#Shani Smethurst

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

HOTD with book ages vs show casting

It's interesting to think about how fans perceptions of characters would be radically different if we had book accurate casting.

Emily Carey (aged 18-19 here) is perfectly age-accurate to play an 18-year-old Alicent.

Meanwhile Paddy Considine, at 48, was pushing it a fair bit to play a 29-year-old Viserys.

For reference, Tom Glynn-Carney was 28 while filming Season 2.

So not that he's my fancast for young Paddy or anything, but let's be real. You would all be writing self-insertxVizzy fics. Alicent would have no more agency in the marriage if Viserys was his book age than his show age, but fan perceptions of Viserys would definitely be different if he was played by a young and attractive actor (no offense of course to Paddy, he is serving Targaryen realness etc.)

Or look at Fabian Frankel. He would have been around 27/28 while filming season 1. You were shipping Alicole back when Emily Carey was still in the role, after all.

And then there's Rhaenyra, who was 8 during the events of the first episode, and 9 when Viserys married Alicent.

Milly Alcock, roughly 21 here, is just a tad older than 8-year-old Rhaenyra.

Amelie Child-Villiers would have been 12-13 while filming Rings of Power, so older than Rhaenyra at the very beginning but can pass for younger.

To anyone who thinks a child Rhaenyra wouldn't have been interesting to follow, er... have you read ASOIAF? There are quite a few prominent child POV characters, you may have noticed. And Alicent doesn't automatically become uninteresting if she's 18 rather than 15... or 40.

I mean I get it, Rhaenycent shippers, you prefer the sapphic dynamic in HOTD... and it is absolutely fine to prefer something! But it isn't inherently deeper or more interesting. It isn't objectively better. BFFesbians can be just as one-note as you claim step-mother/daughter relationships are with the wrong writing, and step-mother/daughter relationships can be richly complicated.

Now, I've already gone through the absolute horror that is book Rhaenyra and book Criston

Criston Cole was 22 when he met a 7-year-old Rhaenyra, 23 during the events of the first episode. So Fabian at 27 (pictured here) is a a few years older, but his age gap with Amelie is the same as Criston and Rhaenyra. And yikes. This is why 'Criston the Dad who Stepped Up' posts make me throw up in my mouth. (Also it is so weird that Criston is never recast after the time jump even though the actor is younger than Emma D'Arcy - Criston is 47 during the Dance).

And yes, Daemon has a similar age gap with Rhaenyra

Daemon was 24 during the events of the first episode. Though I would add that Daemon wasn't, contrary to popular opinion by greens, grooming Rhaenyra when she was a young child. There isn't really any indication that he paid particular attention to his 8-year-old niece - he was mostly sulking on Dragonstone in a relationship with an adult Mysaria for starters, and then he was off in the Stepstones till Viserys and Alicent's 5th wedding anniversary tourney.

From then, no I'm not in favour of a 30-year-old Daemon and a 15-year-old Rhaenyra... I am not in favour of childbrideros. But considering he'd been absent from her life between the ages of 8-15, and there is no indication he ever paid any attention to her before then... it is less creepy than Criston Cole being Rhaenyra's shadow from the age of 7, with rumours of a sexual relationship beginning at a point when she would have been 12-14.

By Westeros standards Daemon unfortunately falls into the 'culturally normalised and could have a whole lot worse' category (and tbf, considering the popularity of ships like SanSan...). This isn't a pro-daemyra or anti-daemyra post, I'm not really going to go into their relationship or whether or not it's healthy here, just clarifying that Daemon isn't the Humbert Humbert of this story - that would be Criston (not being Humbert Humbert of course is a very low bar).

And when it comes to the casting and how that impacts audience perceptions... Matt Smith at 39 was too old for both 24 and 30 year-old Daemon (though exquisite in the role of course).

Considering how his haters condemn Daemon for his actions in episode 1 while excusing Aegon for rape and Aemond for murdering Luke (and burning alive many many other children)... Let's have a look at an age-appropriate actor for 24-year-old Daemon and see if that changes anything.

Ooh would you look at that, Ewan Mitchell at 24 while filming S1.

Or Tom at 28 during S2, just two years younger than 30-year-old Daemon. With a face that wins hearts over rape. You telling me if Daemon was his book age you wouldn't be excusing his actions? You wouldn't be taking all the rape apology arguments Aegon stans use and applying them to Daemon's seduction of a 15-year-old Rhaenyra?

