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*Warning – Spoilers ahead for ‘House of the Dragon’ season two, episode six*
House of the Dragon surprised fans with a same-sex kiss scene that wasn’t included in the books during Sunday’s (July 21) episode, titled “Smallfolk.”
The sixth installment in the Game of Thrones prequel’s second series – based on the novels by George RR Martin – sees an intimate moment between Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Lady Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno).
After Mysaria opens up to Rhaenyra about her troubled past, the queen hugs her right-hand woman, which turns into a passionate kiss before they’re interrupted.
“It wasn’t scripted as a kiss. I think it was scripted as … there’s just breath between them or something, and then whatever happens is interrupted,” Mizuno told TheWrap, adding that it was D’Arcy who suggested the scene could turn romantic.
“Because we were separate in the room … [and] Mysaria has told this story, [D’Arcy] felt the instinct to hold her, to comfort her,” she said. “From that, it felt so organic to go into the kiss.”
The kiss is not included in Martin’s 2018 book, Fire & Blood, on which the series is based; however, the author has previously praised cast members for taking creative license with his characters.
Mizuno noted that while she and D’Arcy wanted the kiss to avoid feeling “queer-baity in any sense,” she added that the intimacy of their hug made their kiss feel “emotionally so right.”
“I don’t think either of them have been hugged like that in a long time, if not ever,” Mizuno said. “I think it was the hug – the intimate vulnerability of that hug – which morphed into this very tender and passionate kiss, which was quite… amazing. I think it’s very thrilling in the moment for both of them.”
In another interview, D’Arcy told Variety that the moment was born out of a “desire to connect” between the two characters.
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“I think what you see initially is intimacy, and an intimacy that Rhaenyra shares so rarely,” they said. “Even in some of her other romantic relationships, there’s a lot of presentation, there’s a lot of bravado, often from both sides. Certainly with Daemon, I think both parties struggle to reveal themselves in weakness, and that their eroticism is sort of predicated on power.
“Whereas with Mysaria, in this growing relationship – it’s remarkably honest. Initially, there’s huge feelings of empathy and gratitude toward this person. Rhaenyra is hugely affected by the life that Mysaria has lived so bravely. Then, they are two bodies completely overrun by touch. As soon as they embrace and their bodies are touching, I think it’s pure bodily desire.”
Before the new season of House of the Dragon aired, Sue Perkins apologized for misgendering D’Arcy – who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
“It was a s***ty mistake,” the actor and TV presenter wrote on X. “Had loads of stuff going on in my earpiece and so wasn’t as focused as I should have been. No excuses though. These things matter and I feel terrible about it. Am a massive fan of their work and would never want to be disrespectful.”
In a review of the second season, The Independent hailed D’Arcy’s performance as “harrowed and compelling.”
House of the Dragon continues on HBO in the US on Sundays and on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK on Mondays.
