House of the Dragon star Emma D’Arcy has shared their opinion on the incest storyline – or one of them – that sparked debate among fans of the Game of Thrones prequel series.
When it was announced that the new show was going to place a spotlight on the Targaryen family, many knew that it was inevitable for the story to feature relationships between family members, given the dragonriders’ tendency to marry within their own bloodline.
House of the Dragon saw a young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) become romantically involved with her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), before the older Rhaenyra (Emma) eventually married him.
During a new interview, Emma, 30, dubbed Daemon a ‘deeply problematic character’ who ‘groomed’ his niece.
‘Getting to see Rhaenyra being groomed as a child by her uncle confirms it, and refuses to allow an audience to wholly ignore the problematic nature of their relationship,’ they told The Guardian.
The actor addressed the ‘long history’ in cinema of ‘creating love interests out of problematic – particularly male characters’, given many fans across the globe have become infatuated with Matt’s portrayal of the tumultuous prince.
‘What’s interesting in House of the Dragon is that it utilises that same trope. You know, like audiences have responded to Matt playing Daemon as this “very sexy, masculine love interest”,’ Emma continued.
‘But simultaneously, I hope that the show is continually acknowledging the problematic nature of it all.’
At the very end of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra looks ready to wage war with her former best friend Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) after discovering her son Luke (Elliot Grihault) has been killed.
Luke dies in the finale during a dragon chase with his uncle Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), who takes glee in terrifying his nephew, but appears to immediately regret his actions leading to a grisly death.
Showrunner Ryan Condal recently spoke out about looking ahead to season two, emphasising how ‘extraordinarily difficult’ it was to create the first 10 episodes of the show.
‘The wonder of going into season two – for any show, but for this one in particular – is we have such an embarrassment of riches in terms of the great cast that we put together,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter.
‘The writing is so much easier because you’re now writing for this great cast [who we have now seen] embody these roles. They’re three-dimensional characters and it makes their story so much easier to tell because they’re already embodied and there’s a joy in the writing because of that.’
House of the Dragon is available to watch on Sky and NOW.
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