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SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 7 of “House of the Dragon,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Gayle Rankin’s Alys Rivers has dealt with an Oedipus complex before during her time at Harrenhal,
but this week’s “House of the Dragon” marked the first time Alys was directly dragged into the Targaryens’ incestuous scene herself.
At the beginning of Episode 7, Season 3 of “House of the Dragon,” we see Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) has already carried out the mission given to her by Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and arrived at Harrenhal. Sent there in an attempt to lure Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) out so Rhaenyra’s men can finally kill him and properly secure Rhaenyra the Iron Throne, Alicent greets her son with maternal love and praise about his superiority to his siblings, which appears to be a tactic for lulling him into submission. But Alicent’s actions quickly turn much more intimate and soon the mother and son are having sex.
It’s a jarring scene until it’s revealed Aemond has been hallucinating visions of his mother while having sex with his lover, Alys (Rankin), as part of a new plan to breed more Targaryens and build their own dynasty.
“It was very intimate and very odd but very professional,” Rankin says of filming the sex scene between mother, son and son’s new girlfriend. “We tried to like make jokes, just to keep it lighthearted because those scenes are not easy and they’re complicated and very technical. So it was also just like it was another day at the office for being like a very odd, fucked-up scene.”
From there, the episode’s mommy-issues plot thickens as the real Alicent does show up at Harrenhal and Alys tries (and fails) to convince Aemond his mother is not there to help him. Though they first have to go through what Rankin calls an “unbearable” family dinner, the episode ends with Alys being proven right: Alicent steals away in the night after poisoning Aemond and “idiot” Aemond comes crawling to a very annoyed Alys looking for help.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone at Harrenhal and King’s Landing, Aemond’s brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has been reunited with his very much alive dragon, Sunfyre, while Aemond’s dragon, Vhagar, is still MIA. This could prove to be a problem for Alys and Aemond, who are currently sitting on a supply of dragon eggs, but have no full-grown dragon to defend themselves with should Aegon or Rhaenyra choose to come their way on next week’s Season 3 finale.
See below for more from Variety’s interview with Rankin about Episode 7 and what comes next.
Do you think Alys’s feelings for Aemond are genuine?
Yeah, I do. I think they’re not uncomplicated, like anyone, you know. Especially if you’re going through a war and you want a castle and you are a witch. But like those things aside, I think they really are.
So if that’s the case, what is it about Aemond that she is so interested in? This is a very complicated woman who has been around for we’re not sure how long — so what is it about Aemond that appeals to her?
I think he’s pretty unabashedly himself. I think that refreshing to her. I think that he’s, in some ways, very misunderstood. In some ways. And he has behaved horrendously but he’s also gotten, in some ways, what he’s wanted and I think she respects that. And I think they’re kind of like a dark power couple.
Alys has revealed the dragon eggs to Aemond. She had Daemon there for quite a while and never chose to show him. What do you think drove her to decide that Aemond was the one to show them to? She had been asking Daemon for Harrenhal and wanted that castle, but still only chose to reveal the eggs to Aemond.
I don’t think Daemon ever really let his guard down with Alys. Really, really, really. And then he broke her heart. And she’s prophetic and she also can read people like a book. So she knew that Daemon was never going to get there with her, and Daemon was not her answer. I think Aemond is a different story, and I think she knows that instinctively.
The fact Alys even knows about the dragon eggs that have been hidden away for decades means she might have actually been around Harrenhal for as long as she claims she has. Just how old do you think Alys actually is?
I think she’s like 400 years old. I mean, give or take. I think we’re gonna like find out more soon, but she could be 400 years old. Like, I believe her, that’s the thing. I think there’s a lot of skepticism about, is she telling the truth? Is she manipulating? I’m like, believe the woman.
The opening scene for this one, what was it like for you all shooting that and figuring out what that would look like, because we transition from Aemond in bed with his mother to Aemond with Alys? And it’s the trippy Harrenhal hallucination kind of scene, but also seems very specific to what Aemond is actually thinking.
It was very intimate and very odd but very professional. We tried to like make jokes, just to keep it lighthearted because those scenes are not easy and they’re complicated and very technical. So it was also just like it was another day at the office for being like a very odd, fucked-up scene.
It seems like Alys takes this pretty well. Like, she takes it in stride when Aemond talks to her about how much he loves his mother when his mother actually does appear, and she’s like, “All you Targaryen boys want the same thing,” and is very clearly referring to these mother issues with Aemond here and Daemon before. What do you think makes it so that she is willing to put up with this dynamic? Is it because she sees that Alicent’s going to leave and how — and she’s just trying to get through this time as quickly as possible?
I think she sees everything. I don’t think she sees everything, but she can see a lot. So there is a prophetic nature to who she is, and so she’s just like, “Wow! So we have to go through this? OK, here we go.”
During that dinner sequence, it’s so weird that they’re all sitting on the same side and they’re on either side, surrounding him. What was it like filming that family dinner? Because as awkward as the first scene was, that dinner was very hard to watch.
Oh, terrible! I mean awful, but I kind of loved it. I think Alys is in her element but also kind of terrified at the same time. But I think she feels like the stakes are very high, and I think Alys thrives in that. I think she intentionally wants it to feel unbearable. You know, because she wants her to go.
She is ultimately proven right. We have Aemond come to her and he’s drugged by his mother or poisoned by his mother, and she just says “Idiot” before coming around to help him. Is this said with love? Is it said with resignation? Is it a combination of things?
A combination. I think many people, and certainly many women, can probably relate to the tone.
Going into the Season 3 finale, what do you think is the most likely way that we will see Alys eventually go? She’s lived for 400 years, so do you think she’ll make it to the end of this season at the very least? She doesn’t seem in immediate danger right now.
I don’t feel like she’s in immediate danger of dying. I think she’s in immediate danger always, and maybe in immediate danger of something more emotionally profound happening, but not of dying. I think we have more time.
Alys doesn’t know this year and neither does Aemond, but the audience finds out by the end of the episode that Sunfyre is still alive and reunited with Aegon. So now Aegon has Sunfyre back and Vhagar is still nowhere to be seen. You’ve said a lot now that you think Alys is often telling the truth, so does she genuinely not know where Vhagar is? Does she know when Vhagar might be coming back? Because they might need her with Sunfyre back in play.
Girl, I know. Low-key, for real, I don’t think she knows. Like I don’t even know where Vhagar is. I, Gayle, do not even know where Vhagar is. You know what I mean? So I’m like, girl, where are you? Vhagar went to Crumbl Cookies and she needs to get back.
I think it shows a lot of actual dedication to Aemond that she’s with him when he doesn’t have a dragon.
Right? He has no dragon. I have dragon eggs. That’s the thing, I don’t really need him. But I think she might want him. I think it’s complicated.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
