New House of the Dragon Photos: Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy spotted filming on location in Cornwall!

Emma D'Arcy and Matt Smith on Holywell Beach in Cornwall
Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith on Holywell Beach in Cornwall

We knew production on House of the Dragon was beginning, but I admit I wasn’t expecting photos to roll in this fast! Show stars Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen) were spotted filming today on the set that’s been in production for the past week on Holywell Beach in Cornwall. Details below the cut!

Smith and D’Arcy are in full regal Targaryen costuming for shooting. They’re wearing silver-blond wigs (of course) with styling that calls Daenerys and GoT’s Viserys to mind in a very interesting way. The actors shared a scene, speaking together on the beach, and it appeared that D’Arcy then strolled toward the water when the characters finished talking.

The Mail captured a short video clip of the actors on set. We don’t see much but here it is. You never know if one of our eagle-eyed readers will spy something!

Holywell Beach filming 2

I absolutely love this photo of Emma on the beach. They’re giving me strong queen vibes.

Emma Darcy alone on Holywell Beach

Visit the Daily Mail to see their complete coverage and to view more photos!

Also of interest is an upturned shipwrecked hull being set up by carpenters on the location. The hull is being brought in in sections across the beach on especially laid track, according to a photographer who spotted it. The presence of a shipwreck gives a hint that we’re still looking at Driftmark. A leftover wreck from a battle points to the Battle of the Gullet, based on the timing, and of course we saw the sigil of House Velaryon last week close-by. Sometimes one shooting location will serve as multiple places, but in this instance it looks likely that this site is serving as one place: Driftmark and the home of the Velaryons.

Thanks to JoeMagician for the finds tonight!

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

53 Comments

  1. Are they jumping back and forth in the timeline then? Battle of the Gullet seems way too late in the timeline to start a pilot episode. I didn’t imagine they’d even get to the start of civil war until season 2 at the earliest. There is much set-up to do.

  2. rocky:
    Are they jumping back and forth in the timeline then?Battle of the Gullet seems way too late in the timeline to start a pilot episode.I didn’t imagine they’d even get to the start of civil war until season 2 at the earliest.There is much set-up to do.

    They don’t film in order.

  3. Jack Bauer 24,

    They don’t….but it’s probably way too early for Gullet.

    That said, I do still think it’s all Driftmark, given the sigil. They have the castle in the background of everything.

  4. It’s going to take me awhile to see Matt as a Targaryen. I’ll get there. The costumes are gorgeous. ❤

  5. Sue the Fury:

    They don’t….but it’s probably way too early for Gullet.

    That said, I do still think it’s all Driftmark, given the sigil. They have the castle in the background of everything.

    I thought the stone arch with the Velaryon sigil was on the tidal island St. Michael’s Mount? It’s on the opposite side of Cornwall from Holywell Beach.

    Holywell Beach is on the north coast, close to Newquay, St. Michael’s Mount is on the south coast, near Penzance.

    Both locations could of course be used for the same place in the show. It’s how you frame the shots and how you edit them together.

  6. rocky:
    Are they jumping back and forth in the timeline then?Battle of the Gullet seems way too late in the timeline to start a pilot episode.I didn’t imagine they’d even get to the start of civil war until season 2 at the earliest.There is much set-up to do.

    I don’t think they’re doing only a pilot. I think HBO commissioned the whole season 1 , which they’re now filming.

    That said, it seems the background of the civil war and all the long intrigues that preceded actual fighting seem to be condensed so that maybe actual fighting starts towards the latter half of season 1?

  7. Miss the days when there was some mystery left and we didn’t get all the leaks, advance information etc, etc, to the point that before the show will even air there will be an over saturation of everything, already replete with all the pitfalls that such a thing brings.

    I don’t know why, but when looking at Matt Smith from a distance all I can see is Khal Drogo giving Viserys his golden crown….

  8. Okay that was quite a pleasant surprise!

    I have to say, the new costume designer had a very tricky job: she had to respect the previous designers job whilst at the same time, bringing new and interesting concepts to the table so House of the Dragon sets apart from GoT, very tricky indeed.

