Who knew that there were still uncharted depths to the Game Of Thrones universe’s favorite taboo? Several years of training couldn’t prepare us for Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) hooking up with his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), in House Of The Dragon‘s most recent episode. Luckily, this sexual liasion isn’t real—it’s a freaky vision conjured up by Aemond’s witchy lover Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin).
But is it really Alys’ doing? So Rankin wondered while discussing the unnerving scene with The A.V. Club. The GLOW and Perry Mason actor joined House Of The Dragon in season two, with Alys finding herself immediately entangled with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). However, in season three, she’s romantically (and quickly) bonded with Aemond—holding on to Dreamfyre’s eggs, they’re planning to start a family and everything. Those plans start to go awry in the third season’s seventh episode, when Alicent drops in at Harrenhal, shocked to find her son in Alys’ clutches. As it turns out, meeting the parents of your boyfriend is a pain, even if you’re stuck in Westeros.
The A.V. Club spoke to Rankin about her views on Alys’ journey, her hopes for season four, and working with Olivia Cooke to cultivate their complex onscreen connection.
The A.V. Club: We do have to start with the Oedipus complex of it all.
Gayle Rankin: Of course.
AVC: How did you want your performance to invoke Alys’ desire, or even desperation, to hold on to the power she thinks Aemond has, considering the extent to which she’s manipulating his mommy issues, especially because Daemon had a sex dream about his mom in season two as well?
GR: Well, my question back to everyone is who’s to say that it’s not Aemond creating these visions? Do you know what I mean? I think that’s the interesting gender question of this theme we’re seeing where the men have sex dreams of and these Oedipal experiences with their mothers. Everyone’s assuming it’s this witch who is doing it or controlling it. I call bullshit, or rather, I call to question it, your honor, but with respect.
It is an interesting and cool point that you’re bringing up about what people do in terms of being in desperate, pressurized positions, whether they’re desperate for love, affection, validation, or power, especially in a sexual sense. It can get really intimate and vulnerable, and I think we do, as animals, push ourselves into territories that are scary and precarious. I think all of [Alys’ stuff] is living inside of that, and is richly thematic
AVC: How was it to work with Olivia Cooke and figuring out the dynamic to cultivate between Alys and Alicent?
GR: Olivia and I are really close friends, so we were excited to kiki about working together. We also just wanted to make it feel really weird. We were thinking about how to make it feel strange, intense, and like a girl-on-girl crime. It’s very odd and freaky that they’re of similar ages. Alys wants to freak Alicent out, but she’s also intimidated by her. It’s a little like two wild animals together. We figured out this dynamic quickly because what was crazy about it was having Olivia actually be there. It feels like Alicent shouldn’t be here. This is Harrenhal, so what is she doing here? So there was already a hilarious, tense, strange, exciting aspect to that that we just leaned into.
AVC: By the time we see Alys caring for Aemond, there’s already a bond between them formed off screen. How did you and Ewan Mitchell find a way to give them a lived-in connection?
GR: It was really easy. Ewan is such an amazing actor, so it was easy to jump in and trust each other because we both wanted this to feel very special. So there was like a delicacy that we both entered into it with because it’s rare to see it [on HOTD].
AVC: So much of the show is about women being dealt a bad hand and trying to survive and thrive despite it all. How do you view your character through that lens?
GR: I’m honored that I’m put in the same basket because I respect those other characters so much and see their plight. I see them trying to make decisions and the show is about exposing those struggles. I hope we can learn something from it as an audience.
AVC: There’s a scene earlier this season where Alys says she’s tired of a desolate existence. Do you think she means it, and is that how you wanted to play it?
GR: I think we’re going to have a lot of clarity about what she means by that soon, but I believe her. I love that people think she might be scheming, though, it’s great. My goal is always to play layers on layers. I like to keep them guessing. I do think she’s stated what she wants. And she wants Harrenhal. I like to and am wont to believe that. I’m like, “The woman said a thing, believe her.” It might change though, who knows? What is this type of love going to do to her? I just really want Alys to be free. I feel like she’s trapped so I want her to be free.
AVC: Do you have any insights yet into what season four will look like for Alys? Because her story so far is a bit more expanded than in the book?
GR: I mean, I don’t see her going anywhere, but I wish I knew. I’m excited for whatever it is. I’m so grateful to Ryan [Condal, the showrunner] and to HBO and to the show. What a cool, amazing opportunity I did know when I signed up. I knew what I was doing when nobody else knew, so I was excited about that, too.
AVC: Your upcoming releases are two comedy films, The Incomer and The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford. Was it intentional to try and move away from the intensity of HOTD while choosing them?
GR: Yeah, it keeps things interesting. The Incomer is absolutely a comedy, but it’s also dark and dramatic and pagan and weird. It’s definitely being marketed as a comedy, and it is funny and silly, but it’s way more of a Yorgos Lanthimos-esque than anything else. I don’t know if I was looking for that exactly, but I’m always a material girl. I don’t mean the Madonna song, but I mean in terms of the story and script, and what speaks to me.
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