House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock addresses ‘gnarly’ incest scene

Spoilers follow for episode four of the ‘Game of Thrones’ spin-off

House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock has reflected on what she described as a “gnarly” incest scene that takes place in the fourth episode, “King of the Narrow Sea”.

Spoilers follow for episode four of House of the Dragon – you have been warned!

During Monday’s (12 September) episode, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Alcock) is led on a secret nighttime adventure around King’s Landing by her uncle Daemon (Smith).

The pair end up at one of Daemon’s favourite brothels, where they begin kissing and removing each other’s clothes.

With Rhaenyra’s trousers around her ankles, Daemon suddenly has second thoughts and can’t bring himself to go through with the act, leaving his niece in the lurch.

The scene has shocked many of the show’s viewers, even though House of the Dragon’s predecessor Game of Thrones never shied away from incestuous plotlines.

Reflecting on filming the scene, Alcock told the New York Post: “Clare Kilner, our director, made sure that we hadn’t seen any of the brothel stuff until we were shooting. So, that was our first time walking through the brothel, and he’s guiding her through the room with all of these other bodies. So, that was quite shocking. You’re like, ‘This is kind of weird and silly.’”

She added: “There were extras who we had just met who were like, 69-ing for 12 hours. It’s pretty gnarly. We felt pretty overdressed, because everyone else was nude.”

Milly Alcock in ‘House of the Dragon’ (Ollie Upton/HBO)

Alcock, 22, said the scene wasn’t awkward to film. “No, strangely enough. [Matt Smith and I] were just kind of mates,” she said. “So, it was quite comfortable. We had an intimacy coordinator, and we worked with her through the rehearsal process and blocked it out months before.”

Like Daemon and Rhaenyra, many other ancestors of Game of Thrones character Daenerys practised incest and polygamy – you can read all about the Targaryen family tree here.

And you can read about the biggest talking points from episode four here.

House of the Dragon airs weekly on Sundays in the US, with the UK premiere arriving 2am the following morning on Sky. The episodes are then repeated at 9pm on Mondays, and will be available to stream on Sky and NOW after their initial airing.