When I ask Gayle Rankin if she knows Alys’ full story on “House of the Dragon,” she offers a look as enigmatic as the woman/witch?/ghost? — no one really knows yet — she plays on the HBO drama… and then she nods.
The actress and showrunner Ryan Condal had a conversation about her mysterious character “pretty early on,” she says, but “I didn’t really know the full extent until I read the episode. And I was like” — her voice takes on a tone of wonder — “there it is.“
Is the episode she references next week’s Season 3 finale? Might we have to wait until the series ends with Season 4? Those answers are as elusive as adequate lighting at Harrenhal. What Rankin can say is that what she learned about Alys “all surprised me — that was what was so cool about it… I was like, ‘Wow.’ The specificity of it, the depth of it, how much I felt toward it, what I had to learn from it, as a woman…” She trails off with a smile.
On to more pressing matters: Namely, Alys’ realization that the Targaryen prince in her bed might not be the sure thing he once seemed. In last week’s episode, Alys spun Aemond a fantasy of repopulating the dream of Old Valyria, one white-blonde baby at a time. In this week’s hour, reality knocks on the castle door in the form of Aemond’s mother, Alicent, who shows up unannounced and instantly raises Alys’ hackles. (Read a full recap here.)
Below, Rankin — whose past TV work includes “GLOW” and “Perry Mason” — clues us in to why Alys views Aemond very differently than she did Daemon (“Look, we make mistakes in love and in life, but I think Alys is a smart cookie”) and what Rankin thinks Harrenhal has to do with the “tragedy” of her cryptic character.
When Aemond asks for Alys’ help, ‘I do think that was profound for her’
TVLINE | Talk to me about what Alys thinks Aemond is, versus what she thought Daemon was, and whether that has borne out for her. As we see, in this episode, I’m thinking that maybe Aemond is not who she thought.
GAYLE RANKIN | Like what she thought he meant, and what he’s kind of turned into, yeah? I do think when he falls at her feet and he asks for her help, I do think that was profound for her. That was more than Daemon ever — I mean, Daemon did ask for her help, but there’s this like bigger physical event that happens. And I do think she’s caught off guard, and that’s surprising for her. Because as we know,like she does have prophetic powers. But I don’t think she sees everything, and that’s what makes her human, as well.
She sees Aemond as “There’s more to this person, and I think that this person might be willing to give me more, ultimately” — and that’s both emotionally and in a real intimate way, and also in a, like, “Give me more, so I can get what I want.” I don’t think Daemon was, and then that broke her.
TVLINE | Do you think that’s why she didn’t tell Daemon about the dragon eggs? Because he would have been very into that, too, right?
He sure would! And I don’t think she was gonna give it to him. She just had that instinct… Sometimes, look, we make mistakes in love and in life, but I think Alys is a smart cookie. She was like, “I’m gonna let him deal with this vision, see how that goes. Maybe I’ll ask him for Harrenhal see how that goes.” And it just didn’t work.
Alys realizes ‘the power’ Alicent holds over Aemond
TVLINE | And then in Episode 7, Alicent shows up, and Alys sees a different side of the man she’s coming to know. Her last line of the episode — “Idiot” — is perfection. Tell me what she’s realizing about him toward the end of the hour, and how that may affect how they interact as we move on.
What she’s realizing is, like, the power that his mother has over him — which, then, there’s something she can learn from that more. She has a strong maternal instinct already, but maybe it heightens even more or changes. I think she has to either double down — like she’s either going to s**t or get off the pot in terms of how much she’s like investing in this relationship, because the truth, is the man’s not going to change, you know? There’s a concern. I think it’s like, “Are they all just the same?”
TVLINE | Alys has wanted Harrenhal for such a long time. It has such meaning to her. It’s also the castle that gets thrown around whenever a knight wants a castle. Have you thought about whether she would stand and defend it if one of those people actually comes to try and claim it?
Yeah, man. It’s such a good question. I think she would stand. I think she would defend it with her life. It’s all she has, and I think that is maybe a clue. I mean, it has to have something to do with her story. I think we’re gonna figure out the depth of that. And that’s the tragedy of her, too: No one cares to really know, you know? If only they knew, maybe they would let her have it.