    Emma D’arcy looks really nice in the Tagaryen regalia and I do appreciate that they start with bright red colours, it’s a very smart choice given that they’ll be wearing quite a bit of black during the show.

    Matt Damon looks really really good too! And that full black outfit gives him more of an edgier look which the character definitely needs.

    That being said, I’m really confused as what timeline this is, Rhaenyra looks older here so maybe they are aging her up a lot? For all we now this could be the seasons last shot, of Rhaenyra looking at the Blackwater bay, knowing that one day, she’ll sit on the throne or could be the one of the first scenes of the show, which would murder every single one of my theories.

    Hopefully, they’ll respect the original story and not change many things, specially when it’s already finished unlike the GoT books.

    I’m really excited too as what they’ll do with the Hightower costumes!!

  9. I’m excited we have real photos. Maybe they want to leak photos since it’s a new show and they want the fan base to get excited and come back.

    I love the red section in her dress. And Matt Smith might compete with Jaime for the best leather jacket.

  10. Pigeon:
    It’s going to take me awhile to see Matt as a Targaryen. I’ll get there. The costumes are gorgeous. ❤

    Watch the first 2 seasons of The Crown, it’ll really sell you on it. He will slay this role.

  11. KG,

    Well, technically it’s 200 years and yes, I personally agree that we should have seen more of a early medievalesque style, HOWEVER maybe it’s on purpose, to show that Westeros is on the middle of an awfully vicious circle of power and vengeance that it cannot escape from.

    That being said, I really like how they obviously played homage to the Targaryen style seen in GoT (the shoulder thingy) and the Dance of the dragons video made by HBO.

  12. OberonYronwood,

    I don’t know if it’s on purpose or not (I agree the fashions should have some changes due to this being about 200-170 years prior) but I believe wars for power and dominance have long existed on Westeros, thousands of years at this point. For instance, the First Men warred amongst themselves for thousands of years — the Burrow Kings vs. the Kings of Winter, the Stark conquest of the North, the rebelling Skagos, etc.

    But I do wish they showed some fashion/clothing changes to reflect some real-world history, especially clothing changes from century to century — which I know I don’t have to tell you about because I believe I remember your interest in historical fashion 🙂 🙂 🙂

  13. OberonYronwood: That being said, I’m really confused as what timeline this is, Rhaenyra looks older here so maybe they are aging her up a lot? For all we now this could be the seasons last shot, of Rhaenyra looking at the Blackwater bay, knowing that one day, she’ll sit on the throne or could be the one of the first scenes of the show, which would murder every single one of my theories.

    I’m wondering if they’ll cover Kid!Rhaenyra in perhaps the first two(?) episodes of season one and then get on to teen/adult Rhaenyra, when her

    conflict with Alicent begins?

    But, and especially far away, without reflectors bouncing light back into the face, other lighting tricks, and sun-shadowed faces, facial features can sometimes look harsher than they are which can make people look a tad older. Rhaenyra may not be undergoing a significant age-up.

    Well, I hope not — not for season 1 anyway 🙂

  14. Adrianacandle,

    I wonder whether the Great Council and the events immediately following would be the “Robert’s Rebellion” of this TV show… a major event that took place multiple years before and has heavy influence on the story but won’t actually be part of the “onscreen story. I kind of feel the TV story would begin when Viserys I is already firmly on the throne for quite some time, maybe even married to Alicent. I feel that in second half of the season, some big stuff already needs to be happening, just like it was in S1 of GoT. But who knows where the show will start.

  15. Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas: I wonder whether the Great Council and the events immediately following would be the “Robert’s Rebellion” of this TV show… a major event that took place multiple years before and has heavy influence on the story but won’t actually be part of the “onscreen story. I kind of feel the TV story would begin when Viserys I is already firmly on the throne for quite some time, maybe even married to Alicent. I feel that in second half of the season, some big stuff already needs to be happening, just like it was in S1 of GoT. But who knows where the show will start.

