House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal has opened up about Milly Alcock’s shock return and how it was kept secret.

When House of the Dragon originally debuted in 2022, people fell in love with Milly Alcock’s portrayal of Rhaenyra. However, the timeline flashes forward after episode 5 and Milly is replaced by Emma D’Arcy. While fans are obsessed with Emma’s take on Rhaenyra, they were sad to see Milly leave the show and hoped she could possibly return in flashback from.

Fast forward to House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 and Milly Alcock and young Rhaenyra are back. Now, the show’s team have revealed why it was necessary for Milly to return in terms of the plot of season 2 and Daemon’s character arc.

In ‘The Burning Mill’, Daemon has a vision of young Rhaenyra. Haunted by how his actions have resulted in the beheading of Jaehaerys, Daemon sees a young Rhaenyra stitch Jaehaerys’ head back on. She looks Daemon in the eye and says: “Always coming and going aren’t you, and I have to clean up afterwards.” Seeing the dead child, Daemon is visibly distressed.

Explaining to Entertainment Weekly exactly why Daemon sees Milly instead of Emma, Ryan Condol said: “Instead of warfare or dragons or images of horror, it was really more of him being haunted by these people who he had done wrong by in his past, particularly young Rhaenyra. That’s the girl who took his claim, not elder Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy.”

Ryan added: “It’s that version of Rhaenyra that removed him as the heir to the throne, and then was named heir and took his claim. As you’ll see his story at Harrenhal unfold, there is an element of Daemon having to reckon with his past and choices that he’s made and things that he’s done.”

Matt Smith and Milly Alcock In House of the Dragon season 1. Picture: Alamy

As for how they kept Milly’s return cameo under wraps, Ryan said: “We were excited about the prospect. Milly was eager to come back and everybody was excited to have her back. She’s very busy, so it was a tricky thing to navigate around the schedule, but we essentially had her in for a couple of days right at the start of production.”

Ryan ended by saying: “I think one of our greatest fears was keeping that a secret all the way through, given the fact that it happened right at the beginning.”