The Only Advice Emilia Clarke Gave Emma D'Arcy Before House of the Dragon

The Iron Throne is a seat that is difficult to get your hands on – particularly if you're female. The quest for it drove Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) to madness in HBO's Game of Thrones. And in House of the Dragon, the mere mention that Rhaenyra (played initially by Milly Alcock and later by Emma D'Arcy) would be heir to the throne was enough to get the men plotting against her.

In preparation for playing the adult Rhaenyra, Emma D'Arcy told the Hollywood Reporter they were 'told loads of stuff' by Clarke before shooting in HotD began.

'I spoke to Emilia Clarke before I started shooting, and she was beautiful and so generous,' D'Arcy said. They didn't go into the nature of 'the stuff', with Emma saying, 'I'm going to keep it to myself', but certainly indicated that moving from relative obscurity to one of the biggest franchises in TV history was both exciting and daunting.

D'Arcy went on to say how their 'day-to-day is broadly unchanged', something they largely put down to the wig they wear in the show. Away from the set, D'Arcy sports short black hair as opposed to the long white Targaryen locks worn in the show.

In the same Round Table recording for the Hollywood Reporter, D'Arcy explained that they initially auditioned for the part of Rhaenyra during the pandemic and had to 'self-tape' early auditions over a period of three months. Halfway through the audition process, they were asked by then-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik whether they owned a wig. The answer was no.

And D'Arcy explained how they believe a 'proper person' would have asked someone in hair and makeup for advice. Not Emma D'Arcy though. They found a 'bag of hair' from a previous job and, along with their partner, stuck it to their head.

Like D'Arcy, Emilia Clarke has dark hair. But having completed all her auditions and filming for her role as Dany in a world before Covid-19, she didn't have to contend with such tribulations in order to land her role as a formidable Targaryen female.

D'Arcy is currently filming season 2 of House of the Dragon, in which the battle for supremacy and the Iron Throne is set to heat up. The new season is set to hit our screens in 2024.

Source: Hollywood Reporter.