Note: This story contains spoilers from “House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 5.
After weeks of begging to be sent in to a fight, it’s the aftermath of the bloody Battle at Rook’s Rest where Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) finally comes into his own on “House of the Dragon.”
Collett told TheWrap that because Jace is still a bit numb from losing his brother Luke at the end of Season 1, he’s not handling Rhaenys’ (Eve Best) death the way he should.
“In my opinion, Jace should be more upset about the death, but I think he just sees red at the moment,” he said.
Jace took that frustration of being “mugged off” once again by Team Green and did the opposite of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) last week: he got political. He stole off in the night against his mother Rhaenyra’s (Emm D’Arcy) wishes and headed to secure an alliance with the family controlling The Twins.
Collett said Jace hit his stride and found his confidence after securing The Twins and the North for Team Black. He’s starting to feel like he belongs at the council meetings with his mother for more than just the fact that he’s the prince.
“We were playing with the fact that Jace would be nervous at the beginning of that scene and later on you’d see little things like he stands up and makes them fill his glass of wine before he carries on speaking,” Collett said. It shows he’s becoming more dominant in the situation.”
With all the behind closed doors work Jace has done so far in Season 2, Collett added that just because his character knows that’s his strength doesn’t mean he has to like it.
“I think he knows he’s better at all the boring stuff but he wants to go out and deal with the bloody stuff,” he said.
Below, Collett breaks down Jace finding his place among the council and Rhaenyra starting to view her son as an asset in the war effort rather than someone she needs to protect. He also reflects on Jace and Baela’s (Bethany Antonia) relationship be rare for couples on this show.
And yes, he’s seen your memes.
TheWrap: Is Jace feeling more pressure to step up for Rhaenyra following Rhaenys’ death?
Harry Collett: He should be mourning, but he’s sort of numbed by what happened to Luke that he’s just focusing primarily on the war. I think that the death has become a bit of a disadvantage to him and he knows that.
I think what he cares about is that he’s essentially again been mugged off by Team Green. They’ve come in and taken another very important member of the council.
In my opinion Jace should be more upset about the death, but I think he just sees red at the moment.
Did learning about the Ice and Fire prophecy and seeing the devastating outcome of Rook’s Rest change how he’s viewing the war or his desire to jump right into the thick of it?
I think it scares him obviously, but the one thing he wants is revenge for Luke. I think he’s happy after Episode 5 that he’s been given this sort of seal of approval from Rhaenyra when she says ‘I’m proud of you Jace.’
I think he’s less an anger-heavy, sword-heavy at the end of Episode 5 because he feels like now he’s kind of welcomed into the council. Before he felt like he wasn’t welcome anywhere so he was thinking “I need to fight now because that’s the only way that people are going to believe that I’m actually capable of doing something.”
I think the scene at The Twins is a great example of that and seeing Jace’s confidence grow. How did you want to show him finding his stride?
Jace obviously knows he shouldn’t be doing this because he doesn’t have his mother’s permission. There’s an aspect of nerves there knowing, “I’m going to have to deal with my mother when I’m home.”
I feel like most of all he knows he just has to get this done. He knows that he wants to pursue this and if he goes back to an angry mother without doing anything or achieving anything that’s worse than going back to an angry mother where you actually got something for her.
We were playing with the fact that Jace would be nervous at the beginning of that scene and later on you’d see little things like he stands up and makes them fill his glass of wine before he carries on speaking. It shows he’s becoming more dominant in the situation.
It’s funny you mention Jace being nervous going home after. I spoke with Clare [Kilner] about directing the episode and she likened that moment to a mom catching their kid sneaking out for a night on the town. Is that how you read that moment?
Yeah I mean you can even look at Baela being like ‘she will not like it’ and Jace is like ‘well don’t tell her, at least not until I’m gone.’ Once Jace is gone what can she do about it?
Jace and Baela probably have the only healthy relationship in the entire run of the series thus far.
You’re one of only two people who’ve said that to me. This episode seems to be awakening people to realizing the truth. When I used to say it in press I’d get bollocks by Eve [Best] and Steve [Toussaint] saying ‘no we’re the healthiest relationship.’ I’m glad people are starting to finally realize.
It’s true because they confide in each other. Baela’s the only person who’ll really speak to Jace about his feelings, and stuff that he wants to talk about without feeling embarrassed. As much as they might have a little bicker or Baela might tell him ‘oh don’t go to that’ it’s nice. It’s kid love isn’t it? It’s true love in a way because they actually like each other which is rare for a couple in this show.
Do you think their bond makes them both better at what they’re expected to do during the Dance?
I think that if they didn’t have each other to talk to about those feelings I feel like they wouldn’t be on the ball as much as they are now. You can’t fight fight two battles at the same time, you can’t fight a mental battle and a physical battle at the same time.
I think that the way they give each other this therapy they’re more clearheaded when they go into the council. If they didn’t have each other they’d be all over the place.
After securing places like the North and The Twins for Team Black, is Jace starting to realize his skillset might be in politicking instead of being a frontline fighter?
I think he knows he’s better at the politics stuff but deep down he wants to be like his father figure at the moment — Daemon. He’s going off on his dragon on a killing spree as he probably sees it. Just going off without a care, doesn’t give a damn.
I think he knows he’s better at all the boring stuff but he wants to go out and deal with the bloody stuff. Jace is a kid and I’ll admit he’s confused and his mind is going to be in different places. I don’t think he’ll have the mindset to know what he’s better at just yet.
He does seem to be the antithesis of Aegon in a way though. Jace is at least open to doing some of the boring letters politicking rather than just hopping on a dragon and joining the battle like Aegon.
Yeah 100%. He does say this to Rhaenyra, he says ‘I want to go do this, put me on the dragon and I’ll go’ but at the same time he’s still getting the important behind closed doors stuff done.
Is that partially why – by the end of the episode – Rhaenyra starts looking at Jace as more an equal and collaborator in the war effort rather than a son to be protected by it? She really listens when he pitches the Sowing
Yeah it’s more mature when you’re having these type of conversations together. I think when he’s actually coming up with some good ideas, and he’s actually getting some stuff done, I feel like that makes Rhaenyra think maybe he’s capable of more than what I’ve been thinking.
The Internet is loving Jace’s glow up this season. Have you seen the reactions or the “serving face”/”babygirl” memes?
I try not to look at social media all the time, but I have seen some stuff. It’s all good and I’m happy about that.
New episodes of “House of the Dragon” air Sundays on HBO and stream on Max.
