Emma D’Arcy Play Princess Rhaenyra in “House of the Dragon”, and in Real Life, They Are NB, Which Only Helps Them in Their Work
The fans of Game of Thrones are ecstatic after the release of the long-awaited prequel House of the Dragon. The series is about the events of the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, which happened almost 2 centuries before Daenerys was born. The story is about Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen who has the claim to the throne. The role went to English actor Emma D’Arcy. We found out how Emma’s life was before House of the Dragon, and how being enby helped them in their acting work.
Their family had a huge influence on them.
There’s not a lot of information about the actor’s past. Emma’s family is composed of both of their parents and an enby sibling, who are a dancer. Emma realized that they had a love for storytelling and acting when they were a child thanks to their father. He introduced them to the world of sci-fi which fully captivated them and got them interested in art.
They were serious about their theatrical aspirations.
Emma are from London, but they got their education in Oxford. They studied fine arts at The Ruskin School of Art and played in the college theater.
After graduation, Emma devoted their time to acting, played on stage, and took part in theater festivals, playing both male and female roles. D’Arcy became the joint artistic director of the Forward Arena Theater Company.
They appeared in movies before House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon wasn’t a debut for D’Arcy. You can see Emma in the adaptation of Graham Swift’s Mothering Sunday, where they played Miss Hobson. And in 2020, the series Truth Seekers was released on Amazon Prime. Emma played a girl named Astrid who is followed by ghosts.
They went to great lengths to get the perfect hair for the role of Rhaenyra.
Emma D’Arcy identify themselves as enby and prefers they/them. In their ordinary life, they have almost no makeup and short hair. And for the audition for the role of Rhaenyra, they found a wig, “We kept trying until we found something that gave me the illusion I had long hair. My partner would do my hair extensions for an hour and a half before we taped anything.”
They fought for the part for several months.
Rhaenyra is one of the key characters in House of the Dragon. The casting for this part took 3 long months. When Emma were told they got the part, they felt relieved. The actor really fell in love with the character. Rhaenyra almost lived in their heart. According to Emma, it can’t be any different if the audition process takes weeks and months.
They worried about the change of actors.
Emma D’Arcy appear in House of the Dragon only in the middle of the season, but they play one of the lead roles. The role of the teenage princess was played by Australian actress Milly Alcock. Emma played the adult version of Rhaenyra. The star say they worried about the reaction of the viewers, “They only get me when they lose Milly, so they meet me in a place of grief, of losing someone they just spent five hours with.”
They found common ground with the character.
Being non-binary helps Emma in their work. D’Arcy are ready to play any role in movies and on stage. But the actor says that they are the best at playing female characters, “I have all the tools necessary to play women. I lived as one for a long time; people still think I am one. It’s like, ‘Let me do my job; I’m really good at it.’”
House of the Dragon also poses gender questions. The heir to the throne has to balance between the worlds of men and women, which is why Rhaenyra’s story is so relatable to Emma, “I’ve always found myself both pulled and repelled by masculine and feminine identity, and I think that plays out truthfully here.”
Do you watch House of the Dragon? Which character from A Song of Ice and Fire do you like the most?