House Of The Dragon Season 3 Star Teases Major 8-Year-Old GOT Character Mystery Finally Being Solved

HBO’s House of the Dragon season 3 is finally giving some explanation to one of the franchise’s most mysterious characters.

As the cast of House of the Dragon season 3 prepares for its premiere on HBO on June 21, the stars have given some intriguing teases as to how the new episodes will further explore their characters’ biggest internal conflicts and even flesh out the pasts for a few of the more enigmatic figures. That includes Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), who was introduced in House of the Dragon season 2 as a healer at Harrenhal who possesses supernatural abilities. Season 2 gave little to no background on who Alys Rivers really is or what her past entails, with hardly any lore even existing about her in George R.R. Martin’s 2018 Fire & Blood book.

However, speaking with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley for House of the Dragon season 3, Gayle Rankin teased that more will finally be revealed about Alys Rivers’ identity, “who she is,” and “where she comes from.” Rankin noted that it was “imperative” for her to have a “personal sense” of Alys’ backstory and context, while hinting that these elements of the character will finally be “out in the open” after not being explicit season 2:

Gayle Rankin: “It was so imperative for me to try to make sense, personal sense, of who she is, where she’s come from. And that’s been really exciting to work with Ryan [Condal] and the entire writing team on. And in season 2 it wasn’t exactly explicit, but things will develop, things will be exposed.”

ScreenRant: The backstory you have in your head, is that considered canon or does that just help you get into character?

Gayle Rankin: “Well, there isn’t really backstory in the book about her really. So it was things that we discussed and it was to help me get into character for sure. I need to have something really grounding and clear for myself. So that totally exists. It’s just like for this moment, it’s not totally out in the open.”

The truth about Alys Rivers’ identity and backstory has been one of the biggest character mysteries from Fire & Blood‘s “Dance of the Dragons” timeline since its publication in 2018, with very little concrete information about her being revealed other than proclamations of her being a witch. House of the Dragon season 2 dove deeper into her magical powers and abilities as she facilitated hallucinations for Daemon around Harrenhal, leading up to Daemon’s weirwood tree visions in the finale, but the series and books have yet to answer key questions about her backstory.

Though Daemon is heading off for some highly anticipated battles throughout season 3, Alys will remain a key figure for the Targaryen conflicts in the Game of Thrones prequel’s upcoming episodes. House of the Dragon season 3’s trailers have teased Aemond Targaryen arriving at Harrenhal, giving Alys a new Targaryen prince to contend with at House Strong’s eerie stronghold and more opportunities to dive into her magical abilities.

Alys isn’t the only major character returning in House of the Dragon season 3 with very few details about their background being known in the show or book thus far. Criston Cole is another crucial figure whose past before joining Viserys’ Kingsguard has only been lightly touched on, with actor Fabien Frankel similarly teasing to ScreenRant that more will come to light about his backstory in the next season:

Fabien Frankel: “I have a lot of empathy. There’s a lot that’s not talked about and I think that will be fleshed out more this season about his past. And opposed to some of the other characters in the show, you meet them very early in their lives or at least all of their pasts prior to the story are alluded to in the story. Whereas, I think, with Cole, all you know is that he was a soldier and that’s it and then he’s put into this world.”

As the war enters a brutal, bloody new era in season 3, House of the Dragon is still taking time throughout its eight episodes to solve the crucial mysteries that give more insight and nuance to the most important players. With season 4 also confirmed by Ryan Condal to be the series’ final outing, time is winding down for these backstories to finally be out in the open in the show’s canon.

House of the Dragon season 3 premieres on Sunday, June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, followed by a new episode releasing each week.