House of the Dragon Episode 3 Director Talks About That Shocking Cameo

A lot of things happened last night The Dragon Housea quality the show’s many fans are entitled to expect from HBO Game Of Thrones prequel. But you have to assume that most viewers gasped at the big cameo in “The Burning Mill,” featuring a character Even the most diehards didn’t expect to see this.

In a new interview with Variety“The Burning Mill” director Geeta Vasant Patel, who is also behind the camera for the season 2 finale, so imagine all the secrets She might overflow—talks about some of the most surprising moments from episode three… including this wild surprise.

This includes Aemond’s nude scene, Rhaenyra and Alicent’s clandestine meeting, and how Ser Criston Cole quickly became The Dragon HouseThe most hated character on the show, an impressive feat considering he’s not even a Targaryen. But Patel also had some insight into this surprising cameo, featuring the very familiar face of Milly Alcock, who played young Rhaenyra in the first season.

Having fled Dragonstone for Harrenhal after a violent dispute with his wife, the eldest child Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) never expected to find his family in the castle’s gloomy ruins. But Harrenhal has a way of preying on troubled minds…

“I hadn’t worked with Milly in the first season, so it was interesting,” Patel told Variety. “When she and Matt came in, the first thing we talked about was their intimacy and how much they trusted each other. Then it was about getting inside Daemon’s head, because up until that point he had been responsible for someone’s murder but hadn’t realized the story yet. The reason for that scene was for Daemon to confront himself and look in the mirror.”

In this brief scene, Daemon meets a young Rhaenyra, who is busy sewing Jaehaerys Targaryen’s head back onto his tiny body. It’s a macabre visualization of… well, a lot It weighed on Daemon’s mind. “You’re always coming and going, aren’t you?” she said. “And I have to clean up afterward.”

Rhaenyra’s ethereal appearance ends there, but that’s just part of the psychological pie that will continue to hit Daemon in the face in Season 2. “The whole season is like therapy for Daemon,” Patel continues. “He’s running so fast that he never really stops to feel things. When she turns and looks at him, I wanted to make sure that he would be confronted without words because she sees him and knows him. What Matt did so beautifully is that he allowed himself to feel in that moment. I remember crying during the shoot, because the way Matt portrayed Daemon’s pain as she looked at him, I felt remorse and regret — which you don’t see very often from Daemon.”

New episodes of The Dragon House arrives Sunday on HBO and Max.

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