‘It's essentially an animatronic bucking bronco': Emma D'Arcy on the joys of dragon-riding and other ‘House of the Dragon' secrets

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3 days ago

The third season of House of the Dragon is filming now in England, and Gold Derby caught up with Emma D'Arcy during a break in shooting to discuss the second season of the HBO drama, which is eligible at the upcoming 2025 Emmys. "I'm trying to rewind my brain, or I'm trying to wind Rhaenyra back along the timeline," they tell us. "I have Westerosi jet lag right now! I'm literally just back from set."
Don't worry, Emma, we've got you covered.
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Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen experienced some truly epic moments during Season 2 of the Game of Thrones prequel, including meeting up with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) in secret, watching as Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally pledged his loyalty to his queen, saying goodbye to Rhaenys Targaryen (Emily "Eve" Best), and, of course, all of those scenes with the show's unsung heroes, the dragons. D'Arcy received a Golden Globe nomination earlier this year, and is now in contention for an Emmy bid.
Gold Derby: Rhaenyra risks everything to return to King's Landing for a secret conversation with Alicent, because she wants to try to stop the war. How intense was that scene to film?
Emma D'Arcy: It was a favorite scene of mine. Getting to act with Liv is one of the great privileges in my life. But as a result of such scarcity, there was quite a lot of pressure on it. You have two big, knotty dialogue scenes in which to house the whole of that relationship. It felt to me like we were being asked to achieve an epic scale within quite small, narrow parameters. It's very silly as well, because it's a high stakes environment, and I'm wearing a wimple. [laughs] I'd say that's more work for Olivia than it was for me, because she would have been the one looking at me.
As the performer, what was it like returning to those King's Landing sets? We don't see your character in that environment much anymore.
That set was a set unto itself, and so I didn't actually get to go back inside. At Watford there's a stage that's got the castle and the Red Keep in it. And that set held a huge amount of memory for me, because so much of Season 1 took place there, and it stays up, it doesn't get packed down. King's Landing is in Watford, and that's the stage that I've been longing to get back to, but I didn't make it during Season 2.
Fingers crossed for Season 3!
Thank you. Mine are firmly crossed.
Rhaenyra and Daemon were separated for much of Season 2, but they reunited in the finale where he pledged his loyalty. How important was that moment, for these two characters to finally have each other's backs?
It was kind of momentous, you know? Similarly with Olivia, what was quite striking about Season 2 is that the three of us were all atomized and separated. Having worked so intensely together in the first season, those relationships, both professionally and personally, become super important. They became the anchors and the landmarks that help you navigate these really epic shooting periods. Something I noticed last season is that Daemon and Rhaenyra can't really accommodate weakness in the other, so it's a reasonably limited relationship. But when they come back together, they've both traversed this huge journey, and they reunite in a position of confidence.
When Alicent and Daemon are gone, Rhaenyra finds a new anchor in Mysaria. How would you describe their relationship?
I totally agree with you that, in the absence of Daemon and Alicent, she seeks a new bond. She fundamentally can't survive as a sole agent. She has to pair, and pair really hard. Sonoya Mizuno is totally incredible, and there's something quite unusual about their relationship. The friendship and companionship of another woman is unusual. All of Rhaenyra's tools are designed to enable her to navigate and manipulate a male-dominated world. Those carefully honed skills all suddenly feel like dumb instruments in the face of another woman.
Your character is often seen high up in the sky, riding on dragons. Take us behind the camera. How do you specifically film a dragon-riding scene?
It's so incredibly fun! And I say this as a person who can be quite dour. I often dread those scenes, until I get there. To describe it, it's essentially an animatronic bucking bronco, six feet in the air. You're mounted up there, and there tends to be blue screen surrounding you. They program the "flight" of the buck, and you hold on, and two men with giant leaf blowers fire wind and air in your face. That is a bit like, if you remember as a child putting your head out the window of a fast moving car, and you can't quite your breath, and it's gleeful in the chest. A lot of the work for me was wiping the huge grin off my face, because it's a fairground ride that I get paid to go on.
One of the most emotional moments in Season 2 was the death of Princess Rhaenys. What was it like saying goodbye to a coworker and a friend?
Such a funny part of our job, this. It speaks to the strange real/unreal space that we live in, because death for me as an actor is fictional, but it does also tangibly mean that I won't see Emily Best on a daily basis, which is a deep sadness. There's a strange, murky overlap between the fictive and the real. Emily's the most amazing person, and the energy that she brings to set is totally unique, and you can't replicate it. I feel poorer for not getting to see her on a daily basis. That's the health warning on doing a job within the Thrones universe, because there is a high chance that you're going to have to say lots of goodbyes.Congratulations on your Golden Globe nomination earlier this year. What was that whole experience like?
It was amazing, and I was able to stay in my body a little more than the first time, which I hardly remember. My favorite bit was that there was an absolute crush of people on the carpet. It felt like everyone was late, and there was a great fervor to get through the photo bit to get inside. Every famous person I've ever seen was within a 20-foot square. It's a crazy environment, and one that my nervous system always needs a few days to come down from. It's a real head-spinner.
As a performer, what do awards mean to you?
I suppose, as a nonbinary actor, there's a side to it which helps. There's a visibility that comes with those things that is helpful, and certainly, I felt the lack of representation when I was a younger person wanting to act. It wasn't any great sob story, I just thought that they weren't compatible. So, it gives me great joy to be able to put a nice frock on and say, they're wholly compatible. You can be whoever and do this job, and there's space, and that's lush.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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