House of the Dragon Season 2: Milly Alcock’s cameos explained

House of the Dragon Season 2 includes some unexpected cameos from Milly Alcock, and we’re here to talk you through her shocking scenes. (Warning: major spoilers ahead!)

House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 included many revelations. Rhaenyra finally confronts Alicent, Aegon goes full steam ahead with the war, and Daemon takes Harrenhal.

He spends plenty of time looking pretty sorry for himself in in the new episode, considering he’s in the doghouse after the Blood and Cheese incident.

But while he’s there, he begins to have strange visions that take him through Harrenhal’s decaying and poorly-kept structure. In one of them, he encounters none other than young Rhaenyra, played once again by Milly Alcock.

Milly Alcock’s Season 2 cameo explained

In House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3, Daemon has a vision in which he leaves his bedroom at Harrenhal and finds young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) sitting in a chair by the fire, sewing the head of Prince Jaehaerys back onto his body.

He watches her until she turns to him and says: “Always coming and going, aren’t you? And I have to clean up afterwards.”

No doubt the vision of her is a representation of some guilt coming from the death of Jaehaerys. Even if Daemon doesn’t seem openly remorseful, it’s likely that he does carry at least some small feeling of shame towards the death of a young child, especially after Rhaenyra finds out and confronts him about it in Season 2 Episode 2.

HBO

He appears distressed at the sight of her, only to be suddenly placed outside Harrenhal, where a woman appears and tells him, “You will die in this place.”

Alcock also returns in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4. At the beginning of the episode, Daemon is still wandering around Harrenhal, and sees young Rhaenyra sitting on a vision of the Iron Throne. She’s wearing a crown and speaks to him in Valyrian, saying: “You created me, Daemon. Yet you are now set on destroying me, all because your brother loved me more than he loved you.”

At her words, Daemon whips out his sword and cuts off her head, which he then picks up from off the floor. She’s not dead, and instead keeps talking to him, asking: “This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?” His vision is then interrupted with news of a raven.

Previously, Alcock denied any return to House of the Dragon Season 2. Speaking to Deadline in 2023, she said: “No, it’s done. It changed my life very quickly and it will never be the same again. Now I get to do all of the wonderful, amazing things that I really want to do, and I’m still figuring out what that is.”

Whether that was a tactical lie or her cameo hadn’t yet been confirmed at that point isn’t confirmed, but it’s great to see her face once again!

For more, check out our House of the Dragon Season 2 review. You can also take a look at our feature on why both sides of the Targaryen Civil War suck, and check out all the House of the Dragons dragons on both sides.