If you are following House of the Dragon then the performance of Australian actor Milly Alcock, who plays a young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, would have stricken you at some point. She’s unlike any other female character we’ve seen in the World of Westeros by far. She’s neither a damsel in distress nor needs to fight for her safety or status. Alcock's portrayal of Rhaenyra is cool, calm and collected, and in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she discussed her casting and reveals, that she was “surprised” to know that her character would be the focal point of the first part of the season.
Alcock, who was living in her mother’s attic when she landed the part on House of the Dragon, revealed that she “sank to the ground” when she got the confirmation call one evening at her friend’s place. She said, “I asked my friend if he had any wine and I couldn’t really tell him why. He thought something really awful had happened.” Nonetheless, she binged Game of Thrones before landing in London to shoot the series where she felt like "someone had just dropped me in the middle of like the ocean with nothing around.”
Speaking of the pressure of landing in an expansive set and portraying one of the most valuable players in the series, Alcock revealed she was both "really shocked and surprised" about her character's prominence in the show, and yet she found she shared some similarities with Rhaenyra, mentioning:
“There was a lot of responsibility of having to carry Rhaenyra, and it was interesting because me and Rhaenyra had similar trajectories in our story — the way that we kind of navigated an unforeseen world we really expected to be in, and learned how to face those challenges.”
Interestingly, she revealed that she was discouraged from meeting the other Rhaenyra i.e., Emma D’Arcy who will play an older version of the character. Alcock revealed that she and D’Arcy wanted to discuss the character’s progression with director Miguel Sapochnik, but “Miguel didn’t want us to meet — which was really interesting! So, we never had that discussion. Miguel was like, ‘Just trust that you both have it.’ I think he was aware we would be trying to mimic each other.” Storywise, it makes sense for actors not to mimic each other as the versions that we’ll see on screen are a decade apart and people change over time. Emily Carey also recently revealed that similar advice was given to her and actor Olivia Cooke, who’ll play an older version of Alicent Hightower.
However, the show's producers did have some advice for Alcock when it comes to playing Rhaenyra, “She’s quite stoic in the way that she like presents herself, and I’m quite a fidgety person. And [Ryan and Miguel] kept reminding me that there’s strength in stillness. She doesn’t have to prove herself, she has that status,” the actor revealed.
We'll see more of Alcock as the Targaryen princess in House of the Dragon episode 3 which will air on September 4, meanwhile, you can check out the promo below: