Behind the Scenes: "The Mourning Keep" Set — House of the Dragon
The cameras were off, but the air still hummed with the charge of pretend fire and frozen breath. Snow machines hissed to a stop. The half-built Mourning Keep set—a cathedral of scaffolds, green-screen mountain ridges, and plaster "stone"—sat under the soft hum of studio lights.
A crewman yelled, "That's lunch!" and half of Westeros exhaled.
Emma D'Arcy was still in her silver wig and leather riding coat when she turned to her twin brother, Jinx D'Arcy, who was shaking fake ash out of his hair and laughing into his gloves. In-universe, he was Prince Jeanyx Targaryen—Daemon's younger brother, Rhaenyra's uncle, the silent prince who'd become the storm of the North. Off camera, he was the studio's chaos gremlin.
"Your dragon nearly took my wig off," Emma said, pretending indignation.Jinx grinned. "Nyx was method acting. She sensed power.""She sensed hairspray," Matt Smith called from behind the monitors, still in Daemon's armor but now sipping coffee out of a paper cup that said Daddy of Dragons in pink marker.
Paddy Considine walked by, crown tucked under one arm, muttering, "You two really are twins. Same smirk, double the headaches."Emma shot back, "That's royal genetics."Jinx added, deadpan, "Or trauma. Same thing, really."
The soundstage buzzed with relaxed noise—the clatter of swords being stacked, armor plates coming off, crew hauling away foam "boulders." The giant LED screen that projected the Mourning Keep mountains flickered to black, leaving the actors bathed in warm studio light instead of cold moonlight.
Jinx dropped onto a folding chair next to Emma, stretching his long legs out, boots still dusted with fake snow. "Can we talk about the fact that I had to climb a thirty-foot animatronic dragon while everyone watched?""It looked great!" Emma said. "You didn't even scream this time."He squinted. "That was an internal scream. Very Valyrian."
Matt Smith leaned over, mock whispering to the camera crew filming B-roll. "He overthinks everything. The dragon's the calm one."Jinx pointed a finger. "That's canon now."
The Interview Segment
Later, the trio sat on the couch for the promo shoot. The interviewer asked, "What's it like acting alongside your real twin while also playing relatives in such… complicated family dynamics?"
Emma laughed first. "Therapy."Jinx smirked. "Family discount."Matt Smith shook his head. "I just stay out of it. They argue in two languages—English and Valyrian—and I lose every time."
Emma leaned into Jinx. "The funny part is, on-screen we play uncle and niece, but off-screen we finish each other's takes."Jinx nodded. "Yeah, she does the dramatic stares, I do the sarcastic trauma."Emma: "It's called range."Jinx: "It's called caffeine and unresolved issues."
The crew laughed. The interviewer, struggling to keep a straight face, asked, "How does it feel embodying Jeanyx, this entirely new Targaryen who isn't in the books?"
Jinx tilted his head, thoughtful now. "He's kind of the family's shadow, right? The one who stayed quiet until he didn't. There's something freeing about that. Also terrifying. He's a man who spent half his life being misunderstood, then found a dragon that understood him perfectly. That's… beautiful in a messed-up way."Emma's expression softened. "That's why he works. He's chaos with a conscience."
Matt Smith pretended to wipe a tear. "That was beautiful. Truly. Someone get him another Emmy nomination."Jinx looked deadpan at the camera. "Please don't. I'll have to do press again."
Back on Set — Lunch Break Banter
The catering tent smelled like stew and coffee. Jinx and Emma sat side by side, sharing a plate, when Milly Alcock (younger Rhaenyra) walked by in jeans and a hoodie, calling out, "Uncle Jeanyx, can you teach me that sword spin thing?"He grinned. "Sure. Step one: sell your soul to choreography."Emma added, "Step two: regret it for three days after."
Across the tent, Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower) passed, nodding politely. "You Targaryens and your dragon-riding neuroses," he said.Jinx called after him, "Jealousy doesn't suit you, Hand."
Someone turned on a Bluetooth speaker. The cast erupted when they realized it was playing the Mourning Keep theme—a haunting mix of cello and deep vocals. Emma laughed so hard she nearly spilled her soup."Who made this sound so depressing?"Jinx raised a hand. "I did. It's supposed to sound like the mountains crying when the wind passes through."Matt Smith, chewing, mumbled, "You wrote your own background score?"Jinx shrugged. "What can I say? I like multitasking."
End-of-Day Wrap
When the lights dimmed and the set crew started covering props, Jinx stood on the edge of the half-built tower, looking down at the plaster valleys and green screens that would soon be turned into the frozen peaks of his story. Emma walked up beside him, hair down, makeup half-smudged.
"You know," she said, "you're doing fine."He smiled faintly. "Yeah?""Yeah. You make the fantasy believable. That's hard."He chuckled. "You make the politics terrifying. That's harder."
