'Strong women doing strong things.'
I have, yeah. I watched it this morning. God… Straight into the feelings. My little heart can't take it!Just heartbreak. Every time I read that [closing, dragon-chomping] scene, it didn't get easier. I couldn't actually imagine what it was going to look like on screen to be honest. And seeing it – they just knocked it out of the park.It was so good. We just had such a good time being together.
I really hope that Baela gets to be as hands-on as all of the men in the war. There was a really lovely moment in episode 10 where it's Rhaenyra's first time at the painted table, and she has Rhaena and Baela by her side. I think they were trying to show how differently the rule would be under Rhaenyra. If Aegon is allowed to sit on the Iron Throne, nothing is going to change. It's just going to be as it always was.
What's beautiful about Baela is that she had that from Daemon as a child but then also she went and spent so much time with Rhaenys in Driftmark. So she's had this education and influence from both sides of her family. A massive impact. It has a worldwide impact because it's just putting everyone on a level playing field, as opposed to seeing tons of characters with white privilege, and then a few brown people scattered in amongst everybody else.
I agree. There's always that frustration of people saying,"Oh, but you wouldn't have had Black people here at this time. It's a period-drama. But it's a fantasy, and we have dragons!Yeah, you'll be OK. What do we make of the dreads and the afro hair that we've seen in this season?I think it's really cool, the way that they've been able to incorporate textured hair while also keeping the signature white Targaryen hair, you know? I love that she has dreads.
Rhaena has been with Daemon, and away from the Sea Snake and away from Rhaenys so she's kept the hair in the style of what it was as a child.Did you take any nuggets from the book to inform how you would portray Baela? I think the purpose was to take us all the way back to episode one where we saw the tragic birth, when her mother was giving birth, and how so out of control [Aemma] was, and how she had all these people making decisions for her.
That really showed, for me, how intense childbirth is and I think the show is doing a really good job of highlighting that, and making sure that we don't take it lightly. But I think she's got the memories of her mother and her strength, and all the lessons that she taught her, embedded in her memory. Then her grandmother did such a good job of keeping her memory alive through her, that she is just going to want to go out and fight in her mother's memory. She's not going to forget for a second what led to that, and the events that led to that, and all the events surrounding that.It's trying to come at this from a new angle and show a new gaze.