Gayle Rankin on House of the Dragon’s Most Twisted Scene, Aemond’s Dragon Egg Plans

Gayle Rankin's Alys Rivers has navigated Harrenhal's murky politics for two seasons, but Season 3, Episode 7 of House of the Dragon pulls her directly into the Targaryens' most unsettling family drama yet. The episode opens with what appears to be an intimate moment between Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his mother Alicent (Olivia Cooke)—a scene that transforms mid-act into something far stranger when it's revealed Aemond is hallucinating his mother whilst with Alys, as part of a scheme to breed more Targaryens and build a dynasty of their own.

In an interview with Variety, Rankin described the scene's production frankly. "It was very intimate and very odd but very professional," she said. "We tried to like make jokes, just to keep it lighthearted because those scenes are not easy and they're complicated and very technical. So it was also just like it was another day at the office for being like a very odd, fucked-up scene."

The Targaryen Cycle

When the real Alicent arrives at Harrenhal, Alys attempts to warn Aemond she's a threat, though he doesn't believe her. What follows is what Rankin calls an "unbearable" family dinner—a tense tableau that culminates in Alicent poisoning her son before slipping away in the night. The dynamic reflects a pattern Rankin sees running through the show's male characters. "All you Targaryen boys want the same thing," Alys tells Aemond, a line that cuts across both his and Daemon's mother fixations.

Rankin views Alys's willingness to tolerate this chaos through the lens of her character's prophetic abilities. "I think she sees everything," Rankin explained to Variety. "So there is a prophetic nature to who she is, and so she's just like, 'Wow! So we have to go through this? OK, here we go.' She can see a lot and knows what's coming."

Genuine Feeling in Darkness

Asked whether Alys's feelings for Aemond are real, Rankin was direct: "Yeah, I do. I think they're not uncomplicated, like anyone, you know. Especially if you're going through a war and you want a castle and you are a witch." What draws her to him specifically? "I think he's pretty unabashedly himself. I think that's refreshing to her. And he has behaved horrendously but he's also gotten, in some ways, what he's wanted and I think she respects that. And I think they're kind of like a dark power couple."

The fact that Alys revealed the dragon eggs to Aemond—eggs she kept hidden even from Daemon—speaks to a deeper trust. Rankin believes Daemon never lowered his guard with her, and when he left, it confirmed her instincts. "Daemon was never going to get there with her, and Daemon was not her answer. I think Aemond is a different story, and I think she knows that instinctively."

As for Alys's true age, Rankin leans into ambiguity: "I think she's like 400 years old. I mean, give or take." The actor's certainty on this point underscores her reading of Alys as someone whose claims should be taken at face value. "There's a lot of skepticism about, is she telling the truth? Is she manipulating? I'm like, believe the woman."

With Aemond poisoned, Vhagar missing, and only dragon eggs in hand, Alys and her unlikely ally face an uncertain finale—one where her foresight may be their only advantage.