A lot happened in Westeros in season 3, episode 2.

‘Hers is a holy war’: House of the Dragon star Emma D’Arcy on Rhaenyra’s ascent, the scene they ‘dreaded,’ and that beheading

A lot happened in Westeros in season 3, episode 2.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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June 28, 2026 10:08 p.m. ET

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Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra on 'House of the Dragon' season 3. Credit:

- Emma D'Arcy discusses Rhaenyra's bold move on *House of the Dragon* season 3's second episode.

- "There is a growing belief that hers is a holy war," the actor says.

- D'Arcy and Matt Smith address the aftermath of Jace's death and that beheading.

**Warning: This article contains spoilers from *House of the Dragon* season 3, episode 2.**

Emma D'Arcy "very rarely" dreads scenes, the *House of the Dragon* star prefaces. "Often in our job, ironically, the larger the emotional scale, the more fun, the more engaging, the more there is to do," the actor, who uses they/them pronouns, tells **.

Yet when it comes to the direct aftermath of the death of Prince Jacaerys Velaryon on HBO's *Game of Thrones* prequel, "That was the one that I dreaded this season and was pretty grim actually on the day," D'Arcy says.

At an early end-of-May screening of *House of the Dragon* season 3 in New York City for press, showrunner Ryan Condal referred to the first two episodes as one long movie when paired together. There's the Battle of the Gullet in the premiere, and then everything that comes next — from Rhaenyra unloading her grief before the corpse of her eldest son to her taking the Iron Throne at King's Landing to become Westeros' new queen.

The former marks some of D'Arcy's best work on the series to date. A haunting repeating line of "Jace, what have you done?" gives way to a full physical breakdown.

Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) prepares to take the throne on 'House of the Dragon' season 3.

"Rhaenyra requires companionship in a really profound way," D'Arcy explains. "We have seen her attempt to couple with many different people through the course of the first two seasons. There's a very beautiful revelation that happens for her when she has children, in discovering, actually, that companionship can be in a mother-child relationship. That's epitomized by her relationship with Jace. There is a bond there that is strong enough, that overwhelming loneliness is bombed. I think that's why it's an insurmountable loss."

Harry Collett, the 22-year-old actor behind Jace, gave D'Arcy a "wide birth" on set during filming of episode 2, they describe. It was only later in the day, during lunch, that Collett approached them to say he wasn't avoiding D'Arcy but only providing space to work. Collett is, ultimately, the reason D'Arcy dreaded performing that scene.

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"I suppose this is the dark side of the coin of a recurring show," D'Arcy says. "These bonds that we make are all so real. There's a whole parallel constellation of friendships and relationships going on. Harry's been on the show a long time. He is profoundly loved and he's a wonderful person and I care about him very deeply. I don't want to imagine it. I don't want to imagine it for his character. I don't want to imagine it for him."

The loss has profound effects on the civil war that continues to ravage the Targaryen empire. With Daemon (Matt Smith) by her side, Rhaenyra and her dragonriders fly to King's Landing to claim the throne. And thanks to careful planning by Alicent (Olivia Cooke), the palace welcomes Rhaenyra with only some bloodshed.

Rhaenyra and her dragonriders descend on King's Landing on 'House of the Dragon' season 3.

It's the first time in a long time that we see Viserys' chosen heir suit up in armor, wielding Jace's sword. "I really enjoyed the conversation, actually," D'Arcy recalls. "Part of what was happening was about the creation of iconography. It's the propaganda machine, the point at which you decide that actually what a populist needs is one leader and an ultimate mandate."

But before Rhaenyra can properly claim the throne, a sacrifice must be made. With Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) both gone, Daemon finds a suitable subject whose blood will bless her ascent: Otto Hightower. After largely remaining absent from season 2, Rhys Ifans returns as Alicent's father, who's then promptly beheaded before witnesses in the court.

"Unless you've ever sliced someone's head off, it's like anything, isn't it?" Smith says in a separate interview. "To take a life, but also to actually physically to take a head off with a sword, it's not easy, for one. Coupled with that, there is the horrendous storyline that this is a deep, deep family friend. There's a lot of history and politics that surround this man and what it represents to cut his head off. It's a marked choice and it's a marked move over to whatever side you want to call it — the dark side, the light side, the right side."

The lingering look of horror on Alicent's face when she walks in confirms Smith's sentiment: "It's a real statement," he says.

Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen on 'House of the Dragon' season 3.

Courtesy of HBO

So where do we go from here? There are still six episodes left of *House of the Dragon* season 3 and an entire fourth and final season that will premiere sometime in 2028. Claiming the Iron Throne is one thing; keeping it is another.

"There is a growing belief that hers is a holy war, that she has a divine mandate to rule, and that any action she takes in pursuit of that aim has godly backing," D'Arcy teases of what's ahead for Rhaenyra. "I suppose I see that as still requiring an external validation in order to claim one's name, to claim what one's owed... It's what becomes frightening, right? It disables more nuanced conversation. I do think that increasingly extreme position is one of the tinderboxes that now sits in season 3."

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An earlier scene in the premiere episode depicts Rhaenyra, locked in her room, bemoaning how she has the spirit of a king within her "feeble" woman's body. "If you're a woman looking to rule and you are perpetually othered by your colleagues and populace, how do you convince them that you're in fact the same? 'I can do this just as well as my male colleagues,'" D'Arcy muses. "Well, suddenly, she's seeking the opposite. She's saying, 'I'm actually nothing like you. This is what divinity looks like. This is what the Gods chose, and it couldn't be any of you.' I think that's a really interesting and stark change."

*House of the Dragon* season 3 continues to air on HBO and stream on HBO Max every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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