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House of the Dragon: Older Alicent Actress Olivia Cooke Recalls Being "Really Hungover" on Her First Day


There's no denying that the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon was the perfect mix of a bloody and mind-blowing series. But things are just getting started, and fans have to brace themselves for a more epic showdown between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) and Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) as they secure their own bid on the Iron Throne.

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Both Alcock and Carey are unquestionably doing a good job in portraying two extremely complex characters, sadly, we won't be seeing them in the next episodes as Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke will now take over to portray their respective grown-up roles after a significant 10-year time jump. D'Arcy will now take over as Rhaenyra, while Cooke is set to play Alicent.

Ahead of House of the Dragon's Episode 6, Olivia Cooke recalled on Jimmy Kimmel Live her rough first day on set being "very hungover" and luckily, no one noticed it. Check out Cooke's full quote below:

“It was amazing and I was very hungover. Really bad, actually. Really bad. And I never do that, but there’s this comedian in England who I love, Alan Carr, and he’s got a podcast. He invited me to be on the podcast and I was very excited. And my call time the next day wasn’t until 11 so I brought a bottle of wine just as a gesture and the podcast finished and we’re just chatting, chatting, chatting. He’s telling me loads of gossip. More wine, more wine, more wine. I don’t remember getting home. I remember, I tipped my head down to put my hair in a pony, fell over. And then I woke up the next day and I had a chip in my tooth. Very slight chip but enough that the tongue magnifies it. And you’re like, ‘What have I done?’ No one knew on set, until now.”

Well, we've all been there. But if her co-actors and the crew didn't notice her being extremely hungover, this means that she remained professional, and her performance wasn't likely affected.

However, both Alcock and Carey undoubtedly left a gold standard for their characters, and Episode 5's ending highlights a more significant deterioration between Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship. Meaning to say, both Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke are about to introduce not just an older version but a more complex and filled with wrath characters.

House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max.

Also read: Ser Criston Actor Describes House of the Dragon First Filming Day as "The Worst F**king Experience"

For more articles like this, take a look at our House of the Dragon and Geek Culture page.