The latest episode of House of the Dragon has become the lowest-rated instalment of the second season after being review-bombed by fans.
Titled ‘Smallfolk’, the sixth instalment of the Game of Thrones prequel series surprised fans with a same-sex kiss between Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Lady Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). This moment did not feature in George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood – the book on which the show is based.
Mizuno told TheWrap that “it wasn’t scripted as a kiss” even, adding: “I think it was scripted as … there’s just breath between them or something, and then whatever happens is interrupted.”
While many fans have praised the episode for including queer romance, others have heavily criticised the improvised kiss, with 33 per cent of viewers giving the episode a one star rating on IMDB.
One viewer claimed the kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria was an “unnecessary scene that will drag the storyline to its doom”.
Another fan wrote: “Adding this kind of pointless scene suggested by some actress who plays the character or unstudied ideas by a writer who doesn’t even understand this world and treats it’s his own will shift the story from deep conflict between a family and a deadly war to some cheap version that doesn’t relate to the main conflict.”
While Rhaenyra and Mysaria’s kiss is not included in Martin’s 2018 book, the author has previously praised cast members for taking creative license with his characters.
In the interview with TheWrap, Mizuno went on to say that it felt natural to go into the kiss because of their closeness.
“Because we were separate in the room…[and] Mysaria has told this story, [D’Arcy] felt the instinct to hold her, to comfort her,” Mizuno explained. “From that, it felt so organic to go into the kiss.”
Mizuno added that they did not want the kiss to feel “queer-baity in any sense,” adding that the moment made it feel “emotionally so right.”
“I don’t think either of them have been hugged like that in a long time, if not ever,” Mizuno continued. “I think it was the hug – the intimate vulnerability of that hug – which morphed into this very tender and passionate kiss, which was quite… amazing. I think it’s very thrilling in the moment for both of them.”
In a separate interview with Variety, D’Arcy said the moment was born out of the two characters’ “desire to connect”.
“I think what you see initially is intimacy, and an intimacy that Rhaenyra shares so rarely,” they told the publication. “Even in some of her other romantic relationships, there’s a lot of presentation, there’s a lot of bravado, often from both sides. Certainly with Daemon, I think both parties struggle to reveal themselves in weakness, and that their eroticism is sort of predicated on power.
“Whereas with Mysaria, in this growing relationship – it’s remarkably honest. Initially, there’s huge feelings of empathy and gratitude toward this person. Rhaenyra is hugely affected by the life that Mysaria has lived so bravely. Then, they are two bodies completely overrun by touch. As soon as they embrace and their bodies are touching, I think it’s pure bodily desire.”
Prior to the season two premiere, House Of The Dragon was renewed for a third season in June 2024.
It was also announced last month that the next Game Of Thrones spin-off TV adaptation is set to hit screens in early 2025. Currently titled A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, it has begun filming in Belfast, although an exact release date has not been confirmed.
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