Watch: Inside Look at House of the Dragon Episode 4

Everyone has a general idea of what elements make up a Game of Thrones series, and people had forgotten that incest had been missing until the most recent episode.

In a new featurette, we get a look inside the episode and director Clare Kilner explains the intent behind the scenes—specifically the power play between Rhaenyra and Daemon:

As confirmed by a lot of fans on Twitter, Daemon taking Rhaenyra to the brothel was more of him trying to manipulate her, but the moment she reciprocates feelings, he immediately backs out.

If anything, the scene does feel wrong on several levels, but these are Targaryens, and they can go so far as to marry their own siblings. If anything, Kilner does make it very clear that Rhaenyra had all the agency during these scenes, so it makes it pretty different from the usual rape-y sex scenes we’ve had in the original Game of Thrones.

Besides the drama between Rhaneyra/Daemon, we also have the situation with Viserys and Otto Hightower. Though Otto may have thought that Rhaenyra getting caught with incest was going to cement Aegon’s ascent to the throne, it instead backfired with Viserys removing him from the position of the Hand of the King. Though Otto is out though, Alicent is still queen, and his influence is still pretty much present.

The show really is getting into all kinds of mess, and fans are all here for it. Milly Alcock’s days on the show may be numbered, but everyone is eager to watch more of this Dance of Dragons unfold.

Catch new episodes of House of the Dragon every Sunday on HBO Max.