Iron Throne – Two episodes into House of the Dragon’s Season 3, the show has already piled grief, betrayal, and political misfires into Rhaenyra’s path—culminating in a throne-claiming scene she doesn’t experience as triumph. Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith break down the cliffh
By the time Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) finally steps into what should be her moment, the air around King’s Landing already feels wrong.
Season 3 has barely gotten going—just two weeks into the show’s return—and it’s moving fast. The premiere opened with the devastating Battle of the Gullet. where several characters’ fates were either sealed or left in mystery. Then Episode 2 doesn’t offer even a brief pause after Rhaenyra has to confront the death of her eldest son. Jacaerys (Harry Collett). She’s not given time to grieve before the story demands something harder: a decisive move in King’s Landing.
That’s where the episode’s tension spikes. Rhaenyra arrives on dragonback alongside Daemon (Matt Smith). expecting a reception—but without Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) or Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) to dispatch. a secretly imprisoned Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) ends up taking their place. Even the moment itself rings hollow. especially after Rhaenyra’s initial attempt to execute the former Hand of the King doesn’t go as planned—followed immediately by Alicent (Olivia Cooke) entering the hall.
Ahead of the premiere, Collider spoke with multiple House of the Dragon cast members, and D’Arcy and Smith shared how they approached the emotional and power-laced turning points in the first two episodes.
D’Arcy. in particular. described Jacaerys’ death and Rhaenyra’s reaction to being confronted with Jace’s body as the only scene in the series she “sort of dreaded.” She said she was “quite avoidant about it for a while. ” explaining that bringing a familiar recurring-character presence across “a number of years” means relying on a “honed operating system” she trusts—one that helps her run major events “through” the performance.
Working with Harry Collett, she credited his sensitivity and care with shaping the day. “We didn’t really speak in the morning. ” she said. and he gave her “kind of a wide berth. ” with no advance discussion. At lunchtime. she said he found her briefly and told her he didn’t know what would be best. but he thought “it could be some space.” D’Arcy called him “beautifully. incredibly caring and deeply thinking. ” and said the experience required days to feel “slightly sacred. ” honoring the “size of the ask.” She added that she was “extremely relieved” when the day was over.
The episode then pushes the story into another emotionally bruising direction: Rhaenyra reclaiming the throne. It’s a scene built for a victory beat, but D’Arcy and Smith describe it as something closer to a reckoning.
When asked how they wanted to approach Rhaenyra ascending the steps to the Iron Throne—she appears “physically” staggering to get there—D’Arcy focused on how she wanted to steal the moment of its triumph. “I certainly thought there was a lot of scope to rob that moment of its triumph. ” she said. pointing to the family’s blend of political ambition and personal strife as inseparable.
In her view, power doesn’t arrive cleanly. She said the scene offered an opportunity to show “how power and the pursuit of power” take a toll on identity—on the body and on “one’s sense of self.” By the time she finally claims the seat that’s been a long dream. D’Arcy said Rhaenyra feels “kind of rudderless. ” even “may be finally claiming the sort of thing that could actually cause an identity crisis.”.
Smith, at the same time, acknowledged that he hasn’t seen it yet. “I’ve not seen it yet, so it’s interesting,” he said, adding that he didn’t know about the “look” at the end, though he remembered doing it with D’Arcy during production. He suggested D’Arcy could speak more to the moment itself.
Their conversation also turned to what happens next—especially once the show has decided to move on from a major book-driven storyline.
Looking ahead. the cast discussion addressed that book fans may have been surprised by the show dispensing with the Nettles storyline. In the original story. Nettles was a point of strife for Daemon and Rhaenyra. and the question for Smith and D’Arcy was direct: with Daemon publicly swearing fealty to Rhaenyra at the end of Season 2. what threats still exist for their dynamic now?.
Smith didn’t hold back on the scale of pressures coming from multiple directions. He said there’s “of course” a lot going on—war across “fronts” politically. and “personal relationships” that are encroaching “like a sort of swarm of flies.” Amid all of that. he said the central challenge is balancing the relationship itself with the fact that Rhaenyra and Daemon have “slightly different attitudes towards how to achieve the same goal.”.
He framed it as a constant wrestling match, adding that big peaks and troughs will come “within” the season. D’Arcy simply agreed.
House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
House of the Dragon Season 3 Emma D'Arcy Matt Smith Rhaenyra Daemon Iron Throne Jacaerys Otto Hightower Alicent Aegon Aemond Nettles storyline