HBO‘s House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 finally reveals to hardcore George R.R. Martin fans exactly how Aemond “One-Eye” Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) met Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), the “witch” of Harrenhal.
**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2, now streaming on HBO Max**
Aemond and Vhagar finally arrive at Harrenhal in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 and make short work of destroying the garrison that Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) had left behind there. When Aemond stumbles upon Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) having supper with his sons, he doesn’t accept the castellan of Harrenhal’s surrender as Daemon did in Season 2. Instead, he insists on a fight with the old man and kills him. Even though Aemond manages to kill Ser Simon’s sons in the ensuing melée, one of them did manage to stab him in the back.
Aemond finds his status immediately overturned. Instead of being the powerful warrior he’s used to, he’s collapsed on the floor and close to death. He reaches out to the one person left standing in the room — Alys Rivers — and begs for help.
When DECIDER caught up with House of the Dragon stars Ewan Mitchell and Gayle Rankin recently, they gushed about how “much fun” this scene was.
“It was really nice seeing Aemond that vulnerable, like physically,” Ewan Mitchell said. “Throughout Season 1 and 2, he’s always [had] this relentless force, this energy. He’s always really stoic and strategic and calculated. And there in that moment it just, you know, it spins it on its head.”
In Fire & Blood, we learn that Aemond and Alys establish an intense romantic connection after he arrives at Harrenhal. Mitchell added that it was “lovely” to hint at that in the scene as well.
“That kind of connection that we have and that energy and what might be there in the future,” he said.
“Yeah, it felt like a really wonderful cliffhanger, an opportunity. It was like a huge breath,” Gayle Rankin said. “Because I think everybody thinks they know how this is going to go. And I think that’s what’s so wonderful about the season is that every turn the show tells you, ‘No, you don’t, no, you don’t.’ Which is really cool.”
Mitchell reiterated this later in our conversation when he teased the season as a whole: “God, just like expect the unexpected. You really don’t know what’s going to happen around every corner this season. Yeah, just a lot of heartbreak. A lot of heartbreak.”
“And like heart surprises,” Rankin said. “Heart expansion hopefully. I’m excited about that.”
When DECIDER brought up how one reason fans are particularly excited to see Aemond and Alys’s relationship unfold is because they’re like the text book definition of a couple that matches each other’s freak, they admitted that they loved that and were a little nervous about how fans might react.
“‘Match my freak.’ I do love that. No. I’m excited. It’s a little nerve-wracking because I think it has been pretty anticipated and been pretty clear on the internet, that’s what people want,” Rankin said. “So we’re like, ‘I hope you like it.’”
“No, no, it’s exciting,” she said, “because, you know, you’re such an extraordinary actor.”
“Stop it,” Mitchell said.
“It’s true,” Rankin said. “And so it was just really exciting to get to share scenes, as you said. Yeah.”
“Likewise,” Mitchell said. “We’re a power couple.”
House of the Dragon returns next Sunday at 9 PM ET only on HBO and HBO Max.
