Emma D’Arcy is a masterfully introspective individual. The 32-year-old actor—who’s nonbinary and makes use of they/them pronouns—chooses their phrases with precision and speaks with a stage of perception that one imagines you solely acquire with years of extremely efficient remedy. For D’Arcy, it appears it was their upbringing, certainly one of artistry and dedication, that helped put together the actor to remain so calm and humble regardless of being the lead on certainly one of tv’s largest exhibits.
D’Arcy grew up exterior of Gloucestershire in southwest England, raised by two artists, if not in occupation, then in craft. Their mom was an illustrator, their father an “obsessive painter, photographer, maker” with a “elementary, each day must make footage” with none plans to ever show them. The “tiny home” through which D’Arcy grew up rapidly grew to become filled with the outcomes of this creative expression. “We form of lived on high of my dad’s visible outpouring.” D’Arcy considers, for a quick second, if that obsessive gene was handed right down to the subsequent technology, however decides in opposition to it. “I might describe myself as a great employee, a dedicated employee, an individual for whom one’s work is sure up of their identification,” they inform W over Zoom. “However I in all probability would not describe myself as an obsessive.”
Nonetheless, artistry runs within the household. For many of their younger grownup life, D’Arcy was on the nice artwork path, participating in artwork basis at college, the place they discovered an identification among the many paint cans and cameras. “Basis actually gave me a second probability at constructing a character,” they are saying. “It was the house through which I used to be invited to be taught and take into consideration issues critically.” After highschool, D’Arcy went on to review nice artwork on the Ruskin Faculty of Artwork in Oxford. It was at the moment that they have been drawn into the favored theater scene at college, utilizing their creative abilities to design and construct units for varied performs round campus. “I actually loved being locally of theater makers at college,” they recall. “So I began doing a little efficiency as effectively and finally, theater form of received over my consideration and my diploma.”
D’Arcy attributes this modification in trajectory not solely to the engaging nature of theater but in addition to the more and more isolating expertise of nice artwork. “I don’t do effectively by myself,” they admit. “I may see that if I did keep within the visible arts, I used to be taking a look at a number of years alone in a studio. I must be in a communal house.” It was within the theater scene that D’Arcy discovered what they sought.
Now, D’Arcy feels proper at residence on the set of Home of the Dragon, the Sport of Thrones prequel collection that tells the story of the Targaryen civil struggle often called the “Dance of the Dragons.” They play Rhaenyra Targaryen, named successor to the Iron Throne by her father, the late King Visery. Upon his dying, Viserys’s second spouse (and Rhaenyra’s childhood buddy), Alicent, locations her son, Aegon, on the Throne, difficult Rhaenyra’s declare. D’Arcy solely appeared within the latter half of season one of many collection, which premiered in 2022, however this time round, they’ve totally come into their very own because the usurped queen.
D’Arcy in Home of the Dragon season one.
{Photograph} by Ollie Upton / HBO
If Rhaenyra appears extra certain of herself in season two, it’s possible as a result of D’Arcy does as effectively. “I actually felt some trepidation the primary time, going to this much-beloved website of Westeros,” D’Arcy remembers. “You want an extremely good cause to make a return journey after the success of a present like Thrones.” D’Arcy admits to “feeling a bit like a customer” in George R.R. Martin’s world at first. After taking up one other full season, one through which the present discovered its footing in a manner it did not in season one, D’Arcy has been capable of finding confidence inside this behemoth of mental property. “I really feel like I lastly bought my passport,” they are saying with amusing.
It helps that in some ways, Dragon can stand by itself. Sure, it shares a setting, household names, and histories with Thrones, however it’s exploring themes that the blockbuster present barely touched upon throughout its eight-season run—particularly, these of gender and womanhood in a medieval, patriarchal society like Westeros. In Dragon, Rhaenyra loses her declare to her throne as a result of she is a lady, and even those that proceed to help her achieve this out of obligation to an oath fairly than true loyalty or enlightenment about gender politics.
