‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3’s Most Surprising Meeting Sets Up a New Dark Romance

Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2.

We’re only two episodes into House of the Dragon Season 3, and already the show’s penultimate chapter is making some pretty definitive moves on the larger chessboard of Westeros. Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) have already descended on King’s Landing, but her efforts to decisively claim the Iron Throne are somewhat thwarted by the fact that Alicent (Olivia Cooke) has already redirected Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) towards Harrenhal instead. The Kinslayer’s arrival at the largest castle in Westeros is certainly memorable, not the least of which is because it culminates in him bleeding out on the floor at the feet of a silent Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin).

Ahead of the Season 3 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with several members of House of the Dragon‘s expansive ensemble, including Mitchell and Rankin, about their characters’ biggest moments over the first two episodes. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above or read below, the two discuss that shocking premiere kiss between Aemond and Alicent, why Alys’ conversation with Daemon about Harrenhal feels like a “breakup,” why Season 2’s spookiest location is closer to the “White Lotus of Westeros” this season, and more.

COLLIDER: Ewan, I do have to bring up the kiss between Aemond and Alicent. I really think you and Olivia [Cooke] played that scene with so many layers to it. There’s a lot of complicated emotions at play. From a character standpoint, what do you think Aemond’s biggest motivation or feeling is in being the one to initiate that between them?

EWAN MITCHELL: I think for Aemond, in Episode 1 at least, he’s very much assumed his dominance as the king, at least on Team Green, and he wants to act accordingly. Alicent, maybe, is his queen, in a weird kind of way, in his mind, and he wants to assume the leadership role of this family and really take them all under his wing. He’s now the father figure. He’s the daddy. He’s the daddy now. I always think of Scum — have you seen that? — when Ray Winstone’s like, “I’m the daddy now!”

GAYLE RANKIN: [Laughs] I’m feeling it.

MITCHELL: And Aemond has such a skewed perception of love, how to show it, show affection, because he never really had it when he was growing up. I definitely think that kiss was probably a little too far.

‘House of the Dragon’s Gayle Rankin Explains Why Alys Makes a Play for Harrenhal

“I think she thought she could really trust him and that he saw her and saw what she needed and who she was…”

Image via HBO

Talking about characters that are trying to make power moves, Gayle, we see Alys put herself forward to take control of Harrenhal. She goes to Daemon for that, and they have a really interesting conversation. What do you think drives her to seek out Daemon specifically for that conversation about why she thinks she’s deserving to take over at this point?

RANKIN: I think their history from Season 2. The amount of time and the kind of depth that they traversed together, I think she’s like, “This is my friend. This is my friend, and I trust him,” which is maybe a crazy thing, but I think she really did and does.

But I did look at that scene, and I’m like, “It’s kind of a breakup.” I felt that way when we were working on it. It felt like a breakup because I think he disappoints her so badly, and I think she thought she could really trust him and that he saw her and saw what she needed and who she was, and why she deserves stewardship of this place — especially going into this war, in which it’s going to be so pivotal, and pivotal to him. I just think he misses the mark, and she’s like, “Okay, I see you.”

One of the things I love about the character, too, is [that] she has been our gateway point into bringing in some more of the magic in this world, bringing in some more of the strange forces that not all the characters quite understand. There is that scene between [Alys] and the dragonseeds where she maneuvers them away from waiting for Aemond. Do you think she’s somehow foreseen Aemond coming, and that’s how she knows to insert herself into manipulating them out of the picture?

RANKIN: Yeah, I do. The funny way of thinking about it is that I think she imagined that there was a Targaryen, a blonde, long-haired man on his way, and that maybe she thought it was Daemon, and nope. No. But someone’s coming. I think Alys doesn’t always have the exact details, but I think she has a lot of wisdom, and she knows she needs to make way for someone coming.

‘House of the Dragon’s Ewan Mitchell and Gayle Rankin Discuss Aemond and Alys’ First Meeting

“There is something like a sick meet-cute about it.”

The relationship between your characters is something that book fans are intimately familiar with and really excited to see play out this season. The way that the two finally meet, there’s almost a hilarity to it. There’s a drama to it. He’s literally bleeding out, and she doesn’t say a word. In that moment, what do you think their first impressions are of each other?

MITCHELL: Not a great one. I mean, it’s a hell of a way to make an entrance — Aemond killing everyone in the room, killing Simon Strong in front of you, and then meeting for the first time. Love at first sight.

RANKIN: Yeah. There is something like a sick meet-cute about it. It’s like the darkest, romantic, or complex meeting of matches in some ways. It’s like, what’s going to happen? It’s a huge cliffhanger, but there’s a charge between these two characters, certainly, and a curiosity. And I do think something clicks in about, “Are we keys to one another’s next step? How are we connected?” But it feels undeniable. I think that’s how she feels. There’s something undeniable about their connectedness.

Harrenhal, as a location, there’s a lot of spookiness around it. Season 2 really leaned into that almost Gothic horror in a lot of ways. In Season 3, can we anticipate more of that lingering horror, given the setting that these two are going to be connecting in?

MITCHELL: I think Harrenhal is quite horror-esque, but I also think it’s like the White Lotus of Westeros, where it is almost like a spa retreat. You go there, all of these toxins get drawn out of you, you confront your ghosts head-on. I mean, that’s what we saw with Daemon last season. You never come out the other side the same person.

RANKIN: And it kind of also adapts to your needs. It’s like the best kind of spa, where it really is catered to your needs, which I think is exciting. So, to answer your question, I would say absolutely, yes, because Harrenhal is such a huge character in itself, and it lives and breathes. But I don’t think it’s going to be anything that a lot of people expect.

New episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.