    The Great Council of 101 may need to only be referenced on-screen, sure, and could perhaps do without filming. However, it is more recent than Robert’s Rebellion — only a few years prior if the show is going to cover Rhaenyra being declared Viserys’s heir (and the Great Council of 101 would explain why that’s a big deal and the conflict that ensues).

    I would argue that Viserys publicly declaring Rhaenyra as his heir and the events surrounding that event should be included in the show though for these reasons:

    It deals with major characters in this story who will be sticking around, most for the entirety of the story, and sets the most crucial piece of groundwork for what’s to come.

    It gives an explanation for why Rhaenyra is Viserys’s heir, not Daemon or Alicent’s son.

    The Hightower drama. Otto is the one who actually pushes for Viserys to name Rhaenyra as his heir and remove Daemon from the line of succession. At the time, Viserys isn’t so keen on the idea because of the Great Council of 101 setting the male heir precedent. However, Viserys changes his mind when Daemon makes some pretty cruel remarks about Queen Aemma and her newborn son with Viserys when they both pass.

    Alicent marries Viserys knowing that Rhaenyra is his heir. Yet, when Alicent has a son by Viserys, she expects for Viserys to make her son his heir per the precedent set by the Great Council of 101. And Otto, because Alicent’s son is his grandson, switches from Rhaenyra to Aegon.

    So I’m hoping the story goes a bit earlier than when Viserys is married to Alicent because the events preceding this are pretty crucial to the major players.

  16. Raenarys,

    All male Targs ever use Viserys’ wig. It is known. They film one male Targ at a time. It’s to save cost in the costumes department 😌

  17. Wow! Stoked that we went from an announcement that production has officially stared/ table read to BAM we have costumed photos of the leads in like a day. Did not expect that! Very excited for the costumes and settings, regardless of whether they have an ‘earlier’ style or not, looks good from this view! Cool to see Emma and Matt with their wigs on in full Targ mode! I’m optimistic.

  18. Adrianacandle,

    Yeah, you are absolutely right but I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt, the costume designer is incredibly talented and I’m sure she’ll do a great job. I just wanna see some ridiculous looking hennins!!

    But, most importantly, I want the costumes to reflect the state of mind of the character, it was such a pleasure discovering the hidden ditails and meanings behind Michele Clapton’s extraordinary costumes, I hope we have the same here!

    And yeah, I’m love nerding about the struggles of power and fashion throught history hahha

  19. Adrianacandle,

    That actually would make sense, we could see the struggles between Viserys and Daeron and how the court worked, maybe Alicents rise in power too.

    [SPOILER] I have a feeling we will see Aemma Arryns death but instead of only childbirth she’ll be poisoned by Otto Hightower, I’m living for the drama lol [SPOILER]

    And, of course, lighting is EVERYTHING!!

  20. Adrianacandle,

    That actually would make sense, we could see the struggles between Viserys and Daeron and how the court worked, maybe Alicents rise in power too.

    I have a feeling we will see Aemma Arryns death but instead of only childbirth she’ll be poisoned by Otto Hightower, I’m living for the drama lol

    And, of course, lighting is EVERYTHING!!

    Also, thank you so much for teaching me how to cover my spoilers! 🙂

  21. OberonYronwood,

    I’m sure she’ll do a great job. I just wanna see some ridiculous looking hennins!!

    I agree!

    And yeah, I’m love nerding about the struggles of power and fashion throught history hahha

    Oh, I especially love the fashion! 😉

    The amount of crisis moments Project Runway has pulled me through!

    That actually would make sense, we could see the struggles between Viserys and Daeron and how the court worked, maybe Alicents rise in power too.

    I have a feeling we will see Aemma Arryns death but instead of only childbirth she’ll be poisoned by Otto Hightower, I’m living for the drama lol

    And, of course, lighting is EVERYTHING!!

    It is everything 🙂

    I’m really hoping we get to see Aemma — because then we can see where the problems between Viserys and Daemon arise from.

    Say they switched things up and Otto does poison Aemma, causing her death and the death of her newborn son… what do you think the motive would be? I’d think at this time, Otto would want another heir to further displace Daemon from ever inheriting but I’m curious to see your thoughts on this 🙂

    Also, thank you so much for teaching me how to cover my spoilers! 🙂

    I’m glad it worked! It took me a few tries — but it’s handy, I find!

