Olivia Cooke auditioned for both Rhaenyra and Alicent for House of The Dragon

Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon is the most hyped show of 2022. So far it has checked out all the parameters that were placed before its premiere. One of them being the casting of actors for various roles, and just like its predecessor, House of The Dragon has managed to impress the audience in that field as well. Actress Olivia Cooke, whose performance as the older Alicent Hightower has been praised by both fans and critics alike, is one of the many gems amongst the highly talented cast. During her time at the auditions, she was made to read the lines for both Alicent and Rhaenyra, and she did amazingly well for both.

In one of the more recent episodes of The House That Dragon Built, exclusive to HBO/HBO Max/Disney+Hotstar, the cast and the crew of House of The Dragon lauded Cooke with heaps of praise. Here’s what they said:

Miguel Sapochnik (Showrunner): Olivia is probably the most seasoned actress of them. We wanted her in the show. She did such a strong audition. 

Kate Rhodes James (Casting Director): We got Olivia to read for Rhaenyra as well. And she did astonishing reads for both of them. It became clearer that she would be better suited to Alicent. And certainly, once we’d met Emily, the pair of them were wonderful.

Emily Carey (Young Alicent): Olivia, I’ve been in awe of her work for years, and so to play the younger version of her is a blessing. Miguel and Ryan had said Alicent is probably the character that changes the most in that time jump. There are multiple things that we both portrayed through Alicent that connects the two characters together. But where my Alicent leaves, and where her’s begins, they’re almost completely different people. 

What do you think of Olivia Cooke’s Alicent so far?  Join our discord server to tune into more such discussions.

Read Next: Olivia Cooke was worried House of The Dragon would make her the focal point of “so many opinions”