Milly Alcock On 'Interesting' 'House of the Dragon' Sex Scene with Matt Smith

Filming an intimate scene for House of the Dragon's fourth episode proved to be an "interesting" experience for Milly Alcock, the actor told Newsweek.

Alcock portrays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the HBO hit. The character becomes romantically entangled with her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), in Episode 4 when he shows her around the Westeros capital of King's Landing in disguise.

While viewers may balk at the incestuous relationship shown onscreen, in George R. R. Martin's books the Targaryen family would famously marry their relatives. For example, Aegon the Conqueror wed his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys, from whom all Targaryens are descended.

Despite the nature of the scene, Alcock told Newsweek she felt "very comfortable" with co-star Smith, as they knew how they wanted to approach it.

Milly Alcock On 'Interesting' 'House of the Dragon' Sex Scene with Matt Smith

In Episode 4, Daemon gives Rhaenyra a disguise and directions that'll lead her to him so they could leave the Red Keep together.

At first, their trip through King's Landing is a relatively innocent one, with Rhaenyra and Daemon watching a puppet show that makes her the punchline. But, then, the prince takes her to a brothel to introduce her to the pleasures of adult life, and they are immediately drawn to one another.

The intimate scene sees Rhaenyra and Daemon kiss, undress, and almost have sex, but the prince stops before things go that far and he leaves Rhaenyra to return to the castle on her own, where she instead takes Ser Cristen Cole (Fabien Frankel) to bed with her.

Reflecting on what it was like to film this scene, Alcock said: "I think Matt is an incredible actor and he's also so kind and funny, so I felt very comfortable with him in all of those scenes.

"And I think that it is a really interesting relationship, and all of those scenes were dealt [with] very delicately, and me and Matt tried really hard to make them make sense. We didn't just want to be like 'and now we perform an intimate scene.'

"So it's just, you know, 'what is actually at play here? Who has the power? And when does that switch?'

"And [also] what happens because of that, which is what I think makes that scene specifically so interesting, that sequence."

Rhaenyra and Daemon's intimate encounter certainly foreshadows the relationship they will have in future, as fans of Martin's books will know.

House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.