Updated

Updated · ELLE · Jun 29

Emma D'Arcy Dreaded Filming Jace Death Scene as Rhaenyra Claims Iron Throne in Episode 2

Updated

Updated · ELLE · Jun 29

Emma D'Arcy Dreaded Filming Jace Death Scene as Rhaenyra Claims Iron Throne in Episode 2

Q: Rhaenyra killed Alicent's father to appear strong. Will this brutal act secure her throne or ultimately prove her fatal mistake?

It is more likely to prove a costly mistake than a lasting solution. In the short term, Otto Hightower’s execution helps Rhaenyra project exactly what she wanted: authority, resolve and the image of a ruler willing to punish treason herself. The episode makes clear that Daemon saw it as a necessary public act to solidify her claim, and it immediately accompanies her seizure of King’s Landing and the Iron Throne. But the evidence in the episode and surrounding commentary points the other way over time. The killing destroys what remained of Rhaenyra’s fragile understanding with Alicent. Alicent had already helped open the path to King’s Landing, yet she arrives to find her father’s decapitated body at Rhaenyra’s feet. That all but guarantees any hope of reconciliation is gone and turns a political struggle into an even more personal war. The show also frames the act less as triumph than as a bad omen. Rhaenyra is grief-stricken, visibly shaken and struggles through the execution, undercutting the idea that this is a clean, stabilizing assertion of power. Commentary around the episode repeatedly describes the moment as a “double-edged sword” and a point of no return that deepens the cycle of violence rather than ending it. So while Otto’s death may help Rhaenyra look strong in the throne room, it does not remove the larger threats around her and likely hardens them. It secures the seat for the moment, but at the price of making her rule harder to keep.

3 articles · Updated · ELLE · Jun 29

Emma D'Arcy said Rhaenyra’s breakdown over Jace’s death was the only scene in the series they dreaded filming, calling the loss “annihilating” and saying they were relieved when the shoot ended.
Harry Collett was physically present as Jace’s body during the sequence, and D'Arcy said multiple takes were needed because the scene was spatially complex despite efforts to minimize them.
Episode 2 then carries Rhaenyra to the Iron Throne after she and Daemon seize King’s Landing, but the victory is undercut when she beheads Otto Hightower in her first on-screen kill.
D'Arcy said that execution was meant to strip Rhaenyra’s triumph of certainty, while Alicent’s silent arrival in the throne room leaves her new rule immediately morally and politically fraught.
With only 1 season left before the series ends in season 4, D'Arcy said the show will follow Fire & Blood’s ending even as the path there remains open.