HBO‘s House of the Dragon Season 3 has given fans of George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood epic live action interpretations of the Battle of the Gullet, the Butcher’s Ball, and even the lead up to the first Battle of Tumbleton. However, the storyline that might be blowing fans’ minds the most is the strange love story brewing between Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell)

**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7 “The Dragon in Winter,” now streaming on HBO Max**

Hardcore fans of Martin’s work already knew that Aemond and Alys would cross paths in a big way on House of the Dragon; what we could not have anticipated, though, was how weird it would be. Sure, we expected strange sex stuff — Aemond’s shocking sex dream about his mom checked all of the Targaryen incest boxes — but the awkward scenes between the couple at dinner with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) felt more like a goth version of Netflix‘s Love on the Spectrum than anything else. (Do you know how many awkward boys are intensely swinging medieval swords and falling for witchy girls on that show??)

When DECIDER caught up with House of the Dragon star Gayle Rankin last week, we asked her about what she and co-star Ewan Mitchell were hoping to capture with Alys and Aemond’s nascent romance, where things stand with their relationship, and how much of a literal “idiot” Aemond has to be before Alys will bail on him. Rankin not only called her witchy character “dickmatized” by the dragon-rider, but confirmed that Alys Rivers is indeed four centuries old (!!!)…

DECIDER: I remember when I asked you and Ewan about what we can expect from Alys and Aemond, you guys were like, “Expect the unexpected,” and I did not expect for their relationship to feel more like… I don’t know if you know the Netflix show, Love on the Spectrum?

Gayle Rankin: [Audible guffaw] Girl, wow!

Him with the swords, and Alicent, being like, “Is she your friend? What’s going on here?” at the dinner table with hand-holding. It’s so sweet, but awkward, and not what I thought it would be at all. But the scene with Alicent there at Harrenhal, watching all this and being very confused by what she’s seeing, what was the mood on set for those scenes? What were you and Ewan trying to capture? 

I mean, I love that you got Love on the Spectrum, that’s also one of my favorite TV shows.

What were we trying to capture? Oddness. I mean, Alys has been isolated for 400 years, so she doesn’t really know, she doesn’t have a lot of social skills, so I think it’s definitely giving spectrum, and it’s giving intimidation, too, and flirtation and all of that. She’s kind of pulling at all the stops. Other than bringing in some bats, like the heavy artillery has not been pulled out yet. But it was fun, the vibe on set was so fun. Olivia and I are very close friends, so it was a very vibe-y, fun day. 

You mentioned the bats. That’s one of my favorite little Alys moments of the season so far, because it looks to some people like magic, but to me, I think she just knows the bats are there and can just wake them up. How much of Alys’s magic is wisdom and how much of it is a little magic? 

Couldn’t you ask that of any woman you know? Or any person who’s literally a witch that you know where you’re just like — I think it’s both, you know? I think it’s probably 70/30. I think that’s 70% fucking magic and it’s 30% just being a boss bitch and knowing shit and getting shit done. 

This week, Aemond is dreaming and you’re trying to have sex with him, but he thinks it’s his mom and he snaps out of it. 

Oh, right. Yeah. 

What was it like shooting that and have they consummated this romance yet? Or is it just her trying to get him on her level? 

Good question. I mean, shooting it was [laughs], it was the thing that we couldn’t talk about in the junket cause I think people were like, “What was the craziest scene you had to shoot?” I think that was a pretty crazy fucking scene for all of us. It was fun and funny, those scenes can sometimes be really intense, but they’re also ultimately stunt scenes in some ways. I think we all just tried to be really respectful and professional and also keep it pretty lighthearted, you know, cause it was a very absurd scene. And have they consummated this relationship? I mean, I think we’re seeing it. I mean we’re seeing it happen in front of our eyes, which is thank you HBO for allowing us the privilege. Yeah, I think, but it’s early days of that endeavor and so it’s vulnerable still I think for them. 

We learned last week that Alys has been sitting on this cache of dragon eggs from when Rhaena was there with Dreamfyre. So it seems like last season there was a lot with her and Daemon. Do you think that she was considering sharing that information with Daemon? Was there a moment where she was testing him and why is it Aemond, not Daemon, who gets this information? 

I do think she’s been sitting on this and I do think she was waiting for the right guy. I think she got a sense with Daemon there was a limit to their relationship and she was right. As we saw, she tests the waters in a really strong way in Episode 2 and she asks for Harrenhal and he says no, and he breaks her heart. I think showing him the vision was an entry point to being like, am I going to go all the way and show him all my cards? I’m not sure if this is all of her cards, but it’s a pretty fine deck to have however many five, six dragon eggs, a clutch of them tucked away. 

I think you mentioned that you perceive Alys as having 400 years of knowledge. Does this mean that she kind of knew Rhaena Targaryen when she was there? Do you think that there’s other secrets that she’s sitting on? You alluded to it, but can we confirm that she is older than she seems?

Yes. Period.

People online have noticed that as soon as Ser Simon Strong died, your costumes, apparently, looked like she raided his closet.

I love it.

Is that what she did? Have you seen those? 

I have seen those and I’m obsessed. It’s like, “Girl gets out her sewing machine.” It’s like, “When your rich uncle dies and you realize you’re not poor anymore,” or like get your sewing machine out. It’s just been – it was really funny. I don’t think that that’s what we were going for, but I love the idea that she’s that industrious. I think people do wanna believe that she’s so deeply manipulative, and scheming, and such a grafter, and such a hustler, which I think is definitely not untrue. I also think that like Caroline McCall, who designed our costumes, was also just working within the world of the Strong House. I think there’s like more of, there’s going to be more of an explanation about where this dress maybe came from. 

Interesting tease. We were told last week that the Freys, they want Harrenhal, and Rhaenyra was like, “Okay, well just go take some men and see if you can take it.” Is that teasing anything for the finale? Might we see the Freys versus Alys and Aemond at Harrenhal?

I think anything is possible. It doesn’t seem like anyone’s leaving Harrenhal anytime soon. But, it’s hard to get in there. I’ve done a pretty good job. I think unless you’re a dragon, like I don’t know.

This week’s episode kind of ends with Aemond stumbles in after being poisoned by his mom, and all Alys says is, “Idiot.” I’m just curious, at what point is he going to be more trouble than he’s worth for her? Has he already injured himself to her? 

I think he might have already gotten in there. I think he might have got already in there, and I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say this, but I think she might be a little dick-matized, too. [To HBO publicist offscreen:} Matthew, you can censor me.

[Ed. note: Matthew did not censor Gayle Rankin.]

The House of the Dragon Season 3 finale will premiere on Sunday, August 9 at 9 PM on HBO and HBO Max.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.