Harry Collett Plays The Name Game as Prince Jace Finds His Place in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede While there’s nothing straightforward about the drama and intrigue in HBO’s HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, Harry Collett was given a straightforward test regarding his character. Harry, can you spell the first name of the young prince you’re playing? “Well, that’s a great question, because I probably only learned this about three months ago, because I was doing a signing,” said Collett, during a visit to Toronto to promote the series. “And I was like, oh my god, because when I see it in the script, it’s ‘Jace.’ Literally, it’s just ‘Jace,’ so I’ve not been used to spelling my long character name. But I’m going to take a guess right now. Is it J-A-C-A-E-R-Y-S?” Winner! Sorry, Harry, there’s no cash prize in this instance. But HOUSE OF THE DRAGON continues to reward its loyal viewers as Season 2 continues with a new episode, Sunday, July 21 on Crave (where all previous episodes are available for catch-up). HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, which is a prequel to HBO’s GAME OF THRONES, portrays the events surrounding the devastating war of succession that leads to the eventual decline of House Targaryen. Collett’s Jace – full name Prince Jacaerys Velaryon – is the eldest son of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, played by Emma D’Arcy, and the heir to the throne that Rhaenyra is struggling to secure, but Jace’s bastard heritage is an open secret. Although he has shown promise as a diplomat in both official and unofficial capacities, Jace has been bristling to break free of his mother’s protection and make a more direct impact on the course of events. In that regard, there were some substantial developments in last weekend’s episode (SPOILER ALERT: general details of what occurred are about to be discussed). It was refreshing to see Rhaenyra and Jace finally having a meeting of the minds, of sorts, as mother admitted to son that she shares his frustrations with regard to essentially being a spectator to battles that are being fought in her name. “I would say that as much as Jace has the burden of people obviously knowing he’s a bastard, and he’s not legitimate, I think he feels like it can be earned,” explained Collett, a 20-year-old British actor and rising star. “Jace just wants to prove to people that he can rule, and he has kind of made that into his goal. At this stage he wouldn’t want to run off and do something else, because he has been wanting to prove to people that he can be king.” Jace took a big step toward proving himself when he came up with a fascinating idea – “a mad thought,” as his nonetheless intrigued mother described it – that could change the dynamic of the war. With more dragons than dragon lords at Rhaenyra’s disposal, Jace suggested that they should try to track down other bastards, or the offspring of relatives who married into other families in previous generations, just to see if their Targaryen bloodlines are still strong enough to be accepted as riders by the dragons. Jace, after all, is a bastard, and yet he can ride a dragon. True, his blood is half Targaryen. But maybe riding dragons isn’t quite such an exclusive club as the vast histories have claimed, and Rhaenyra and Jace can use that to their advantage. “There’s definitely a lot of pressure on Jace,” Collett said. “It’s the kind of world that I obviously will never dive into, but it is an enormous amount of pressure. Because he has been born into this family, and especially if you’re the first son of the queen, that has to be a lot of responsibility. And if he wants to be king, I think Jace also knows that he has to one day have all of those responsibilities as well. And it’s scary. I mean, I would be scared. So yeah, it definitely takes some guts to be in his position.” With three episodes remaining in Season 2 of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, Jace – or rather, J-A-C-A-E-R-Y-S – is getting better at spelling it all out. billharristv@gmail.com @billarris_tv