House of The Dragon’s cast and showrunner explain how the prequel’s central female leads are misunderstood in Westerosi history

Game of Thrones fans are all hyped up about the upcoming prequel House of The Dragon. The official trailer received plenty of positive views, and the recent World Premiere was attended and praised by some of the most renowned critics. Things are looking quite bright for the tale of the Targaryen family, as well as for those who were directly affected by the show’s two central characters, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower.

In a recent photoshoot with Entertainment Weekly, the cast and the crew of House of The Dragon sat down to talk about the show and its characters. Showrunner Ryan Condal explained how the two female leads have been misunderstood in Westerosi lore, “They are central female characters who are at once credited and also blamed with this particular war. Because the history is written by men, we were really interested in the dynamic forces that a certain medieval level of innate chauvinism puts on the two women.”

Emily Carey, who plays a young Alicent Hightower, said this about her character, “There’s a preconceived notion that she’s [always] scheming.” 

Olivia Cooke, who plays the older version of Alicent, added, “You can understand why. The woman whispering into a powerful man’s ear has never been positively written about. So the fun was to try to find the nuance.”

Do you agree with their assessment of the characters? Tell us in the comments below!