Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy Explain the Biggest Changes in Daemon and Rhaenyra

Few characters in House of the Dragon have evolved as dramatically as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen. Across three seasons, both have been shaped by power, prophecy, and the impossible weight of legacy. But according to Emma D'Arcy and Matt Smith, their journeys aren't simply about becoming different people. They're about discovering who they truly are under extraordinary pressure.

When asked whether Rhaenyra's story felt like one of gradually losing herself, Emma offered a thoughtful perspective that reframed the character's evolution.

"I think the process of self-actualization is a process that itself probably transforms over time," Emma said. "Rhaenyra does a lot of soul-searching in Series 1 and 2. She personally holds a lot of doubt about her inheritance and about her positioning within the court and the realm."

Rather than describing Rhaenyra as someone steadily unraveling, Emma sees a woman whose search for certainty simply changes direction.

"I think there's a lot of searching within for an answer to those questions and to that doubt," Emma explained. "Maybe what starts to happen in Series 3 is that the investigation is externalized."

That shift reflects how Rhaenyra's growing responsibilities reshape her perspective. By the end of Season 2, even her trust in those around her has fundamentally changed.

"Her reliance, her respect for her male council has waned massively," Emma added.

For Matt Smith, Daemon's transformation is no less profound, though it takes a very different form. Asked whether Daemon could ever truly detach himself from power and legacy after the revelations at the end of Season 2, Matt suggested that ambition remains inseparable from the character's identity, but not in the way audiences might expect.

"I think ambition probably is fundamental to who he is," he said. "But I think his ambition is sort of skewed in weird areas. His ambition is to be violent... his predilection is towards chaos really, which is an odd ambition in a way."

Rather than chasing power for its own sake, he believes Daemon is driven by an instinct to disrupt the world around him.

"His sort of ambition... is to be disruptive really," he continued. "But in that, he thinks he's doing the right thing."

Even after Daemon's apparent awakening at Harrenhal, Matt doesn't believe the character has abandoned the impulses that define him. Instead, those experiences have only deepened his convictions.

"What he's gone through is, in a way, like a religious experience," he reflected. "He thinks he's touched God really. He's seen something really profound in his mind, which completely separates him from the rest of the universe even more than before."

For both actors, Season 3 isn't simply about power changing their characters. It's about two people whose deepest beliefs have been tested, transformed, and, perhaps, made even more certain.

Watch the full Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy interview.

Photos courtesy of HBO Max PH.