Emma D’Arcy, who portrays Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO’s "House of the Dragon," revealed that a particular scene in Season 3, Episode 2, was the most emotionally taxing to film. The scene depicts Rhaenyra’s reaction upon discovering the dead body of her eldest son, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, played by Harry Collett.
In the episode, Baela Targaryen returns to Dragonstone with Jace's corpse. When Rhaenyra sees her son’s body, her reaction is one of disbelief and grief, questioning him as if he were a child in minor trouble. D’Arcy described this moment as the only scene they "dreaded" throughout their time on the series.
"I think part of that is becoming necessarily very, very close with the people that we filmed the show with, and every time you film a character’s death scene, you also sort of lose an actor from the company," D’Arcy told DECIDER. The actor also reflected on the line, "What have you done?" considering its delivery.
"It’s interesting hearing you say that line, ‘What have you done?’ I was cognizant of wanting to actually ask the question as opposed to it becoming kind of rhetorical," D’Arcy explained. "I just wanted it to sort of live and for her to hope for an answer because I think that that denial is the most honest. I think that that denial communicates how kind of intolerable the sort of dawning reality is."
Collett, who played Jace, remained on set as a corpse for the duration of the scene's filming. While a dummy was considered, Collett opted to be present. He stated that the emotional reactions seen in the scene were genuine, attributing them partly to D’Arcy's performance.
"All of the reactions you see in [the] room are all very real," Collett said. "I think there’s a scene where there’s a clip where Bethany [Antonia] actually has a tear rolling down her face, and that’s real. That’s just a real reaction to Emma’s performance."
D’Arcy reciprocated the sentiment, praising Collett’s contribution and the professional respect between actors. "Harry Collett was totally beautiful on the day, and it’s a funny thing to have to do," D’Arcy said. "He gave me a very wide berth in the morning... I’m always just deeply touched by the sort of beautiful intuition and grace that actors have and the respect that we give each other."
Collett admitted to the challenge of remaining still and awake during the prolonged scene. "Obviously I couldn’t do anything, could I? Because I was just dead," he said. "I mean, we got to the end of the day where they were doing like wide shots and I was trying not to fall asleep because I had my eyes closed the whole day."
"House of the Dragon" airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on HBO and is available for streaming on Max.