They stood there in companionable silence while the wind machines cycled off one by one. Somewhere below, a crewman shouted goodnight. The fake snow settled.
Jinx stretched his arms and said softly, "Tomorrow we fly again."Emma grinned. "Just remember, if you fall, stay in character."He laughed, that quiet, infectious kind. "I'm a Targaryen. I don't fall—I descend dramatically."
And as the doors to the soundstage closed, the hum of the Mourning Keep's weeping wind faded into laughter—brother and sister, actor and actress, still half in costume, half in their own myth, turning dragons and grief into something warm enough to last another take.
House of the Dragon: "The Mourning Keep" — Cast Q&A Special
Moderator: Welcome, everyone! We're joined today by Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, and—making his chaotic debut as Jeanyx Targaryen—Emma's real-life twin brother, Jinx D'Arcy!
(Audience cheers; Jinx mock bows while Emma rolls their eyes.)
Q1: Jinx, you're Emma's twin in real life but play her uncle on screen. How weird is that?
Jinx: Oh, it's awful. We go from arguing over who gets the last croissant to "Yes, niece, the realm burns."
Emma:laughs He kept calling me "sibling" during takes. Ruined at least three shots.
Matt: It's the only family tree where the director needs a whiteboard.
Q2: How did you prepare to play Jeanyx Targaryen, this mysterious "Silent Prince"?
Jinx: Lots of silence. grins But really, he's the Targaryen that history forgot—the one who saw what was coming and decided to walk his own path. I imagined him as the mix of melancholy and menace that Westeros never quite knew what to do with.
Emma: He'd come to set humming that creepy "Mourning Keep" tune he composed and suddenly everyone was sad.
Matt: It worked though! Even the dragons looked moody.
Q3: Speaking of dragons—how was filming the flying scene with Nyx?
Jinx: Terrifying. I wrote that Jeanyx was calm on a dragon. Real me? Absolute panic. My brain kept saying, "If you fall, at least die in character."
Emma: He was sweating before takeoff, and the dragon was CGI!
Jinx: Method acting.
Matt: The crew swore he screamed "I regret everything!" on the first take.
Jinx: Lies. That was my soul leaving my body.
Q4: What's it like working as siblings on such an intense set?
Emma: Easy. We've been arguing dramatically since we were three. It's just being paid for it now.
Jinx: There's comfort in having someone who speaks your creative language and knows when you're overacting.
Matt: They finish each other's lines. It's eerie. Once Emma forgot a bit of dialogue, and Jinx just… said it for her. In character. And it worked.
Emma: We're the same brain cell in two bodies.
Q5: Matt, what's it like working with two D'Arcys?
Matt: It's like performing with two mirrors that argue about lighting direction. They're brilliant, but together? Chaos. Beautiful chaos.
Jinx: We bring balance to the Force.
Emma: Wrong universe.
Matt: Not for him.
Q6: Favorite moment on set so far?
Jinx: The first time the Mourning Keep's wind effect kicked in. It sounded like the mountains were crying. Everyone went quiet—it felt… sacred.
Emma: When we filmed the feast scene and Jinx improvised a line in Valyrian. No one knew what he said. The editors kept it.
Matt: I liked when his fake snow machine exploded mid-take. Looked like Winterfell sneezed.
Jinx: That was art.
Q7: If Jeanyx could give one piece of advice to Rhaenyra or Daemon, what would it be?
Jinx: To Rhaenyra: "Don't trust destiny—it's just ambition in a wig."To Daemon: "You're not the villain. You're just bored."
Matt: I'm keeping that line.
Emma: So am I.
Q8: What's next for your character, Jinx?
Jinx: Jeanyx has seen too much peace to believe in it. He's going to start shaping the North into something ancient—bigger than dragons, older than kings. And maybe… start listening to the wind that mourns for Valyria.
(The audience murmurs—half intrigued, half spooked.)
Emma: Translation: he's about to break the timeline again.
Jinx: It's my hobby.
Q9: Will Nyx get more screen time?
Jinx: Oh, absolutely. She's basically my co-star. She's loyal, terrifying, and smarter than half the council.
Matt: I keep asking for a spin-off: Nyx and Daemon's Chaotic Adventures.
Emma: I'd watch that.
Jinx: I'd direct it.
Q10: Final question—describe the Mourning Keep in one word.
Emma: Haunted.Matt: Majestic.Jinx: Honest.
(He smiles, glancing up at the fake mountain set still echoing faintly with wind machines.)"It's a place that cries because it remembers. That's what makes it alive."
(The interviewer thanks the trio as the lights dim. Off camera, Emma elbows Jinx.)Emma: "You just can't stop being poetic, can you?"Jinx: "It's genetic."Matt: "Gods help us when they start writing Season 3."
(Laughter fades under the distant hum of the Mourning Keep's wind.)