'House of the Dragon' cast unpack Season 3, episode 2's biggest moments

It's our house, man, isn't it

Yeah, exactly. And they've got all this f***ing s*** green stuff up on the walls. Get it down

In a wall... all suffer. Damon had a different season too, tripping in Harrenhal and coming to terms with prophecy

But this season, he's a real wife guy. And there's an amazing line that he gives

which I also went on a t-shirt, I heard no ambiguity in my wife's statement

What is this new Damon that we see this season I mean, you'll have to ask them

It's not my doing. No, look, I think, you know, obviously he's gone to Harrenhal

and gone through something that is ostensibly quite profound for him and he's sort of touched the gods in a way, you know

and so comes back with a sort of renewed sense of clarity about war

But, you know, I think they're on a bit more of an even footing

as a couple, certainly. Definitely. And in episode two, there are two particular shots that are amazing moments between your characters

One is the hand-holding when entering the throne room. I found that shot really powerful

And the giving of the sword when Daemon hands the sword to Rhaenyra

I think Daemon and Rhaenyra have a sort of uncanny sameness, right

For all of their sort of moments of conflict, they're kind of of the same matter

and I wanted them to feel like one organism during that long return home

And I suppose that also being like a resounding feeling during those scenes

of homecoming, of like, you know, this being the childhood home and that being quite sort of potent, I think, for both of them

The walk through the castle, like, I feel like I need to put Muse's supermassive black hole on the top of that

It's the most amazing strut back home. And you even take the stairs at the same time

which is this amazing unity, as you were saying. It's that house, man, isn't it

Yeah, exactly. And they've got all this shit green stuff up on the walls. Get it down

I'm so glad I didn't wear green today. But I wanted to talk more about this scene in the throne room

because Rhaenyra taking the Iron Throne is one of the most remarkable performances I have seen

Emma, watching you walk to that chair, that means so much to Westeros, it's sheer pain

How did you approach that? Well, that episode I think was just amazing on the page

and very, very electric. And so I certainly kind of wanted to meet the bar

that was set by Sarah Ryan and the team. But I think my instinct was that this is where a political family one personal and political lives being so enmeshed I think can be kind of so fruitful because some of the I guess personal professional boundaries that she has to cross in order to

you know to take her her place and to take her crown are like important kind of identity

thresholds, I think. And I wanted it to feel like a moment of personal reckoning. And I wanted to

trouble the journey to the throne so much that by the time she gets there, the anticipated triumph

is sort of robbed in that moment. And actually, there's something very sparse about it

Especially kind of, I guess, under the gaze of Alison, her former friend

And Alison is in that political plot, like she's really in it this season. But one of

of my favorite arcs of her character specifically in episode two is that she wants redemption not

only for herself but for her daughter and her granddaughter i wanted to take you through that

scene um where allison sort of needs to get helena on side up until the moment where she says that

she wants to raise chickens yeah that scene is so beautiful between you how did you sort of see that

moment for allison with fear it's always so easy because i do a lot of the time feel like her mummy

and so it does and we're very very close so that nurturing or the want to nurture

comes very naturally and the want to protect and even when Fia first

started the show it was only her second job and so I did

feel very protective over her and want her to be okay and that has

sort of transferred into our relationship but she's also very nurturing back to me

So that's nice. That is nice. And you get really cool moments, which is like a Captain Phillips level

like the queen is your authority now. And I was like, what? Yes, Alison

Shut up and sit down. So this season, your storylines finally converge

in season three, episode two. Finally. And both of your characters want something very specific

which is Harrenhal, this crumbling gothic castle that everyone seems to want

What does it mean to your characters, Alice and Eamon? What does it mean to them to want Harrenhal

I'm going to speak first. Because, frankly, it is my house. Harrenhal, I think, means everything to Alice

It's her entire identity. It's the only thing that she's kind of ever had

kind of stewardship or ownership over. It's her entire identity. I think it's, yeah, it's everything

I think she kind of audaciously asks Damon for Harrenhal and he denies her that And I think what she trying to do is she not giving up I think is what I feel like we see

And then being confronted with the other most powerful force in Westeros to compete for it is Eamon

And it's just a question of how are they both going to get what they want or who's going to get what they want

Mm-hmm. A bit of weirwood therapy, never goes straight. Yeah. But why does Eamon want Harrenhal

Geographically, it's just a strategic strong point in all of Westeros. It's right in the middle

You could gather forces there, and then from there, expand to other parts of Westeros

Yeah. But yeah, whether or not you'll take a lodger, I'm not

Yeah, it's interesting because that's a very logical reason to have it

In my reasoning, I feel like it's so emotional, which is just an interesting convergence of things

Baylor's sense of family broadens in episode two. We get this amazing shot of three generations of Valerians

I'm so sorry. You'll get that. You'll get that. But you don't

What was it like on the day to sort of put three generations of Valerians

together on a beach? It was so cool. It was so nice. And it was also just a little bit like, finally, you know

This kid has just been like desperate for family and for people that she can see herself in

And I feel like every role model that she's had up until now has been taken away from her

And it was actually so beautiful to get to see that in the flesh

And when we find that he's still alive and she's got this suddenly like huge new family

and almost like a side of herself that she can choose to go into

rather than feeling like she owes anyone anything. and it was just beautiful and thinking about the prospect of her getting to know this side of

herself and her grandfather who she loves so much and obviously at the end of season two we see her

saying like you know i'm blood and fire i'm not salt and sea i think this season she's like

i'm salt and sea it's one of the best visuals i've seen in in westeros it was so beautiful um can you take

me through why this moment is so powerful for your characters? Oh, man, I think it's one of

those ones where in a show full of such family dysfunction, to see this unit, it just brings

hope, hope in this incredibly dark, burning show, you know? I think so, yeah, and I think also

for Cordis at least, it's the culmination of a journey from the moment in season two when his

his wife at the time said, he's your son and he needs to be raised up

just like the others. From that moment to this point is an inexorable journey He was always gonna be here And so when he finally says I going to give you my name I going to recognize you that such a big deal for him

And I think it's a, hopefully it has a big, well, it certainly has a big impact

on his son, sons, in fact. And hopefully for the audience, they too, having gone through

that journey with these characters, they hopefully will feel the impact too. It's a huge step for Corliss

if you think about it. Because how old is Alan? I'd say he's like, you know, sort of in his late 20s

So for 25 plus years, Corliss just ignored them. Probably sealed them in the marketplace

Yeah, for a long time. Do you know what I mean? And it takes his wife to go, you can't do that

Yum. And for him then to go, yeah, I was a terrible person to do that to these boys

And now I have to make amends. And I think that's the thing. It's like, you know, with Alan, he's had to grow up without a father

He's had to almost be a father to Adam. He's had to be a man

And yet to see his father. And yet to see his father, exactly. And it's like he didn't have the privilege of childhood

I don't think he did, and that's why he's so... That's why he is who he is

But then when he does cry for father, it's like such a..

It's like, yeah, that's the kid, you know? Yeah. And we get a Valerian symbol

It means everything to Adam because his whole life, that's all he's ever wanted. That one shot that you saw has been Adam's dream since birth

He's always wanted to belong to a family. He's always wanted to be recognized by his father and his peers

as being someone worthy of taking notice of. And unfortunately, it happens in a very chaotic time with a lot of adversity

but he finds his family and he finds his people within that chaos

and it changes the trajectory of everything because he's a dragon rider now

which has also changed the trajectory of what the Targaryens deem as worthy to be bonding

That's why these guys, do you know what I mean? So it was an amazing scene to film

and also just filming with, you know, Beth, Abu and Steve was just a dream come true

because also like Kieran and Tom, it's just a lot of laughter and a lot of fun

But I was extremely grateful that day and very emotional because Adam has finally gotten

what he's wanted. but now he has to go back into the chaos of everything and prove himself

Sorry, are you saying the shot of me having a poo in the forest

isn't as iconic or important or beautiful as that shot you did

She said ours was a close second to yours. One of the

Exactly. I just needed to clarify. If you were to print out stills of those two scenes..

And I think they'd hold up. They would, they would. I'd have the goat

I'd have the goat You pooing I think they'd look right together Absolutely

Everybody's watched you on the title