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House of the Dragon Review Bombed By Homophobic Fans Over Rhaenyra And Mysaria Kiss

30 July 2024, 12:36 | Updated: 30 July 2024, 14:32

By Sam Prance

The kiss wasn't in the original script until Emma D'Arcy suggested that it felt natural to the scene.

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House of the Dragon is being review-bombed by homophobic fans over Rhaenyra and Mysaria's kiss in season 2 episode 6.

House of the Dragon saw a major development in Rhaenyra and Mysaria's relationship in episode 6. Over the course of this season, Rhaenyra and Mysaria have gradually grown closer. Mysaria is now one of Rhaenyra's most trusted advisors and 'Smallfolk' sees Rhaenyra and Mysaria share a same-sex kiss after Mysaria confides in Rhaenyra about her childhood.

The intimate moment received huge praise from viewers, however, homophobic fans are now review-bombing the episode.

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On IMDb, 'Smallfolk' is now the lowest rated episode of House of the Dragon with an average rating of 6.2. The episode has been rated over 42,000 times and 36% of the ratings are just one star out of ten and many of the user reviews citing that they take issue with the kiss specifically.

By contrast, 23.3% of the ratings for the episode are ten stars out of ten with many fans now speaking up in defence of the scene.

Mysaria actress Sonoya Mizuno recently told The Wrap that the kiss wasn't in the original script. She explained: "It wasn’t scripted as a kiss. I think it was scripted as - there’s just breath between them or something. Then whatever happens is interrupted."

Through conversations with showrunner Ryan Condol, Emma D'Arcy suggested that they should kiss. Sonoya added: "[D’Arcy as Rhaenyra] felt the instinct to hold [Mysaria], to comfort her. From that, it felt so organic to go into the kiss."

Emma D’Arcy and Sonoya Mizuno in House of the Dragon. Picture: Alamy

Discussing Rhaenyra's sexuality with Variety, Emma said: "It’s hard, because I don’t think the word “queer” is a word that is within Rhaenyra’s lexicon. There are so few images or stories within that world that she has access to that allow one to identify in that way."

They continued: "What I do think is that she is really sexual. Maybe that’s one of the real joys of playing her, is that I think she’s a super-embodied character, who knows when her body is sort of saying something."

Emma ended by saying: "And certainly, I think there was great intimacy within her early relationship with Alicent."