In a short timespan, House of the Dragon has blown my mind. Initially, returning to the universe of GOT felt strange because the final season was…not great. It was bad, alright? But this prequel feels exactly what Game of Thrones should’ve been altogether. It’s certainly bold to say, but I’d say the writing for HOTD is much better. There’s a lot of improvement in developing characters and moving the story along. (Though, with all that said, I do agree with many who feel that a Game of Thrones property has, yet again, fumbled with explicit queer rep.)
There are some great characters in the spin-off like Alicent (Emily Carey) and Daemon (Matt Smith), but one that has particularly captured us as viewers is Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). She’s got a boldness to her that absolutely fucks with societal expectations at the time. Rhaenyra just wants to live her life and be a bitch, alright? Also, she wants her uncle, which is another conversation in itself. The chemistry between them is very hard to ignore though. Don’t judge me. I didn’t make this franchise so incest-y, I just report on it, okay?
So, with how awesome her portrayal of Rhaenyra is, viewers are bummed to think that we may lose Milly Alcock from the series.
Now, we’ve known from the start that there would be some cast changes. That a time jump would happen and therefore certain actors would be switched out. What does that mean? Well folks, it means we’re getting an older Rhaenyra (played by Emma D’Arcy) in episode 6. Yes, Milly Alcock has left House of the Dragon. Unless she’s brought back for flashbacks or something, she’s done her part. We’re also getting an older Alicent (played by Olivia Cooke). All of this will definitely mean a different feeling in general. The dynamics and chemistry between characters will vary. Whether that’s a good or bad thing has yet to be seen. But personally, I think it’s unlikely the show will dip from episode 6 onwards.
(featured image: HBO Max)
