House of the Dragon: Who Is New Rheanyra Actress Emma D’Arcy?

House of the Dragon has made one of the boldest moves in all of television, by essentially re-introducing the show to audiences, six episodes in. “The Princess and the Queen” couldn’t have been a more appropriate title for the episode, as actresses Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke stepped in to take over the roles of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower (respectively).

More: Why Did House of the Dragon Change Actors? 

 Viewers seems to recognize Cooke from her previous roles in films like Stephen Spielberg’s gaming movie Ready Player One, the teen drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, or horror-thrillers like Ouija, The Signal, and The Quite Ones. She also got a breakout role in the 2010s playing the female lead in the prequel series Bates Motel, based on Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Psycho. However, Emma D’Arcy seems to be much more of an unknown talent, leading to many viewers asking one question: 

Who Is New Rheanyra Actress Emma D’Arcy In House of the Dragon? 

Emma D’Arcy is an English actress born in London, to parents Richard and Sally D’Arcy. Emma D’Arcy is  non-binary and prefers They/Them pronouns. 

While Emma D’Arcy is much more of a new talent in Hollywood, they certainly earned their way to the screen through years of working in London’s theatre scene, after studying Fine Art and graduating from the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, England. While performing on the theatre circuit, Emma D’Arcy earned acclaim for not only their performances, but as a leader of the theatre community, who still holds the position of Joint Artistic Director of the Forward Arena Theatre Company. 

The first big onscreen role that Emma D’Arcy got was in the BBC/Netflix miniseries Wanderlust, where she played the daughter of a couple (Toni Collette and Steven Mackintosh) who are exploring alternative forms of (open) marriage. After that, she had bit roles in Rob Lowe’s Wild Bill limited series and Amazon’s Hanna (based on the action thriller film). 

D’Arcy really began to hit their stride in the fog of the 2020 pandemic. They starred in British dramedy film Misbehavior, the rom-drama film Mothering Sunday, and the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedy-horror series Truth Seekers all between 2020-2021, which led to Emma D’Arcy to their biggest career opportunity: playing the adult Princess Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon. 

Now that they have made their entrance in House of the Dragon, it seems Emma D’Arcy will follow both Emilia Clarke and their Rheanyra counterpart Milly Alcock, by having those Targaryen white-hair wigs carry them into full-blown stardom. 

NEXT: Is House of the Dragon Getting Renewed for Season 2?

You can see Emma D’Arcy starring as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon on HBO and HBO Max.