House of the Dragon’s Harry Collett Applauds Jace’s ‘Genuinely Good Suggestion’

In last week’s House of the Dragon, King Aegon Targaryen left the drunken safety of the brothels to charge into battle, only to have his armor melted into his flesh after his younger brother Aemond conveniently let his dragon open fire. Now Alicent Hightower is horrified that the more monstrous of her sons has taken the throne as regent. It’s a mess! On the other side of Blackwater Bay, however, there’s Rhaenyra Targaryen’s eldest son and heir to her throne, and Jacaerys is … pretty normal, actually. The open secret of his bastard heritage aside, Prince Jace is an upstanding young man and everything you’d want from a future ruler of the realm. Does Harry Collett, who plays Jace, ever find being one of Westeros’s few clear good guys boring compared to being a one-eyed psycho or sex-crazed king?

“I would never say it’s boring,” Collett says. “I do have moments where I feel like I’d like to play the bad guy, because, of course, why wouldn’t I? But it’s nice to be the good one.”

Episode five, “Regent,” suggests he may have figured out a way to save his inheritance from those deranged Greens. Following the death of Rhaenys and her dragon in the aforementioned Aegon-melting incident, Jace attempts to take charge. He hasn’t yet been allowed to fight despite his protests, but he has the initiative to form an alliance with the Freys, who control the strategically crucial river-crossing castles known as the Twins. Then he ends the episode with a groundbreaking idea that could turn the tides in the Blacks’ favor. They have more dragons than the Greens, they just lack riders. So … why not get some?

“This episode is Jace’s journey to becoming worthy of the throne,” Collett explains. “Ultimately he wants to prove that he can do this, and the audience should recognize that he’s not just some dweeb at the council saying, ‘Put me on a dragon.’ He’s actually got the brains to get through this war.”

Is Jace as good as he seems or is there some hidden darkness there?
The death of his brother changed him. He’s becoming more violent, wanting to get revenge. He’s always suggesting “Just put me on a dragon, just get me out there, I want to do something about this,” because he’s still got that infuriating anger about his little brother’s death inside him. But I think it’s actually changed him for the better.

Is Jace’s desire to get out into the field bravery or naïveté?
It’s a bit of both. It’s naïveté because he’s never been to battle. But I also think there’s bravery in the fact that he wants to prove not only to his mother and the people around him but to the whole realm, that a bastard can be the heir to the throne. As much as he doesn’t talk about it, it plays on his mind. He used to have Luke to look after. He doesn’t have anyone to talk to about that, so he’s just keeping it to himself, which is quite sad. But it gives him more drive to go out there and prove that he can do this.

Does Jace’s knowledge that he’s a bastard drive his suggestion to look for branch lines and bastards to find new dragonriders for the Blacks?
If I was Jace, I would want to forget that I’m a bastard. He’s not like, Oh, I want the bastards to take over now. It’s just a genuinely good suggestion, and he wants to take ownership of it.

But do you think anybody else on Team Black would’ve made that leap? It seems like it should be obvious — get more dragonriders for your dragons — yet it was clearly not something Rhaneyra considered. Why was Jace the one to have that breakthrough? 
If it was going to be anyone, it was going to be Jace, because no one would have the balls — or or even the mind — to suggest that to Rhaenyra. Jace knows history. His mother is the rightful heir to the throne and he should know everything about this. He thinks about it on the spot. Who else would have thought that? Some would think it’s absolutely ludicrous, putting other people on dragons that aren’t fully Targaryen. But Jace knows he himself isn’t fully Targaryen and he’s able to do it. So why not somebody else?

Jace isn’t battle tested, but between his trip to visit Cregan Stark at the Wall in the season premiere and this week’s meeting with the Freys at the Twins, he’s getting his feet wet with negotiations. Does that come easy to him? Is he good at it or is he as much of a rookie with diplomacy as he is at combat — whether or not he realizes it?
Jace is good at diplomacy. He knows he’s best at that, and he wants to be the best in a more physical way. He likes the politics, but he probably wants to be more like Daemon and go out on his dragon and do the killing rather than be stuck at a Black Council.

I have a question about the blocking and design of that Frey meeting: Why was that table so big and so high? It made everyone look small, almost like they were children at the kids’ table.
I haven’t actually looked at it that way, but now that you’ve said it, it does make sense. I’m not sure that was intentional, but it does make Jace realize the severity of this situation. You’ve got these two people sitting there, and Jace — who is effectively a kid — sitting on the other side, telling them what they need to do and negotiating for the future.

How is Jace’s relationship with Daemon these days? I feel like he was a halfway-decent stepdad for a while there, and he protected Jace’s and Luke’s honor. Is Jace rethinking that now that Daemon’s killed a child and gone AWOL?
Weirdly, I think no. He has doubts, but Daemon is the least of his worries right now. Jace hasn’t had one dominant father figure his whole life. He’s not bothered that Daemon and Rhaenyra aren’t really getting along right now. The only thing he’s bothered about is that he knows Daemon’s a strong part of this team and he wants to find ways to use him. That’s why he’s always asking, “What about Daemon?” He has a fear that without Daemon, they’re helpless. He’s seen Daemon chop someone’s head off in front of his very eyes. He knows how effective Daemon can be in this great big war.

Can you talk about Jace’s relationship with Baela and Rhaena? They seem to be the ones who best know how to support one another, as evidenced by your scene with Baela in this episode. 
Baela is the only person who can confide in Jace and actually get down to the nitty-gritty bits of Jace’s life. He doesn’t have those moments with Rhaenyra. Jace and Baela are similar ages and have been through a lot of the same-ish situations and just speak to each other. It’s quite beautiful, really, because they are the healthiest relationship on the whole show. It’s not like they’ve just been forced together. They actually care about each other.

Do you wear a wig for the role?
Season one, yes, season two, no.

Do you feel like the odd member out of your onscreen family because you’re rocking your natural locks while everyone else is in a big white wig?
I definitely feel a little bit jealous. But I also feel blessed that I’m not spending an hour in the hair-and-makeup chair like they are in the morning.