Posted in: Game Of Thrones, HBO, TV | Tagged: game of thrones, Gayle Rankin, HBO, house of the dragon, matt smith

House of the Dragon Star Gayle Rankin on Alys Rivers, Daemon & More

Gayle Rankin (GLOW, Bad Things) spoke about the mystery behind Alys Rivers, the Witch Queen of Harrenhal, in HBO's House of the Dragon.

The world of Game of Thrones differs from other high fantasy franchises where the presence of magic is more scant, more reliant on medieval tactics, and in the case of the HBO prequel series House of the Dragon, the use of dragons and their riders. When we see magic in Westeros, it becomes quite a spectacle, as demonstrated by Carice van Houten's Red Priestess Melisandre. In House of the Dragon, we're introduced to Alys Rivers, played by Gayle Rankin (GLOW) in episode three, "The Burning Mill," and appears in the recent episode, "The Red Dragon and the Gold" meeting King Consort Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) when he visits Harrenhal to recruit reinforcements to Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) cause.

House of the Dragon: Gayle Rankin on Being the Witch in Harrenhal

"I'm really obsessed with pagan power. I'm a Celtic woman. I have that in my blood," Rankin told Entertainment Weekly. "I just want to be riding a horse, but maybe I'll end up riding a dragon. Consolation prize." We find the "Witch Queen of Harrenhal" has taken duties as maester, mixing a concoction in front of Daemon in the fourth episode. "On 'House of the Dragon,' we have dragons, obviously, but she's the first entry point to that world of magic," she said. On getting the part of Alys, "That made me excited. I was definitely carrying that energy with me."

On what Rankin loves about her character, "I'm not totally sure what I'm allowed to share, but I too was intrigued and excited about how open the character was," she said. "I really love the challenge of a woman being recounted as some people say this and some people say this. I'm always fascinated by and drawn to female characters who are tossed around by society and culture. I really tried personally to make her my own and ground her in reality because you can stereotype someone who's a healer or a sorcerer or a witch or any of the above."

For more on Rankin discussing Alys' abilities, her dynamic with Daemon, and how her GLOW character Sheila the She-Wolf would be a fan of the Ryan Condal series, you can check out the complete interview. House of the Dragon airs on Sundays on HBO and streams on Max.

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