House of the Dragons Cast and Crew Interview

Olivia Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, daughter of the Hand of the King, opposite Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra. The first episode focuses on their childhood in the Red Keep, where they’re played by Milly Alcock (Rhaenyra) and Emily Carey (Alicent). Those scenes help inform the older versions we follow, in building their characters.

Cooke shared while [she and D’Arcy] didn’t visit during [the younger actors’] shoot, they did watch their scenes. “We were being really respectful of their process. We’re like, we don’ t want to impose anything on them because of what we know. I would be shown scenes that Emily had done and almost like implant a memory. And that was really, really helpful for me.”

D’Arcy chimed in. “It was like watching a Targaryen home video or something. There is definitely an element of seeing yourself as a younger person and so much as you feel familiar and you sort of recognize what’s going on there and simultaneously feel very distinct from the person.”

Olivia Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, daughter of the Hand of the King, opposite Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra. The first episode focuses on their childhood in the Red Keep, where they’re played by Milly Alcock (Rhaenyra) and Emily Carey (Alicent). Those scenes help inform the older versions we follow, in building their characters.

Cooke shared while [she and D’Arcy] didn’t visit during [the younger actors’] shoot, they did watch their scenes. “We were being really respectful of their process. We’re like, we don’ t want to impose anything on them because of what we know. I would be shown scenes that Emily had done and almost like implant a memory. And that was really, really helpful for me.”

D’Arcy chimed in. “It was like watching a Targaryen home video or something. There is definitely an element of seeing yourself as a younger person and so much as you feel familiar and you sort of recognize what’s going on there and simultaneously feel very distinct from the person.”