One of the craziest moments of House of the Dragon Season 3 so far was when Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) kissed his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) on the lips, not realizing that her sudden softness towards him was a calculation to get him the heck away from King’s Landing. In this week’s all-new episode of the HBO hit, Aemond takes this Oedipal fixation one step further in a dream… that also includes new lady love Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin)??
**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7, now streaming on HBO Max**
Early on in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7, we see a shirtless Aemond practicing with his sword in Harrenhal. Alicent suddenly arrives and explains that she had to flee the city to reunite with him, as she promised. Soon, she’s kissing Aemond and the two begin having sex on the weirwood bed. However, all is not what it appears.
It’s soon apparent that Aemond is not having sex with his mother, but Alys. In the midst of one his hallucinatory visions, he has started sleeping with his new lover in the flesh, while his mind thought he was with Alicent. (It’s gets even more crazy when the real Alicent soon arrives, as part of her mission to assassinate her own son on behalf of Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra!)
If that scene was wild for you to watch at home, just know it was just as bananas for House of the Dragon stars Gayle Rankin and Ewan Mitchell on set.
“I mean, shooting it was — it was the thing that we couldn’t talk about in the junket, you know? Because I think people were like, ‘What was the craziest scene you had to shoot?’” Rankin told DECIDER with a chuckle. “I think that was a pretty crazy fucking scene, you know, for all of us.”
Rankin also revealed that she and co-star Olivia Cooke are real life close friends, further amping up the absurdity of shooting this sex scene.
“It was fun and funny. It’s like those scenes can sometimes be really intense, but they’re also like ultimately stunt scenes in some ways. So I think we all just like try to be really respectful and professional and also like quite keep it pretty lighthearted, you know? Because it was a very absurd scene,” she said.
Because Aemond and Alys are still a tiny bit awkward around each other, DECIDER asked Rankin if the couple has even consummated their romance yet — or did we get to see that happen in real time?
“Have they consummated this relationship?” Rankin said. “I mean, I think, yeah, we’re seeing it. I mean, we’re seeing it happen in front of our eyes, which is… Thank you HBO for like allowing us the privilege.”
“Yeah, but it’s early days of that endeavor, so it’s like vulnerable still, I think for them.”
When we last see Alys and Aemond in this week’s House of the Dragon, she’s calling him an “idiot” for allowing himself to be poisoned by his mother. They’re “vulnerable,” indeed!
The House of the Dragon Season 3 finale will premiere on HBO and HBO Max next Sunday, August 9 at 9 PM ET.