  22. Going a tad off track I happened on a trailer for the new film version of ‘West Side Story’. I hadn’t heard of the leading lady, Rachel Zegler, before though she has been around for a while despite being only 19 or 20. She could perhaps play Ashara in the tourney of Harrenhal adaptation – or being dark-haired possibly a Stark. Her mother is Colombian. [ spoiler ]//youtu.be/hGlwPsVuWl0[ / spoiler]

    With everything being higgledy-piggledy with the pandemic this last year or so we didn’t get much chance to fan cast for ‘House of the Dragon’.

  23. Adrianacandle,

    Btw, can you please refresh my mind what Otto Hightower’s role is during the Dance (or in its prologue)? I can’t recall it well but seeing such prominent actor being cast in the role, I imagine his part must be quite firm.

  24. Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas: Btw, can you please refresh my mind what Otto Hightower’s role is during the Dance (or in its prologue)? I can’t recall it well but seeing such prominent actor being cast in the role, I imagine his part must be quite firm.

    Otto Hightower

    plays a major role in sparking the war. He defies Viserys’s will (which names Rhaenyra as Viserys’s heir) and works to crown his grandson (Viserys’s son) Aegon as king instead when Viserys dies. Which is fairly ironic considering Rhaenyra becoming Viserys’s heir was Otto’s idea in the first place.

    He serves as hand to Aegon during the Dance and seeks winning alliances through more diplomatic efforts, including reaching out to the Three Daughters and winning an alliance with them. However, when Daemon (Rhaenyra’s second husband) takes Harrenhal, this spells the beginning of the end for Otto’s position, whereupon Aegon (who previously thought Rhaenyra’s efforts were doomed to fail) starts to fret. Lords begin to declare for Rhaenyra instead and when Rhaenyra’s forces also manage to shut down Blackwater Bay, this leads to discontentment among the merchants, who come to Aegon to fix the problem. Aegon is growing more and more anxious and Otto works to solve these problems but not fast enough. Frustrated with his grandfather’s methods which he finds too slow, Aegon makes Cole his new hand.

    Later, when Rhaenyra takes the throne, Otto is executed as a traitor. This is toward the end of the story.

    A better summary is at the ASOIAF wiki! 🙂

  25. Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,

    Some background info on Otto Hightower:

    It seems to me that what turned Otto was getting his blood on the throne and gaining power for his family line. When his daughter Alicent gives birth to two sons by Viserys in 107 and 111 AC, Otto starts hounding Viserys to make [Viserys’s] sons with Alicent the heirs to the crown instead of Rhaenyra.

    Before Alicent married Viserys and gave birth to his sons, Otto was pushing for Rhaenyra to be Viserys’s heir because going by the precedent set by the Great Council of 101, Daemon would be Viserys’s heir. And Otto viewed Daemon as The Worst so he kept pushing Viserys to make Rhaenyra his heir so as to displace Daemon from inheriting the throne. And eventually, thanks to some awful comments made by Daemon about Viserys’s recently deceased wife and son, Otto gets his way. Rhaenyra becomes Viserys’s heir.

    However, Otto’s wish for Rhaenyra to be Viserys’s heir changes when Otto’s own daughter becomes Viserys’s second wife and bears Viserys two sons who would become king if Viserys kept with observing the precedent set in the Great Council of 101. Now that precedent seems to become that much more appealing to Otto because it’d make his grandson king. Otto pushes Viserys so hard to change his will and make Alicent’s sons his heirs instead that Viserys becomes fed up with Otto and removes Otto as Hand.

    The amity between Her Grace and her stepdaughter had proved short-lived, for both Rhaenyra and Alicent aspired to be the first lady of the realm… and though the queen had given the king not one but two male heirs, Viserys had done nothing to change the order of succession. The Princess of Dragonstone remained his acknowledged heir, with half the lords of Westeros sworn to defend her rights. Those who asked, “What of the ruling of the Great Council of 101?” found their words falling on deaf ears. The matter had been decided, so far as King Viserys was concerned; it was not an issue His Grace cared to revisit.

