Defending their throne: Emma D'Arcy on preparing for battle on 'House of the Dragon'

In the 3rd play of “House of the Dragon,” 1 of Emma D’Arcy’s wishes comes true.

The British actor, who portrays Westeros’ displaced would-be sovereign Rhaenyra Targaryen successful HBO’s phantasy epic, has mentioned successful past interviews their tendency for their quality to transportation a limb and asking showrunner Ryan Condal to marque it happen.

So acold successful the series, which kicks disconnected its caller play Sunday, Rhaenyra has concisely handled a leaf successful private. She’s besides spoken astir swords arsenic a awesome of authority. But the queen doesn’t transportation a sword connected her hip, dissimilar astir of her antheral counterparts.

“I conscionable privation to accidental I won that battle,” D’Arcy, 33, says of the presumption of their petition during a caller video telephone from London. “The hows and the wherefores tin wait, but it’s OK to accidental that I won that conflict … by a communicative means that I wasn’t expecting.”

But this deadly summation to her wardrobe is not the lone alteration for Rhaenyra this season.

For the archetypal clip successful the Targaryen warfare of succession, “there is momentum to Rhaenyra’s campaign,” says D’Arcy. “Historically, we’ve seen Rhaenyra connected the backmost ft successful a benignant of reactionary position. In the commencement of Season 3, she’s successful a presumption of existent strategical governmental power.”

“I conscionable privation to accidental I won that battle,” D’Arcy says of their petition for Rhaenyra to yet get a weapon.

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Created by Condal and “A Song of Ice and Fire” writer George R. R. Martin, “House of the Dragon” tells the communicative of this civilian warfare known arsenic the Dance of the Dragons. The eldest kid of the erstwhile king, Viserys I, Rhaenyra was named the authoritative heir to the Iron Throne arsenic a teen by her father, contempt women usually being overlooked successful the enactment of succession. But upon her father’s death, her younger fractional member Aegon — who was calved aft Rhaenyra was named heir — was crowned king of the Seven Kingdoms instead.

Picking up straight aft the events of Season 2, the caller play kicks disconnected with Rhaenyra’s triumph appearing imminent aft she adds much numbers and dragon riders to her subject might, arsenic good arsenic cardinal accusation and a committedness of practice from her puerility friend-turned-adversary, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

Thus acold successful the series, Rhaenyra has been casual to basal for. Not lone is she the rightful heir whose spot connected the throne was allowed to beryllium usurped, astatine slightest successful part, due to the fact that of patriarchal expectations, but she has besides shown restraint and information for her subjects dissimilar astir different Targaryens.

“There’s a tendency successful Rhaenyra, I deliberation we’ve seen connected repeat, to really dismantle immoderate of the feudal hierarchy and really to accidental to her subjects, ‘You and I are the same,’” says D’Arcy. She’s “a quality successful a presumption of enactment who has been historically othered [that] recognizes a strategy of othering.”

Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has been much considerate of her subjects than different Targaryen rulers.

(Ollie Upton / HBO)

D’Arcy compares the last agelong of waiting for the bid to beryllium released to being successful transit connected a agelong journey. They’d conscionable finished their last automated dialog replacement league to cleanable up immoderate dependable the week before, and they admit determination is thing astir this “liminal moment” that reminds them of being successful transit that they truly enjoy. (“As a kid, I loved a agelong car journey, and I often preferred it to arriving astatine [the destination],” they say.)

They are thoughtful and unhurried successful a speech that roves betwixt Rhaenyra’s nuances and relationships, their joyousness astatine being backmost connected the Red Keep acceptable successful Season 3, their dual appreciation for packing and being provided lunches and adjacent the comforts of broadcast television. D’Arcy describes their enactment arsenic “pretending” successful 1 enactment portion successful different sharing their beardown feelings astir dramaturgy and substance arsenic they toggle betwixt discussions of stage, movie and tv acting.

And portion the nonbinary histrion hopes that their sex is not the astir absorbing spot astir them, D’Arcy is committed to speaking “as loudly arsenic I tin connected behalf of the trans community.”

“[It’s] a precise turbulent clip for the LGBTQ+ community, [but] I americium truthful proud,” says D’Arcy. “I’m conscionable fortunate that I get to unrecorded authentically and bash my job. I cognize that that is simply a large privilege.”

Matt Smith, who plays Rhaenyra’s uncle-turned-husband, Daemon Targaryen, successful the series, describes D’Arcy arsenic a “one-off.”

“They’re specified a genuinely heavy thinking, affectional quality being who has a voracious IQ,” Smith says, likening D’Arcy’s attack and prep to that of a historian’s. “Super, ace bright. Usually the brightest idiosyncratic successful the room. And they person an incredible, quiet, almighty generosity of spirit.”

“I deliberation really what’s unthinkable astir them arsenic a idiosyncratic and arsenic an histrion [is that] there’s conscionable this fantastic consciousness of mystery, adjacent erstwhile you cognize them, and Emma’s perpetually astonishing maine with stuff,” helium adds.

D’Arcy has “an incredible, quiet, almighty generosity of spirit,” says co-star Matt Smith. (Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Condal explains that “Rhaenyra goes done an unthinkable arc alteration this season” and that the writers challenged some D’Arcy and the quality with the material.

Among the challenges Rhaenyra volition look this play are idiosyncratic hurdles arsenic good arsenic a deficiency of grace from those unwilling to admit her arsenic a sovereign, each portion she starts to judge her reign was ordained by the gods.

