The House of the Dragon season finale was a haunting landscape of events. The actors carried every emotion beautifully, and their pain was almost palpable. One of the actors who has been consistently going above and beyond is Matt Smith, who plays Daemon Targaryen. He essentially directed the last sequence. Emma D’Arcy (Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen) says it was his idea to deliver the news to Rhaenyra as they walked away from the camera.
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“When we got on set to rehearse, it has to be known, it was Matt Smith, in a turn of fucking genius,” D’Arcy shares in an interview with GQ, “who offered the idea that Daemon should give Rhaenyra the news while we’re both walking away from camera, towards the fireplace. It was a sublime choice, and I could see it instantly. We’ve sort of touched on it, but I think losing a child, losing her son, it reframes grief immediately.”
The choice to non-verbally convey the worst news possible was indeed genius. We had been through Lucerys’ death, up close and personal; we already knew what Daemon told Rhaenyra. Emma says, “Then she learns at the end of episode 10 that she [Rhaenyra] knows nothing about grief up to this point. There’s that idea that you would die for your lover, but kill for your children. She understands that now.” The murderous look in her eyes makes this point more explicit as the camera zooms in on her before it goes black.
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