in her life, apart from her husband, whos said that out loud.
Its everything Rhaenys thinks in her head.
Obviously you cant go around saying that about yourself.
But to have another woman say that, face to face, is very powerful.
She was, in that moment, transported back all those years to a young woman again.
It takes her breath away.
Thats why Rhaenys sits up and actually pays attention to Alicent, and has some respect for her.
Its a very eye-opening moment, to see that Alicent has that clarity and directness.
Shes clearly somebody of intelligence and grit.
Rhaenys hasnt seen that in her before.
You mentioned Rhaenyss husband, Corlys.
The key thing is its not just a marriage but a true partnership.
They really do respect each other.
It defines the strength of their marriage that they can weather disagreements and storms.
Straight after that, he leaves, and shes left without him.
Now theres a big question mark over whether or not hes going to survive.
Its a very unsettling time.
Meanwhile, the younger generation of characters got recast.
How did you react to those changes as a performer?It actually felt pretty seamless.
Youre not often filming in story order.
The first episode we filmed, in fact, wasepisode seven, which is right in the middle.
So we started with the older cast, then jumped back to the beginning in episode one.
One didnt feel the disjoint at all.
Its kind of interesting for me, as a character, with Rhaenyra.
We had a strong connection early on.
Then, as a result ofepisode seven, the trust between them is broken.
Its almost like itisa slightly different relationship.
But with Emma DArcy andMilly Alcock, it felt seamless because they share a similar energy.
And in terms of face-to-face connections, the only time Rhaenys connects with Alicent is in episode nine.
The way we film is so chopped about, the cast is just another thing thats changeable.
Its probably stranger for the audience because youre seeing it in story order.