“When each those things are thrown into the premix together, it creates a benignant of convulsive counterreaction,” Condal says. “You’re going to spot Rhaenyra spell done bumps successful the roadworthy and each that. But what I was truly funny successful was taking this character, who … is precise casual to basal for, and past applying those benignant of darker pressures to her and seeing what comes retired the different side.”

D’Arcy explains Rhaenyra’s “growing religiosity” results successful the quality having less doubts astir herself and her decisions.

“I deliberation Rhaenyra feels a large work to galore of the benignant of peers and colleagues and adjacent relations successful her life, [including] Daemon and Mysaria and her begetter and adjacent Alicent,” says D’Arcy. “But determination is besides determination successful her an ego that craves legitimacy and designation and power, and those elements signifier rather a volatile cocktail this season.”

Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), with her oldest son, Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett).

(Ollie Upton / HBO)

As for Rhaenyra’s caller sword, Condal was a spot much forthcoming astir the show’s reasoning.

“We usage it arsenic a awesome to amusement her metamorphosis arsenic a character,” Condal says. “So it felt precise existent and earthy and existent to Rhaenyra — particularly aft the country successful Season 1 wherever she benignant of rejects the past vestiges of this benignant of feminine situation that she feels similar she’s been enactment successful erstwhile she destroys the gown. I deliberation it sets Rhaenyra disconnected connected a truly absorbing caller path.”

In summation to those successful Rhaenyra’s storyline, D’Arcy faced immoderate unscripted challenges of their own. Just earlier going into accumulation connected Season 3, the histrion had country to reconstruct their ACL aft suffering a autumn from the signifier during a show of “The Other Place” successful London. This meant they were doing their rehabilitation, including learning however to locomotion again, portion filming Season 3. It was a daunting endeavor adjacent earlier considering that this play would spot Rhaenyra — and frankincense D’Arcy — backmost successful the monolithic sets of the Red Keep wherever the Iron Throne sits.

“I retrieve my archetypal time [on set] due to the fact that I was successful anticipation of whether my genu would clasp up to the demands of a play of Westeros,” says D’Arcy. “I truly anticipation that immoderate [behind the scenes] comes retired of maine successful each my frocks connected my sticks, due to the fact that for 3 months … my allotted walking clip would get utilized up connected screen, and past I would benignant of hop about.”

Although they admit the autumn itself was embarrassing, D’Arcy says going done betterment connected acceptable “was benignant of a beauteous timeline” due to the fact that radical would announcement their progress. They besides constituent retired that their wounded “forced [them] to beryllium incredibly pragmatic” and “proactive” astir managing it to marque definite it didn’t impact their work.

“I deliberation it forced maine to beryllium rather big astir the mode I approached the season,” D’Arcy says.

D’Arcy was recovering from an ACL wounded portion filming “House of the Dragon” Season 3.

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Despite the standard of the warfare astatine hand, which involves aerial battles betwixt dragon riders arsenic good arsenic elephantine troops of warriors connected onshore and sea, overmuch of the enactment Rhaenyra has been progressive successful is interpersonal — astatine slightest truthful far.

There is the character’s powerfully charged, if volatile, narration with Daemon that is backmost connected people aft their separation past season. D’Arcy says that “Rhaenyra requires Daemon’s violence” this play and describes the characters’ instrumentality to their royal location successful King’s Landing arsenic “thrilling.”

There is besides the strained narration with her friend-turned-stepmother Alicent, who helped usurp Rhaenyra’s throne. D’Arcy explains that contempt their frayed friendship, Alicent remains “a unusual custodian of Rhaenyra’s conscience.”

“I deliberation Rhaenyra inactive privileges Alicent’s judgment, adjacent erstwhile they are wholly astatine likelihood with 1 another,” D’Arcy says.

But to D’Arcy “the hardest to describe” dynamic that has developed is betwixt Rhaenyra and her advisor Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), who utilized to beryllium Daemon’s paramour. During the 2nd season, aft Mysaria became 1 of Rhaenyra’s allies and confidants, their narration took a passionate turn.

“I emotion that they commencement disconnected really successful a spot of struggle [and] profoundly suspicious of 1 another,” says D’Arcy, who notes that some characters developed skills to “navigate antheral powerfulness holders.” The attraction for Rhaenyra is “a substance of being seen successful a mode that’s wholly new.”

“Mysaria is possibly the archetypal genuinely romanticist connection,” adds D’Arcy. In opposition to Daemon, whose similarities with Rhaenyra “represents a benignant of skyline of anticipation that is astir powerfulness and domination,” with Mysaria it is much similar opposites attracting.

“Mysaria offers a model into a benignant of hardship that opens Rhaenyra’s eyes to a information of acquisition to which she’s had nary access,” they say.

Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) arc changes people successful Season 3.

(HBO)

Rhaenyra is the archetypal quality D’Arcy has played connected a multi-season series, and they accidental that the “privileges that travel with that are inactive revealing themselves to me.”

Noting that they and their quality person been “growing up … successful tandem,” D’Arcy says they progressively recognize Rhaenyra’s feelings toward her precocious begetter arsenic good arsenic what she feels she owes him arsenic “a custodian of his spirit.”

While Rhaenyra’s communicative volition interaction connected “the much sinister broadside of relinquishing doubt,” D’Arcy considers that determination is, perhaps, “a much affirmative broadside to that too.”

“I decidedly noticed successful rather a pronounced mode that entering my 30s meant I got to benignant of fto spell of immoderate aged self-doubt that had been astir apt the motivating unit of my 20s,” D’Arcy says. “The large privilege of surviving this beingness is [discovering] determination is greater bid with oneself to beryllium found. It’s a enactment successful progress, but possibly immoderate of that relinquishing of doubt, I tin accidental I’ve besides been capable to assertion for myself.”