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'House of the Dragon' unveils Emma D'Arcy as adult Rhaenyra in sneak peek at Episode 6
Mazel Tov — it's a baby boy!
Before House of the Dragon jumps forward in time once again, fans can start to brace themselves for the temporal dislocation with a sneak peek at the show's sixth episode. HBO has released a brief clip, which gives audiences their first look at Emma D'Arcy as a fully-grown Rhaenyra Targaryen (portrayed by Milly Alcock up to this point) in action.
The princess and heir apparent to the Iron Throne has just welcomed a baby boy — Mazel Tov! — with her husband, Ser Laenor Velaryon (played as a grown man by John Macmillan), whom she reluctantly wed in the most recent episode of the Game of Thrones prequel as a way to unite the most powerful houses in the realm.
Unfortunately, there isn't much time to rest for the exhausted mother, who must now present her newborn child before an unnamed party. "She wants to see him," says Rhaenyra. "What could she possibly want?" asks Laenor, clearly annoyed. "I thought we were past this."
If we had to make an educated guess, we'd say that the queen herself, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke tackling the time-jumped role), still rankled by Rhaenyra's dishonesty when the two were young women, is behind this rather discomforting summons.
Check out the clip below:
“The foundations for everything that happens are in the wounds and the trauma that are enacted on both of them early on in the story, and those wounds become the mechanism that drives behaviors later,” D’Arcy explained during a conversation with Vogue last month. “When there's been a fundamental hurt that has come to define you, forgiveness is a big ask — even with someone who's been what Alicent is to Rhaenyra.”
D'Arcy later continued: “What House of the Dragon does well is identify that the patriarchal structure that [Rhaenyra and Alicent] live within is seeking to drive a wedge between them — that the way you consolidate male power and continue to sublimate women is to undo friendships that create solidarity and enable the imagining of new realities."
Episodes 1-5 of House of the Dragon are now available to stream on HBO Max. New installments premiere every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
Shortly after the series was picked up for a second season last month, it was announced that Miguel Sapochnik would vacate the roles of director and co-showrunner. Luckily, fellow Thrones veteran Alan Taylor will step up as a director and executive producer.
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