LOS ANGELES — In the third season of "House of the Dragon," one of Emma D'Arcy's wishes comes true.

The British actor, who portrays Westeros' displaced would-be sovereign Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO's fantasy epic, has mentioned in past interviews their desire for their character to carry a weapon and asking showrunner Ryan Condal to make it happen.

So far in the series, which kicks off its new season Sunday, Rhaenyra has briefly handled a blade in private. She's also spoken about swords as a symbol of authority. But the queen doesn't carry a sword on her hip, unlike most of her male counterparts.

"I just want to say I won that battle," D'Arcy, 33, says of the status of their request during a recent video call from London. "The hows and the wherefores can wait, but it's OK to say that I won that battle … by a story means that I wasn't expecting."

But this deadly addition to her wardrobe is not the only change for Rhaenyra this season.

For the first time in the Targaryen war of succession, "there is momentum to Rhaenyra's campaign," says D'Arcy. "Historically, we've seen Rhaenyra on the back foot in a kind of reactionary position. In the start of Season 3, she's in a position of real strategic political power."

Created by Condal and "A Song of Ice and Fire" author George R. R. Martin, "House of the Dragon" tells the story of this civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. The eldest child of the previous king, Viserys I, Rhaenyra was named the official heir to the Iron Throne as a teenager by her father, despite women usually being overlooked in the line of succession. But upon her father's death, her younger half brother Aegon — who was born after Rhaenyra was named heir — was crowned king of the Seven Kingdoms instead.

Picking up directly after the events of Season 2, the new season kicks off with Rhaenyra's victory appearing imminent after she adds more numbers and dragon riders to her military might, as well as key information and a promise of cooperation from her childhood friend-turned-adversary, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

Thus far in the series, Rhaenyra has been easy to root for. Not only is she the rightful heir whose seat on the throne was allowed to be usurped, at least in part, because of patriarchal expectations, but she has also shown restraint and consideration for her subjects unlike most other Targaryens.

"There's a desire in Rhaenyra, I think we've seen on repeat, to actually dismantle some of the feudal hierarchy and actually to say to her subjects, 'You and I are the same,'" says D'Arcy. She's "a character in a position of leadership who has been historically othered [that] recognizes a system of othering."

D'Arcy compares the final stretch of waiting for the series to be released to being in transit on a long journey. They'd just finished their final automated dialogue replacement session to clean up some sound the week before, and they admit there is something about this "liminal moment" that reminds them of being in transit that they really enjoy. ("As a kid, I loved a long car journey, and I often preferred it to arriving at [the destination]," they say.)

They are thoughtful and unhurried in a conversation that roves between Rhaenyra's nuances and relationships, their joy at being back on the Red Keep set in Season 3, their dual appreciation for packing and being provided lunches and even the comforts of broadcast television. D'Arcy describes their work as "pretending" in one breath while in another sharing their strong feelings around dramaturgy and text as they toggle between discussions of stage, film and television acting.

And while the nonbinary actor hopes that their gender is not the most interesting bit about them, D'Arcy is committed to speaking "as loudly as I can on behalf of the trans community."

"[It's] a very turbulent time for the LGBTQ+ community, [but] I am so proud," says D'Arcy. "I'm just lucky that I get to live authentically and do my job. I know that that is a great privilege."

Matt Smith, who plays Rhaenyra's uncle-turned-husband, Daemon Targaryen, in the series, describes D'Arcy as a "one-off."

"They're such a truly deep thinking, emotional human being who has a voracious IQ," Smith says, likening D'Arcy's approach and prep to that of a historian's. "Super, super bright. Usually the brightest person in the room. And they have an incredible, quiet, powerful generosity of spirit."

"I think actually what's incredible about them as a person and as an actor [is that] there's just this wonderful sense of mystery, even when you know them, and Emma's constantly surprising me with stuff," he adds.

Condal explains that "Rhaenyra goes through an incredible arc change this season" and that the writers challenged both D'Arcy and the character with the material.

Among the challenges Rhaenyra will face this season are personal hurdles as well as a lack of grace from those unwilling to recognize her as a sovereign, all while she starts to believe her reign was ordained by the gods.

"When all those things are thrown into the mix together, it creates a kind of violent counterreaction," Condal says. "You're going to see Rhaenyra go through bumps in the road and all that. But what I was really interested in was taking this character, who … is very easy to root for, and then applying those kind of darker pressures to her and seeing what comes out the other side."