    Still, questions persisted, not the least from Queen Alicent herself. Loudest amongst her supporters was her father, Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King. Pushed too far on the matter, in 109 AC Viserys stripped Ser Otto of his chain of office and named in his place the taciturn Lord of Harrenhal, Lyonel Strong. “This Hand will not hector me,” His Grace proclaimed.

  26. Adrianacandle,

    Thanks for the info! 😊 I remember now… he’s definitely a big character and I imagine transition from history book to actual story can make him a firm presence on screen.

    I do find it interesting that they cast quite young Alicent in the role. Makes me wonder where Aegon II. would fit in all this. He wasn’t cast yet so maybe he indeed doesn’t have a role until later in the season. I do know from GoT that casting news were usually spread through enitire summer so it may have something to do which scenes are filming at certain moment. THen again, GoT usually started filming in September, not in spring. No idea how long will the filming for this TV show last.

  27. Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,

    No problem!! 🙂

    I do find it interesting that they cast quite young Alicent in the role. Makes me wonder where Aegon II. would fit in all this. He wasn’t cast yet so maybe he indeed doesn’t have a role until later in the season. I do know from GoT that casting news were usually spread through enitire summer so it may have something to do which scenes are filming at certain moment. THen again, GoT usually started filming in September, not in spring. No idea how long will the filming for this TV show last.

    Right. I think it depends on how they’re organizing the story and when they’ll decide to bring in a teen-to-young-adult Aegon.

    I believe he’s born 107 AC (the Dance starts in 129 AC, ends in 131 AC). Rhaenyra is born 97 AC (her mother dies in 105 AC, Alicent arrives at court in 101 AC, Rhaenyra is declared heir in 106 AC, and Viserys marries Alicent in 106 AC as well).

    I think Olivia Cooke appears like she can play quite young, which may work for when Alicent appears in the story… but she’s only 13 when she comes to court. I think it’s possible Olivia can play a late-teen/early 20s Alicent in a few episodes if the show covers

    Rhaenyra being named heir though. They’d need a different actress to play Rhaenyra though since she’s 4-years old when Alicent arrives at court with Otto in 101 and she’s 9 years old when Viserys declares her his heir. I suppose it depends on how early they start this story.

    But yeah, maybe more casting news will start to appear throughout the summer 🙂

  28. Adrianacandle,

    It’s interesting because GoT for most of the time aged up characters compared to their book counterparts. Not only the kids, but also adults (Robert, Ned and Catelyn for example being in their 30s in the novels but certainly older in the TV show, Tyrion being in his 20s in the novel, Brienne in late teens and such) and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I saw the same pattern in HotD too but Alicent seems to be aged down when I compare her with Rhaenyra (the actress actually being a year younger than Emma D’Arcy). Unless the reason is that they’ll cover much longer time period compared to GoT so they need actors that can play characters at different ages (like Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Henry Cavill in The Tudors who played their characters through quite long timeline)

  29. Erik, formerly Lord Parramandas,

    and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I saw the same pattern in HotD too but Alicent seems to be aged down when I compare her with Rhaenyra (the actress actually being a year younger than Emma D’Arcy).

    I agree that it does look like Cooke’s Alicent has been aged down in comparison to Darcy’s Rhaenyra when, yes, in the source material, they’e 9 years apart (while Darcy is one year older than Cooke, as you said).

    However, it could be that they plan on having Cooke play Alicent at all ages (like you referenced with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Henry Cavill in The Tudors) while they could be hiring a different child actor to play 9-year old Rhaenyra. They may also plan on having Darcy play late-teen Rhaenyra as well as adult Rhaenyra.

    I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if they fudged with the timelines and ages a bit but I think it’d be better served to have Rhaenyra as the child she is

    for major events like her mother’s death,
    Otto pushing for a child to displace Daemon in the line of succession, her being declared Viserys’s heir, being doted upon by her father and other members of his household, and Alicent marrying her father and having two sons, etc.

    since these would be Rhaenyra’s formative years.

