Before D’Arcy debuted as Rhaenyra Targaryen on House of the Dragon, Game of Thrones veteran Emilia Clarke shared everything she knew about living under one of those white-blonde wigs.
We’re currently between seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon, which stars Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, a queen in exile who soon hopes to retake her rightful place on the Iron Throne. We’ll have to wait awhile to see how that pans out. In the meantime, D’Arcy shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast their memories of what it was like for her just after getting the job, and the fears they had about joining this kind of hotly anticipated series.
“So the big con as I remember it was like loss of anonymity. Cuz I’m like a deeply introverted person,” D’Arcy said. At the height of Game of Thrones’ success the cast member basically became rock stars, so that’s understandable. But D’Arcy had a more fundamental fear: “I didn’t really know if this was something I could do,” they recalled. “Can I do the thing? And if I can’t, I’m going to find out with a lot of other people at the same time. And that feels like quite a harsh environment in which to fail.”
Happily, it worked out, D’Arcy is currently basking in the recognition of getting a Golden Globe nomination, the second they’ve gotten for their work as Rhaenyra. It’s safe to say that people have accepted them in the role. Now all D’Arcy has to deal with is their final fear: giving interviews on podcasts like Happy Sad Confused: “I worried about this sort of stuff, about the having-to-be-yourself bit,” they said. “I’ve always felt a lot more comfortable as other people. I think that’s a kind of interesting paradox about the requirements of the contemporary actor. So many of us have unhealthily sort of run away for from our own discomfort by playing other people and now we’re brought out to present ourselves.”
Emilia Clarke was “so generous” to Emma D’Arcy ahead of House of the Dragon
Still, D’Arcy was anxious about House of the Dragon before it took off. But they had someone very helpful in their corner: Emilia Clarke, who played Queen Daenerys Targaryen, Rhaenyra’s descendant, on Game of Thrones. The two of them met beforehand for a dinner where Clarke shared her breadth of wisdom.
“She was so generous,” D’Arcy remembered. “It was beautiful actually, it was such a nice evening. She was incredibly frank, she was super candid. And her advice was amazing, because it was both sort of broad, sort of embracing wisdom about like the sort of psychic change that one’s about to undergo. But also practical stuff. I really remember her saying like, ‘your trailer is your space, decorate it, use it.’ You know, just like tiny things. We talked about the practicalities of wearing a wig every day, what it does to your scalp, the issues you’re going to have…I mean, I feel fortunate because I think we experienced a fraction of the baptism of fire, without trying to make some sort of Targaryen pun, that Emilia went through, but even so, I suppose it’s like this show has…a history that precedes you. And that’s quite a specific environment to find yourself in, and I think I’ve felt until just recently like a sort of trepadacious visitor, but I now feel like I sort of got my citizenship. I don’t know why but after the second series and that’s sort of done and I feel like I feel more confident in my citizenship.”
D’Arcy only played Rhaenyra for half of the first season of House of the Dragon, taking over the role from younger actor Milly Alcock after the show jumped forward in time after the fifth episode. But in the second season D’Arcy was there for the whole time, so it makes sense that they would now feel comfortable.
We’ll be waiting a while to see D’Arcy back in action as Rhaenyra; production on season 3 of House of the Dragon won’t start until March of 2025, at least so far as we can tell, which means new episodes probably won’t air on HBO and Max until 2026. In the meantime, HBO is premiering a new Game of Thrones prequel series called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in the back half of next year.
