In Episode 4 of House of the Dragon, House Targaryen went full throttle into their fondness for incest.
This occurred when Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) took his niece, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), on a tour of the nightlife in King’s Landing and ended up getting frisky with her in a brothel.
While some believe that the pair definitely had sex, other fans of the TV show believe that the only man Rhaenyra slept with in Episode 4 was Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
Regardless, something intimate did occur between the uncle and his niece.
Since the episode aired, viewers have been heavily debating whether this should have happened or not in the TV show.
Now, the actor who portrays Rhaenyra has come out and discussed what it was like to film such a scene.
An intimacy coordinator helped Milly Alcock with the scene
According to a recent interview with The New York Post, Milly Alcock says she and Matt Smith are good friends, so filming the scene wasn’t too bad.
In addition to that, an intimacy coordinator was with them every step of the way to make sure the scene was as easy to film as possible.
“[Matt Smith and I] were just kind of mates. So, it was quite comfortable,” Alcock said. “We had an intimacy coordinator, and we worked with her through the rehearsal process and blocked it out months before.”
“Clare Kilner, our director, made sure that we hadn’t seen any of the brothel stuff until we were shooting. So, that was our first time walking through the brothel, and he’s guiding her through the room with all of these other bodies. So, that was quite shocking. You’re like, ‘This is kind of weird and silly.'”
While Rhaenyra remains semi-dressed in the scene, there were plenty of other people present who were entirely naked and remained this way for the long hours of filming.
“It’s pretty gnarly. We felt pretty overdressed because everyone else was nude,” Milcock added.
Rhaenyra’s feelings for Daemon are complicated
While the dust is still settling on what happened in Episode 4 of House of the Dragon, Alcock was happy to further discuss her character’s feelings for Daemon.
She explained that, at the moment, Rhaenyra is of an age where it is hard to distinguish between “platonic love, romantic love, and lust,” so her feelings for her uncle are not entirely formed yet.
She also has feelings for Criston, but, as Alcock points out, “Rhaenyra has the upper hand with Cole, and that turns her on a bit.”
As for who Rhaenyra will fall for remains to be seen. Viewers will just have to continue watching House of the Dragon every Sunday night to find out more.
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO.