We may only be four episodes in, but House of the Dragon has already given us the shot of the season: Eve Best’s face as her character, Rhaenys, falls from her dragon, Meleys, to her untimely death. In that moment, I swear she was infinite (until, of course, she was not).
Unsurprisingly, Best has mixed feelings about the whole thing. In HBO’s blockbuster prequel-sequel and television juggernaut, Rhaenys is a fearsome dragon-rider and one-time potential successor for the Iron Throne. She was passed over for that job – thereby earning the nickname, “The Queen Who Never Was” – and instead married Corlys (Steve Toussaint), one of Westeros’ most eligible bachelors. Amid the ongoing Targaryen civil war pledged support to challenger Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), leading to her all-out affront on Aegon’s army at Rook’s Rest.
Esquire spoke to the English actor about the build-up to that battle scene, what it’s like to ride a “dragon”, and how she feels stepping of the Westeros party bus to Toxic City (population: rising!).
Esquire: This is a big episode for you. How do they prepare you for that moment?
Best: Well, I knew she was going to come to an end because I was only signed on for two seasons. They gave us a copy of the book [George R. R. Martin’s Fire and Blood] during filming of season one, and I didn’t read it all – I didn’t want it to mess with my head very much — but I dipped in. I remember having a chat with Ewan [Mitchell, who plays Aemond] or Tom [Glynn-Carney, who plays Aegon] who was reading it avidly and I felt rather like a naughty school girl and had not done my homework. I read the salient bits about Rhaenys and Corlys, which is very slim. It’s all written like a historical document, very much like reading the Domesday Book. Anyway, the facts were there in black and white.
When we actually came to do the read through for season two, I didn’t read the scripts beforehand because I wanted to see how it would affect me. And when we came to read episode 4, I was quite sad. It’s interesting because I’m not normally attached. The number of characters you play who come to an end. But this one is slightly different because the whole thing isn’t coming to an end, so there’s a feeling of getting off the bus a bit early and being quite relieved because the bus has gotten fairly toxic. I’m talking about the Westeros bus, by the way. It wasn’t a toxic atmosphere on set.
Have you seen the episode?
I haven’t. I don’t see anything other than what I’m obliged to watch for ADR [automated dialogue replacement] and even then I ask them to turn the screen off so I can’t look at it. I find it too distracting. I just know my experience being inside it. I’m really interested by your experience.
It’s a captivating sequence, and the battle scene is choreographed very well. But it’s horrible to watch because we like Rhaenys. I found it quite traumatic.
Good! Traumatic is good! That feels like job done.
There’s a scene around the Painted Table where everyone is debating who’s going to go to the battle. Jace offers, so does Rhaenyra. And then Rhaenys says she will go, quite definitively. What’s her motivation there?
She’s the only person who could go. Jace is not relevant, sorry Jace. And it’s too risky for Rhaenyra, because she’s the leader and that would be a very serious loss. Whereas Rhaenys is the most experienced of all the dragon riders that they have. Somebody described her just now as their Lancelot: she’s their best knight. And if this is an Arthurian court, you have to send the best guy for the job.
She has been so reluctant and done everything possible to avoid war and dragon warfare because once that can of worms is opened, they are spiralling into the abyss. If anybody is going to press the red button, it has to be her. It is the most efficient way of ending the war with the least bloodshed and the least serious risk and loss.
She seems very accepting of her fate this season.
Yes, absolutely. Increasingly detached. There was an important moment when we filmed that particular scene [around the Painted Table], where we struggled a bit with the writing. We ended up doing it in extra time because they wanted to do it several ways. For me, there was a very important moment between her and Rhaenyra almost like absolution, just like “I forgive you, I honour you.” They put all the bullshit aside, their murky history aside. In particular the loss of Laenor [Rhaenys’ son and Rhaenyra’s first husband] sitting like this horrible, blackened sore between them. It’s very complicated. She hasn’t just immediately turned on all the lights for Rhaenyra and everything is fine. It’s almost reluctance, actually. And this stoic grace, and endlessly looking at the bigger picture.
That stoic grace carries onto the actual battle.
As a side note, because of that detachment, increasingly Meleys becomes her only friend and ally. The only being with whom she can be vulnerable. I asked to have this moment, which you might not have noticed, but felt significant to me: there’s a beat before they fly off to battle. There’s just a moment of help, when she allows her vulnerability. I felt like Rhaenys was saying help and Meleys just says, “you’ve got this.” That moment of connection felt really important. It was weird to film, because I was filming with a kind of blue sofa.
I was going to ask: what do you base dragon riding off? I suppose the closest thing we have is horse riding.
It’s something even more connected than horse riding. It feels like those Philip Pullman books [His Dark Materials] with the daemons. Or Avatar. There’s some kind of umbilical link between the dragon and the rider. That’s hard to build because you’re on this crazy moving house, which is not at all a dragon. But in some other ways, it’s rather wonderful because it’s entirely imagination. And after two weeks of just me on the back of this bucking bronco, I was so umbilically linked. One of the saddest things about filming that sequence was saying goodbye to the bronco.
Did you name it?
No I didn’t go that far.
Towards the end of the battle, you’re flying away. And then there’s an ambush from below. You’re shot of the back of Meleys and there’s a close up of your face as you’re falling. What’s going through her head? Has she finally reached some peace?
Exactly the right word, peace. It was a literal letting go, and 100 per cent emotional and spiritual letting go. Absolute detachment and peace and release, which is such a relief. There’s this feeling of physically and spiritually falling backwards, and just trusting the moment. It’s really hard to describe.
You know, there’s the crazy nonsense of the physicality of getting the shot right – of being on the bronco and getting the camera angle. As much as you want it to be this magical process, this extraordinary death, actually you can’t control it. So Rhaenys’ trajectory is very similar to mine: I have no control in this. That’s a huge relief.
What was your favourite moment outside of this episode?
I mean, it’s got to be the season one episode nine where she comes up through the floor. I think it’s the coolest, boldest, sassiest thing that anybody does in the whole show.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
House of the Dragon season 2 airs weekly on Sky Atlantic and NOW
Henry is a senior culture writer at Esquire, covering film, television, literature, music and art for the print magazine and website. He has previously written for the Guardian, The Telegraph and The Evening Standard. At Esquire, he explores entertainment in all forms, from long reads on Lost in Translation’s legacy to trend stories about Taylor Swift, as well as writing regular reviews of movies and television shows. He has also written many profiles for Esquire, and interviewed the likes of George Clooney, Austin Butler and Mike Faist.