Reverse Rhaenyra is Alicent, portrayed in season two by Olivia Cooke. D’Arcy and Cooke play friends-turned-rivals on TV, however in actual life, they’re merely the previous, usually going viral for his or her chemistry throughout press interviews. However after they aren’t chatting about their favourite blended drink, the 2 actors are discussing the dynamics of gender and energy within the collection. All through season two, we see each Rhaenyra and Alicent main small councils but nonetheless being repeatedly undermined by males at each flip. “Each ladies are looking for to carry some form of energy inside a system that was not constructed to ship it to them,” D’Arcy says. The actor admits that usually, such remedy, fictionalized or not, may get to them after a protracted day of filming. “It is like Emma inside Rhaenyra, experiencing frustration on the incapacity of the character to search out better company inside these conditions,” they are saying. “Liv and I each had the expertise of feeling extremely drained on the finish of these days.”
Cooke and D’Arcy behind the scenes of Home of the Dragon season two.
@livkatecooke
These scenes weren’t the one robust days on set. Within the first episode of season two, “A Son for a Son,” Rhaenyra mourns not solely the dying of her father but in addition her younger son, Lucerys. Regardless of barely talking within the episode’s 60 minutes, D’Arcy nonetheless expresses their character’s immense grief to the viewers. “I really love that she says so little,” D’Arcy says. “It illustrates her paralysis. Rhaenyra is completely caught—she’s with out route. She’s non-verbal as a result of there isn’t any need or need in her.”
D’Arcy may relate to this, because the actor additionally misplaced somebody near them not lengthy earlier than manufacturing started on season two. Whereas they tried to “displace” these emotions of grief, Rhaenyra’s experiences compelled them entrance and middle: “There’s something unusual about being invited to meditate on that which you’re concurrently attempting keep away from.” D’Arcy, although, managed to make use of the character to assist them heal. “I am very conscious that individuals lose family members on a regular basis and need to go to work the subsequent day,” they are saying. “By a wierd coincidence, my job invited me to mirror on the issues taking place each to my character and me.”
D’Arcy’s means to stay skilled within the face of private ache proves their dedication to the craft, however it will probably have its drawbacks. When the actor first entered the world of leisure, they determined to current as a cisgender girl. “I simply did not know if it was potential to be an actor and never be cisgendered,” they are saying. On the time, their need to behave was so sturdy that they have been prepared to prioritize their profession over all the pieces else. Trying again now, D’Arcy calls that thought course of “naive and slightly bit silly.” Whereas not an obsessive like their father, D’Arcy does admit to being “fairly pushed and targeted,” typically to their detriment. “I suppose in relation to my work and once I’m in that mindset, I may be fairly good at sacrifice. However you possibly can’t stay in that. You may’t keep there the entire time.”
D’Arcy additionally subconsciously feminized their look originally of their profession. After they lastly signed with an agent, although, one thing didn’t really feel proper. “I felt like I had tricked him,” D’Arcy says. “I had an enormous, fairly affecting panic about it.” They realized residing as a lady was not sustainable, and now, they’re glad they have been truthful about their identification, each to their agent (whom D’Arcy nonetheless works with as we speak) and the world. “I believed just lately about how annoying it will be if I hadn’t determined to marry my private {and professional} lives,” they are saying. “Dwelling a double life can be extraordinarily tough.”
Even with the massive profile of the Sport of Thrones universe, for probably the most half, the actor’s day-to-day life has not modified. It helps that they don an impossibly lengthy, blonde wig when portraying Rhaenyra, making D’Arcy nearly unrecognizable when residing their life with a extra cropped model round London. D’Arcy appreciates this, as privateness was a significant concern when signing on to Dragon’s first season. In reality, D’Arcy made a execs and cons record to determine concerning the function, a course of that, in hindsight, D’Arcy realizes was pushed by worry.
“I can typically be fairly a fearful individual, and there have been undoubtedly components of the job I discovered horrifying.” Two seasons in, and D’Arcy is a professional, with a well-worn passport to Westeros, a deal with on the sometimes-rowdy fanbase, and a grasp on Rhaenyra that may solely deepen because the present enters its upcoming third season. “As with so many issues, the fact is lots much less excessive or rather more manageable than what we catastrophize about.” There’s that introspection once more.
