Rankin Breaks Down Alys-Aemond Episode 7 Twist
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- Gayle Rankin reveals that Episode 7's jarring mother-son sex scene is a hallucination — Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is actually in bed with her character Alys Rivers as part of their plan to breed new Targaryens and build their own dynasty.
- Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) arrives at Harrenhal on Rhaenyra's mission to lure Aemond out, but after an "unbearable" family dinner she poisons Aemond and escapes in the night, proving Alys right after she failed to convince Aemond Alicent wasn't there to help him.
- Rankin calls Alys's feelings for Aemond "genuine" and "not uncomplicated," describing them as "a dark power couple," and says Alys chose Aemond over Daemon because Daemon "never really let his guard down with Alys" and "broke her heart."
- Rankin says she believes Alys has truly been at Harrenhal for decades and suggests the character could be "400 years old," telling skeptics to "believe the woman."
- Aemond and Alys now sit on a supply of dragon eggs but lack a full-grown dragon to defend themselves — Aemond's dragon Vhagar is missing while his brother Aegon has been reunited with his dragon Sunfyre, setting up a threat ahead of next week's Season 3 finale.
- Rankin describes filming the mother-son-lover scene as "very intimate and very odd but very professional," with the cast cracking jokes on a "very technical" set, and says she doesn't feel Alys is in "immediate danger of dying" in the finale but could face "something more emotionally profound."
Why it matters: The finale math just got tighter for Aemond and Alys: they hold dragon eggs but no adult dragon, while rival Aegon now has Sunfyre back and Vhagar is MIA — a power imbalance the episode plants directly in front of viewers heading into Season 3's last episode.
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