Who Plays Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon?
As of the first few episodes, Rhaenyra Targaryen, the daughter of King Viserys and heir to the iron throne - at least for now - is played by Milly Alcock who was also was also in Reckoning (2019-2020) and Upright (2020-2022). However, the 22-year-old actress will only be Rhaenyra for the first few episodes. After that, 30-year-old Emma D’ Arcy (Misbeharior, Mothering Sunday) will take up the role of Rhaenyra, a fact lamented by some fans who love Rhaenyra so far and don’t want to see her changed. This, of course, is a bit of a premature judgment, as D’Arcy will likely do a great job - but why are Rhaeynra, Alicent, and some other characters recast midway?
Why Are There Two Actors Playing Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon?
The reason why Rhaeyra is played by another actor in later House of the Dragon episodes has to do with a relatively big time skip that we can expect a bit later into the show.
The story told in House of the Dragon is going to span over 28 years in total.
As House of the Dragon Season 2 has been confirmed, it remains to be seen how long it’ll take to get there.
In any case, Rhaenyra is expected to age at least 12-15 years, so she’ll be in her late twenties by the end of the series.
In a typical case of the trope known as “Dawson Casting” - which means a show in which actors portray characters much younger than themselves - Milly Alcock is quite a bit older than Rhaenyra, who is 14 when the show starts and 17 as of episode 3.
Problematic as this can be - for instance, due to giving teenagers unrealistic expectations of what they ought to look like, this is also quite common.
However, playing a character quite older than oneself is even more of an issue. Not only can it potentially lead to unrealistic acting if an actor with relatively little life and performance experience portrays an age far from anything they’ve experienced, but the visual result can be problematic.
While advanced, fake aging techniques can still look odd, not to mention that, once again, unrealistic expectations and agist stereotypes can surface.
As such, it makes sense that Milly Alcock’s Rhaenyra and Emily Carey’s Alicent Hightower will be replaced by older actors - it remains to be seen if and how the vibe of the show will be any different after the casting changes.
