NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (UPI) — GLOW and Perry Mason alum Gayle Rankin says Alys, the mysterious witch she plays on House of the Dragon, has genuine feelings for Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), the erstwhile Iron Throne heir hiding out in her castle.

“The painful truth is that Alys Rivers does really care about Aemond,” Rankin, 37, told reporters in a recent Zoom round-table interview.

“It’s hard to know when anyone is performing, especially in this kind of world where everybody needs to get something and everybody is just trying to get what they want,” she explained.

“What’s painful about the relationship for Alys is that I think she does come to truly care for him and I think that’s because she knows a lot about what’s going to happen.”

One of the things that draws Alys and Aemond together is how they both feel misunderstood or like they aren’t seen for who they truly are.

“They put up walls and boundaries and behave in certain ways that people find them unreadable,” Rankin said. “I think they need their match.”

That doesn’t mean Alys wants to “fix” Aemond.

“I think there’s something more interesting than trying to fix him,” Rankin said.

So, what does Alys want for herself?

“She needs to be honestly taken care of,” Rankin said.

“I think she does and I don’t think that’s something that she wants to admit to herself. But I think there comes a point, if you’re a people pleaser and you’re a fixer, and you have that kind of strong maternal or feminine instinct to mother, or whatever that is, there comes a point where you kind of break,” she added.

“I think a lot of people can relate to that and I think she is faced with that need this season.”

In addition to giving her sight into the future, her mystical abilities also mean she sometimes surprises people — even viewers — by materializing without warning.

“It’s so much fun,” Rankin said.

“I wish I was her. It adds a kind of, hopefully, surrealist comedy in some ways. She’s so serious and kind of intense, but she’s also so deeply wise and has lived this life a million times. There’s fun in all of this for her. It’s a bit of a game, which it isn’t for so many of the characters,” she added.

“I like how she can flip-flop between those two different kinds of vibes.”

Season 3 of the beloved fantasy drama wrapped up on HBO Sunday night.

Although the Game of Thrones prequel was already renewed for a fourth and final season when Season 3 began, Rankin said she didn’t think too much about how the show might end.

“It didn’t really come into my mind in that way,” she said.

“In the television world, in the world in general, everything is so kind of unknown and it’s just kind of working within the thing [in front of you], which is like, ‘OK, we’re in a big season.’ I mean, it’s, I think, the biggest season of House of the Dragon that we’ve made, and that was just exciting,” Rankin added.

“They definitely asked that we all kind of bring our A game because I think it’s just exciting. There’s just so much meaty stuff to really sink our teeth into.”