Long-Haired Emma D'Arcy Looked Like a Whole Other Person; Here's Proof
Ooh, stunnin'!
Despite rocking long silver hair as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, Emma D'Arcy, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, dons short hair they sometimes dye in different colors.
Their signature hairstyle, however, was not always there. Now that Emma enjoys spotlight after stealing hearts with their portrayal of Rhaenyra in the Game of Thrones prequel, fans are starting to dig up some old pictures... and old looks.
In several pictures from 2018 that illustrate what appears to be a stage play A Girl In School Uniform (Walks Into a Bar), Emma has long hair. And the old hairstyle does make them look like an entirely different person!
The old pictures have immediately sparked a debate on whether the actor should stick to long hair or the current hairstyle D'Arcy has is better. However, one thing appears to be agreed on by everyone: Emma looked beautiful then and looks beautiful now, and they were a perfect choice to portray Rhaenyra Targaryen.
However, D'Arcy's character does have her signature long hair — and it even turned out to be a problem for the actor at the point of auditioning for the role. It took place back at the times of the coronavirus pandemic, when pretty much everything had to be done remotely.
When auditioning, Emma had very short hair, but the showrunners needed to have a look at them with long hair. Unfortunately, D'Arcy did not own a wig back then, and coronavirus restrictions made it difficult to go get one. What D'Arcy did was... create their own.
"For 24 hours, me and my partner just tried ... We hot glued these hair extensions to these wig grips. We would send photos to Miguel ... And he said, 'Can you keep trying?' We kept trying until we found something that gave me the illusion I had long hair. And then, every time we taped after that, I would sit in front of the telly, and my partner would do my hair extensions for an hour and a half before we taped anything," D'Arcy themselves told Entertainment Weekly about that bizarre effort.
It did pay off, though: now, the actor is one of the breakout stars of the year, with the second season of House of the Dragon to begin shooting in early 2023.