Especially if you still had him acting alongside 21-year-old Milly, who was supposed to pass for a 14 to 18-year-old Rhaenyra.

Hopefully though no one would be excusing a younger Daemon played by Tom Glynn-Carney if he had been put against an actual 14/15 year-old like Evie Allen. Who would have been a more age-accurate (and disturbing) casting for Rhaenyra...

Oh wait, how old was Maddie Evans (Dyana) while filming S1 again? 15? Never mind.

Casting teenagers in such scenarios is of course a difficult business - above all the first priority is to protect underage actors. Milly was well-suited to convincingly play Rhaenyra from early teens to late teens, and it's impossible to constantly re-cast for absolute age-accuracy across the time jumps. But it does impact perception - while the first priority is to protect underage actors, the casting of older actors to play teenagers does contribute to society's perceptions of teenage girls in particular as mature adults, rather than children.

Meanwhile the attractiveness of adult male actors - and the younger they are - does indeed shape what some audiences are willing to forgive or excuse. Reactions to Daemon and Viserys by fans (especially green fans) would be radically different if they were cast with their book ages - sorry to say it greens, but your objections to their characters is in large part due to the fact that you are not attracted to DILFS (or leprosy!). And even if we still aged up Rhaenyra like the show does when she first met Criston Cole, reactions to him during the Dance would be vastly different if he was played by a book-accurate 47-year-old. Again, Fabian Frankel is younger than Emma D'arcy.

Of course, the bar for age accurate casting is clear in the way we were supposed to accept Olivia Cooke playing Tom Glynn Carney's mother (they are two years apart).

Because again if Alicent had been 18 at the start of the show and 41 at the start of the dance she would have ceased to be an interesting character or something I guess. Because no one wants an older woman (ew gross!) as the series co-lead alongside a non-binary lead. And because mother/stepdaughter relationships are inherently one-note while BFFesbians are inherently rich, deep and complex... apparently. It has nothing to do with, you know, the writing quality.

Final Round!!! Aegon and Aemond picking fights with kids

Harvey Sadler here is 8/9 years old when he played young Lucerys. Which makes this baby face 2-3 years older than... a six-year-old Book Jacaerys when 10-year-old Aemond was 'pummelling him savagely'.

So yeah, "3 against 1" - the oldest of those 3 being younger than Harvey Sadler. And honestly, 6-year-old Jace has my undying respect for the sheer balls on him to go up against a bigger kid twice his age and size. Does he care that Aemond has just claimed the largest dragon in the world? No, he pushed over his baby brother!

"But it's more interesting if Aemond and Jace are peers" Maybe. If HOTD gave Jace equal screentime and character development perhaps. But they didn't. Any value added by making the antagonist interesting and sympathetic is cancelled out if the cost is ignoring the protagonist or making the protagonist boring (especially in a family civil war drama!).

"But sympathetic Aemond is much more interesting" I am not arguing against making him sympathetic. He is still a kid here, and he still has Aegon to bully him and earn him pity points and trigger a cycle of bullying as he takes out his grievances on others who don't deserve it etc. You don't need to age up his victims or remove sympathy or screentime from them. Sympathy doesn't have to be zero-sum.

Leo Hart was 13 at the time of filming, so the perfect age to play a 12-year-old Jace during the dinner scene where a grown-ass Aegon picks a fight with him over asking Helaena for a dance. Also an accurate age to play a 13-year-old Luke when Aemond murders him.

Elliot Grihault who played teenaged Luke was meanwhile actually closer in age to Book Jace during the dance than Harry Collett (no offence Harry, you still made a more believable teenager than 24-year-old Jon Snow did).

And lest we forget Aegon's true nemesis... 13 year old girls on tiny dragons 'no bigger than a horse'. No offence to a 24-year-old Bethany Antonia, but Shani Smethurst at 12 was perfectly cast to play Baela during the Dance and absolutely would have been the next Arya if this show didn't hate black girls.

But hey, at least we got adult Baela saying "I am blood and fire" while the script struggles (*cough doesn't bother) to find her anything to really do. That sure is an improvement over book Baela acting out, causing chaos, kissing kitchen boys and crying to save them from punishment, grieving alone on dragonstone after the gullet, trying desperately to get the adults around her to believe her suspicions about Grey Ghost, wrecking Aegon on her tiny dragon, being forced to grow up quickly under captivity and fiercely defending her rescuers from execution.