  30. Adrianacandle,

    I have enjoyed your info on Otto Hightower a lot, thank you! I have read (or rather listened to, as it was an audio file on the net) The Princess and the Queen, but I couldn’t remember much, except for how impressed I was by the dragons being wounded and killed 🙂 Now I have to return to reading Fire and Blood, as various problems and urgent things have kept me from reading.

  31. Adrianacandle,

    Well, no, thanks for asking! There has been illness and death in my family. Whenever things are tough it’s comforting to turn to art, in any form, to keep going.

  32. Shy Lady Dragon,

    I’m sorry to hear of sad happenings for you, Shy Lady. Such is life, unfortunately. I hope you are getting back to ‘normal’ gradually though these things don’t happen overnight.

    Erik and Adriana, I think I’ve said before I wouldn’t have particularly wanted to see an actress who was 13 in real life playing Dany’s wedding scene. I found it uncomfortable in the book (I came across the show version first). There WERE cases of very young noble brides in reality in medieval times though I’ve heard of a hypothesis that the marriages weren’t always consummated immediately. Margaret Beaufort’s marriage at a young age must have been consummated though because she had a child. Which is a roundabout way for me to say I didn’t mind the ‘aging up’ in GoT the show plus it would have been illegal to have a 13 year old in a sex scene.

  33. Shy Lady Dragon,

    I’m also very sorry to hear that. What a difficult time. I too like to turn to art when things like this hit. It’s really tough.

    I know this is not the same — I lost a friend earlier this year to a condition she had nearly all her life. I didn’t know her as well as I would have liked but she had been a kind of mentor to me and I looked up to her for years. She taught me so much, especially in regard to academic writing and correctly sourcing material. I think about her nearly everyday. I can only imagine how difficult times are for you right now.

    Dame of Mercia,

    I agree with the age-ups on GoT and you cited one of the reasons why 🙂 With Rhaenyra, I think it’d be safe to keep her

    a child for the pivotal events I mentioned before, no sex stuff happens in this period. She doesn’t lose her virginity until age 16 and is wed at 17.
  34. Dame of Mercia:
    Shy Lady Dragon,

    Erik and Adriana, I think I’ve said before I wouldn’t have particularly wanted to see an actress who was 13 in real life playing Dany’s wedding scene. I found it uncomfortable in the book (I came across the show version first). There WERE cases of very young noble bridesin reality in medieval times though I’ve heard of a hypothesis that the marriages weren’t always consummated immediately.Margaret Beaufort’s marriage at a young age must have been consummated though because she had a child.Which is a roundabout way for me to say I didn’t mind the ‘aging up’ in GoT the show plus it would have been illegal to have a 13 year old in a sex scene.

    I completely agree regarding aging up characters and I also liked that they stretched the timeline in TV show so the former kid characters actually grew up to adults through the story . I’m already not into book purism in general but I found it especially weird if I saw people complaining about characters being older. Yes, GRRM may have wanted to depict his world in this brutal medieval style but I don’t think it would have translated well to TV without making audience very uncomfortable. Two characters I especially love being aged up are Missandei and Margaery because I believe aging them up also expanded their characters and added agency to them. Also, I kind of have hard time imagining Joffrey being a 12 year old in the TV series and Tommen being 8 years old when he marries Margaery.

  35. It seems that in the UK the Act making 16 the minimum age for marriage came in quite late. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Marriage_Act_1929

    I’ll need to look it up but I think the raising of the age of consent (to being a willing partner in sexual activities) to 16 was in the nineteenth century in the UK. I thought the rule had also changed for marriage then but maybe it depended on which part of the UK the marriage partners lived in. I don’t know about other countries. Thomas Hardy wrote a short story (set in the time before the law changed) about a young girl who was married to an older man but they don’t live together as man and wife immediately. I can’t remember the name of the story but it was in a collection of stories called ‘A Group of Noble Dames’.

    Erik is likely correct that GRRM wanted his fantasy take on medieval history to depict the brutality of that world. Also life span was on the whole much shorter in medieval times and I’ve heard the suggestion that that might have accounted for early marriages in those days.

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