D'Arcy explains Rhaenyra's "growing religiosity" results in the character having fewer doubts about herself and her decisions.

"I think Rhaenyra feels a great duty to many of the kind of peers and colleagues and close relations in her life, [including] Daemon and Mysaria and her father and even Alicent," says D'Arcy. "But there is also somewhere in her an ego that craves legitimacy and recognition and power, and those elements form quite a volatile cocktail this season."

As for Rhaenyra's new sword, Condal was a bit more forthcoming about the show's reasoning.

"We use it as a symbol to show her metamorphosis as a character," Condal says. "So it felt very real and natural and true to Rhaenyra — especially after the scene in Season 1 where she sort of rejects the last vestiges of this kind of feminine prison that she feels like she's been put in when she destroys the gown. I think it sets Rhaenyra off on a really interesting new path."

In addition to those in Rhaenyra's storyline, D'Arcy faced some unscripted challenges of their own. Just before going into production on Season 3, the actor had surgery to reconstruct their ACL after suffering a fall from the stage during a performance of "The Other Place" in London. This meant they were doing their rehabilitation, including learning how to walk again, while filming Season 3. It was a daunting endeavor even before considering that this season would see Rhaenyra — and thus D'Arcy — back in the massive sets of the Red Keep where the Iron Throne sits.

"I remember my first day [on set] because I was in anticipation of whether my knee would hold up to the demands of a season of Westeros," says D'Arcy. "I really hope that some [behind the scenes] comes out of me in all my frocks on my sticks, because for three months … my allotted walking time would get used up onscreen, and then I would sort of hop about."

Although they admit the fall itself was embarrassing, D'Arcy says going through recovery on set "was kind of a beautiful timeline" because people would notice their progress. They also point out that their injury "forced [them] to be incredibly pragmatic" and "proactive" about managing it to make sure it didn't affect their work.

"I think it forced me to be quite adult about the way I approached the season," D'Arcy says.

Despite the scale of the war at hand, which involves aerial battles between dragon riders as well as giant troops of warriors on land and sea, much of the action Rhaenyra has been involved in is interpersonal — at least so far.

There is the character's powerfully charged, if volatile, relationship with Daemon that is back on course after their separation last season. D'Arcy says that "Rhaenyra requires Daemon's violence" this season and describes the characters' return to their royal home in King's Landing as "thrilling."

There is also the strained relationship with her friend-turned-stepmother Alicent, who helped usurp Rhaenyra's throne. D'Arcy explains that despite their frayed friendship, Alicent remains "a strange custodian of Rhaenyra's conscience."

"I think Rhaenyra still privileges Alicent's judgment, even when they are totally at odds with one another," D'Arcy says.

But to D'Arcy "the hardest to describe" dynamic that has developed is between Rhaenyra and her adviser Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), who used to be Daemon's paramour. During the second season, after Mysaria became one of Rhaenyra's allies and confidants, their relationship took a passionate turn.

"I love that they start off actually in a place of conflict [and] deeply suspicious of one another," says D'Arcy, who notes that both characters developed skills to "navigate male power holders." The attraction for Rhaenyra is "a matter of being seen in a way that's completely new."

"Mysaria is maybe the first truly romantic connection," adds D'Arcy. In contrast to Daemon, whose similarities with Rhaenyra "represents a kind of horizon of possibility that is about power and domination," with Mysaria it is more like opposites attracting.

"Mysaria offers a window into a type of hardship that opens Rhaenyra's eyes to a portion of experience to which she's had no access," they say.

Rhaenyra is the first character D'Arcy has played on a multi-season series, and they say that the "privileges that come with that are still revealing themselves to me."

Noting that they and their character have been "growing up … in tandem," D'Arcy says they increasingly understand Rhaenyra's feelings toward her late father as well as what she feels she owes him as "a custodian of his spirit."

While Rhaenyra's story will touch on "the more sinister side of relinquishing doubt," D'Arcy considers that there is, perhaps, "a more positive side to that too."

"I definitely noticed in quite a pronounced way that entering my 30s meant I got to kind of let go of some old self-doubt that had been probably the motivating force of my 20s," D'Arcy says. "The great privilege of living this life is [discovering] there is greater peace with oneself to be found. It's a work in progress, but maybe some of that relinquishing of doubt, I can say I've also been able to claim for myself."

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