[baelathinker]

[anonymoushuman2]

Another dress for the lovely Laena, as an adult this time. I cannot stand this dress, in theory it’s pretty, but for some reason it just looks off. I think it’s the way the cut of the dress meshes with Nanna Blondell’s proportions, because it somehow makes this stunning woman look less attractive, but I don’t really know. On a side note I love this bts photo, I’ve cropped it but it has Nanna Blondell, Eva Ossei-Gerning, Shani Smethurst and Matt Smith as Laena, Rhaena, Baela and Daemon. It’s a very cute photo of the 4 of them

[moodscreens]

house of the dragon (cast / bts) ; simple lockscreens

like/reblog | @spearbinsung

[brotherconstant]

BAELA TARGARYEN & AEMOND TARGARYEN 

It’s him.  It’s me.

[gameofthronesdaily]

HOUSE THAT DRAGONS BUILT | 1.07 “Driftmark”

[0ynes]

Viserys made them do this.

this kids were great in their roles.

[adhdbuck]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S01E07: Driftmark | dir. Miguel Sapochnik

[westerosiladies]

Jacaerys and Baela

[cptrs]

[princesssszzzz]

Bethany and Shani going to Comic Con. Who’s going?

Someone needs to ask them about Daemon and his neglect 👀👀

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

How HOTD films Team Green vs How HOTD films Team Black

Aemond & Aegon being interrogated vs Jace & Luke having their parentage publicly discussed

First off, the moment where Viserys interrogates his sons on the rumours is in many ways a fantastically shot and tense scene. As an ensemble scene, the camera primarily focuses on Viserys, Rhaenyra, Alicent, Aemond and Aegon as we watch the emotions and suspense play out. We feel Aemond and Aegon's hurt and complicated relationship with their father, we wait with Rhaenyra and Alicent to see what the boys will say, how Viserys will react, just how will this interrogation unfold.

What we do not get is any attention on the kids whose parentage is under discussion.

This is what we briefly get of Jace just before the interrogation begins. We get a quick shot of him shouting on Baela's behalf, a quick shot of him telling his mother they were called bastards, and we see him by his mother's side as she goes into action. But he's rarely at the centre of attention, and what attention the camera does give him is only brief. There aren't many frames of Jace - the camera just doesn't focus or linger on him.

Compare this to the multiple close up shots and clear prolonged focus on how Aemond and Aegon feel while their father is shouting at them. There are multiple frames giving them plenty of attention (I could only fit a handful of them on this post), letting those micro-expressions sink in for the viewer. But no focus on how Jace feels watching the rumours being spoken out loud, in front of everyone. No focus on how he feels watching his grandfather, waiting to see what he will say and do.

Will the King protect his grandson? Is Jace about to be officially labelled a bastard and have his life destroyed? How anxious is Jace watching this exchange? How upset is he when his uncle, who he used to follow around like a shadow, says for the room to hear 'just look at them'? And Luke? Does he know what's going on?

Now I am not an expert on cinematography or directing or editing etc. But I don't think it takes an expert to notice when the camera sends such a clear message to the viewer. Alicent's children are main characters whose emotions you are invited to be invested in, while Rhaenyra's children are not given equal weight. Alicent's children join her as main characters, Rhaenyra's children do not.

Even Otto and Daemon get to react where Jace and Luke do not

When Viserys threatens to cut out the tongue of anyone who mentions the rumours again, we keep the focus on Aemond and Aegon. We get to know intimately how they are feeling during this scene. But how are Rhaenyra's kids feeling? Is Jace relieved? Is Luke still confused? If the goal of making the Greens sympathetic was so the audience would feel their hearts torn two ways, then the camera is failing miserably, because it is only directing us one way.

Aemond's reaction to Alicent demanding Luke's eye vs Jace & Luke's reaction

Am I against Aemond having a close up here? No. The moment is about his mother seeking retribution for his eye after all, the close up makes sense. But it is one of many he (and Aegon) have in this scene, and again the camera is very uninterested in how Jace and Luke feel. Aemond got to respond when Rhaenyra suggested (bluffed) that he be 'questioned sharply'.

It isn't a close up, but he doesn't exactly lack for close ups. And he is still in the centre of the screen. The camera waits on the back of the chair to see him turn around and glare at his sister.

Are we going to cut to little Luke's face when a grown woman wants to cut his eye out? Or Jace when his little brother is threatened? Apparently the original draft had Luke yell "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry" when Alicent demanded his eye, and then try to hide behind his mother in fear. So at one point it seems there was some attention to how Luke feels, some effort to invite the audience to feel it too. But in the end we get the Aemond close up followed by a distant group shot of Team Black reacting, inviting the viewer to feel very little.

