‘House of the Dragon’: Gayle Rankin on That ‘F — ed Up’ Aemond-Alys-Alicent Scene, ‘Unbearable’ Family Dinner and Dragon Egg Plans
Actor Gayle Rankin has discussed filming a startling scene in "House of the Dragon" Season 3, Episode 7, in which her character Alys Rivers becomes entangled in the Targaryen family's incestuous dynamics. In the episode, Alicent Hightower visits her son Aemond at Harrenhal as part of a plot by Rhaenyra to lure and kill him, and their encounter turns sexual before it is revealed to be a hallucination Aemond experiences while actually sleeping with Alys, who has adopted his mother's likeness as part of a scheme to found a new Targaryen dynasty.
Rankin described the shoot as "very intimate and very odd but very professional", noting the cast used humour to get through the technically complex scene. The episode also features an "unbearable" family dinner before the real Alicent arrives, poisons Aemond and flees, leaving him to seek help from an unimpressed Alys. Elsewhere, Aemond's brother Aegon is reunited with his dragon Sunfyre, while Aemond's own dragon Vhagar remains missing, leaving Alys and Aemond vulnerable as they guard a stash of dragon eggs heading into next week's season finale.
- Gayle Rankin details filming Aemond's incestuous hallucination scene in Episode 7.
- Alicent poisons Aemond after a tense Harrenhal family dinner.
- Aegon regains dragon Sunfyre; Aemond and Alys remain dragon-less ahead of the finale.
New here? Start with this
The Iron Throne of Westeros is being fought over by two rival branches of House Targaryen in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. On one side sits Queen Rhaenyra, the previous king's chosen heir; on the other sits her half-brother Aegon II, who was crowned instead, backed by his fierce warrior brother Aemond and their formidable mother, the former queen Alicent. Both sides command dragons, which make them uniquely powerful and dangerous in this war.
Aemond has recently taken up with a mysterious woman named Alys Rivers at the ruined castle of Harrenhal, and the pair have got hold of dragon eggs, which they hope to use to breed a new generation of dragons loyal to their cause. Alicent, meanwhile, has grown disillusioned with the war and with her son's brutal methods, creating a rift within her own family even as she remains one of its central figures.
Gayle Rankin is the actress who plays Alys Rivers in the HBO series House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones. She has been speaking to press about filming a particularly strange and intense scene involving her character, Aemond and Alicent, ahead of the show's finale.