House of the Dragon star speaks out on filming ‘disturbing’ mother-son scene

Spoiler warning: the article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 3 episode 7

House of the Dragon fans were left doing a double take after the latest episode featured one of the show's most unsettling moments yet.

Episode seven of the hit HBO series, which is set to release the finale episode of its third season this weekend (9 July), sees Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) caught in another vision at Harrenhal, where he believes he's sleeping with his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

In reality, he's having sex with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), who has been manipulating his dreams throughout the season.

House of the Dragon star Gayle Rankin has opened up on filming one particularly disturbing scene (Theo Whiteman/HBO)

The already shocking scene takes another twist when the real Alicent arrives as part of a plan to kill her own son, making for one of the most disturbing sequences the fantasy series has delivered so far.

And it turns out filming it was just as surreal for the cast.

Speaking to Decider, Rankin admitted: "I mean, shooting it was — it was the thing that we couldn’t talk about in the junket, you know? Because I think people were like, 'What was the craziest scene you had to shoot?'

"I think that was a pretty crazy f*cking scene, you know, for all of us."

Rankin opened up on the 'pretty crazy f*cking' scene (Theo Whiteman/HBO)

Despite the subject matter, Rankin said the atmosphere on set was far less uncomfortable than viewers might expect.

"It was fun and funny. It’s like those scenes can sometimes be really intense, but they’re also like ultimately stunt scenes in some ways. So I think we all just like try to be really respectful and professional and also like quite keep it pretty lighthearted, you know?" she continued before acknowledging: "Because it was a very absurd scene."

The actress also revealed the experience was made even stranger because she's close friends with Olivia Cooke away from the cameras.

The House of the Dragon season three finale premieres on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday (Theo Whiteman/HBO)

Rankin was also asked whether Aemond and Alys had actually consummated their relationship, given the blurred line between dream and reality.

"Have they consummated this relationship?" Rankin said. "I mean, I think, yeah, we’re seeing it. I mean, we’re seeing it happen in front of our eyes, which is… Thank you, HBO for like allowing us the privilege."

She added: "Yeah, but it’s early days of that endeavour, so it’s like vulnerable still, I think for them."

The House of the Dragon season three finale premieres on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday (9 August).