When Alicent attacks with the knife we do at least get a brief cut to Luke screaming. And I like the little detail of Luke holding Rhaenyra's arm afterwards, if you can spot it. Jace also appears to be present behind him, hello Jace. How do you feel about your mother being hurt? Have you realised now the danger you are in? Is now the moment you decide you have to be very grown up for your mother? It looks like it is for Aemond.

Again, I am not against Aemond receiving attention in this scene. He did just lose an eye. But this is an ensemble scene, about a family getting irrevocably split, about the next generation inheriting the conflicts of the previous generation. The rest of the ensemble are given attention - Viserys, Rhaenyra, Alicent, Daemon, Otto, Criston, Corlys - but when it comes to the next generation of characters there is a clear disparity. Would the viewer be invested in Rhaenyra and Alicent's conflict and relationship at all if the camera only ever focused on Alicent?

The camera should be inviting us to care about the conflict between the next generation - not just one side of the next generation. We get a bit more focus on Luke in the following episode and the final episode - primarily because he is about to die and the writers at least understand that we should probably care about him first.

But Jace should have been set up from episode 6 as a main character - a character who gets equal screen time and the same emotional weight as his uncles. We should have followed him dealing with his parentage, with the scrutiny and rumours, with Criston bullying him, with the burden of being both the perfect heir and the knowledge that he needs to help his mother and protect his little brothers. The camera should be inviting us to care about how he will feel when he loses Luke.

We only get rare crumbs where the camera is interested in Rhaenyra's children. While proving my point I trawled through frame upon frame of Aemond's face in this scene to find the rare shot where Jace is in the centre (at the very beginning of the scene, before the drama starts to really play out), where he isn't at the side or in the background, where the camera lingers just a little bit. I wanted more of this.

For a further illustrative example, see how differently the relationship between two sets of brothers are filmed.

Also what are Baela and Rhaena up to? The previous episode introduces us to the idea that Daemon ignores Rhaena. A scene of Daemon hugging his grieving daughters was deleted, and replaced with a scene of an emotionally distance Daemon walking away from his grieving daughters. Ok then, if you're going to introduce that idea, maybe actually do it justice? We have close ups of Daemon lurking and watching the argument at the sides - how about a shot of Baela and Rhaena looking for their dad? How about a shot of Rhaena, needing comfort, looking crestfallen that her father isn't showing any concern, that he's more interested in watching the argument than looking for his daughters? I mean if I have to watch Aegon the rapist and his daddy issues...

If Daemon is supposed to be ignoring his daughters... well there is a way to communicate via the camera that characters are being ignored without the camera actually ignoring them. The show does it with Alicent and Viserys all the time. I mean, here's how we are introduced to the girls seeking comfort from their grandparents. Distantly, beginning with a shot of Corlys and Rhaenys coming down the stairs from behind, and relegated straight to the background where they will remain for the rest of the scene.

Why add Baela and Rhaena to the fight if you're not going to do justice to their presence? Especially considering how much the dynamics of the fight have changed in addition to their presence. Initially it was an older bully hitting a toddler and then beating up little kids who came to their baby brother's rescue. Now it's kids closer in age, punching out their grievances, and it's 4 against one. This tilts the sympathy towards Aemond - who already has all the damn close ups anyway. To compensate, you have to invest in the emotions on all sides. Especially Rhaena - she just lost the last link she had to her mother, and what she probably figured was her chance to get her father's attention. So give her a damn close up. And Jace - if you are going to have him pull out a knife instead of a wooden toy sword like in the book then you better earn that moment by inviting us to feel just how much the word 'bastard' hurts him.

[baelathinker]

Shani Smethurst, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Emilia Clarke at Beyoncé’s Renaissance concert in London

[movies-tv-more]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1x07 “Driftmark” airs tonight at 9pm on HBO

[idontreallyknow26]

IM SCREAMING THE YOUNGER CAST OF HOTD (Harvey, Leo Ashton, Leo Hart, Evie Allen, and Shani Smethurst) ARE GOING TO BE AT THE LONDON COMICON IN JULY IM SO EXCITED IVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THE YOUNGER CAST (ESPECIALLY EVIE) TO GET THEIR MOMENTS AHHH <333

[love-tv-freak]

House of the Dragon

Baela x Rhaena - 1x07 Driftmark