Who wouldn't want to be a part of the wildly successful Game of Thrones franchise? Not Olivia Cooke, at least, not at first. The Bates Motel star has just revealed why she was ultimately convinced to take on the role of Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon and it's simple and awesome at the same time.
It has been confirmed that Olivia Cooke hasn't watched Game of Thrones before she agreed to be a part of the prequel series. So it's no surprise that it took a lot to convince the Ready Player One star to take on one of the main roles in the show. While speaking to The Guardian, Cooke admitted that she wasn't sure about House of the Dragon until she read the screenplay.
“When I was auditioning, I was definitely like: ‘I don’t know if this is what I want for my life.’ But then I got to see the first two scripts, and it was good,” Cooke said.
Interestingly, there was something else that pushed Cooke to accept the project. The English actress, who recently moved back to London, learned that House of the Dragon would be filmed entirely on Warner Brothers’ brand-new digital production stage in Watford. That means she could shoot her scenes then go back home.
“It felt really alluring, just being in one place for a year,” Cooke said.
We're certainly glad that Olivia Cooke ultimately chose to be in House of the Dragon. After all, it's hard to imagine anybody else other than Cooke and Emily Carey playing Alicent Hightower. With that in mind, we can't wait to see more of Cooke in the last three episode of the show.
House of the Dragon Episode 7 is now available on HBO Max. House of the Dragon Episode 8 is titled The Lord of the Tides and will premiere on HBO on Sunday, October 9, 2022.
Related: House of the Dragon Episode 7: Driftmark Plays Host to a Tense Reunion and Dragon Theft
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