From co-showrunners Ryan Condal (Colony) and Miguel Sapochnik (Game of Thrones), who are also executive producers along with author George R.R. Martin, the HBO series House of the Dragon explores the Targaryen family with all the power, danger, rivalry, jealous, betrayal, murder and love that could either make them invincible or tear them apart. When you throw in powerful dragons, it becomes impossible to know who to trust or where loyalties lie, and the Iron Throne that they’re all fighting for is not kind in its embrace of whoever sits upon it.

Collider got the opportunity to sit down with co-stars Milly Alcock (who plays the young Princess Rhaenyra, heir to the Throne) and Emily Carey (who plays Alicent Hightower, Rhaenyra’s best friend at court) to chat about the whirlwind experience they’d had making this show, what helped them key into their characters, the first time they walked onto the set, the responsibility of living up to fan expectations, what makes this a story that can appeal to audiences of all genres, and what they most enjoyed about exploring the dynamic between their characters.

Collider: When the opportunity to do something like this comes your way, how do you even wrap your head around any of it? How do you approach a character like this?

EMILY CAREY: When the opportunity came about, we couldn’t wrap our heads around it because we didn’t know what it was we were auditioning for, at all. But when I found out, I couldn’t process it. I didn’t process it for about three days. It didn’t kick in until day three, that it was actually this show. When I started reading the script, I was like, “Huh, that’s me. That’s my character. This is crazy.” But I truly don’t think I ever fully processed it.

MILLY ALCOCK: I still haven’t processed it. It’s just a blur, this whole experience.

CAREY: Yeah, it’s a whirlwind, for sure.

house-of-the-dragon-milly-alcock-emily-carey-02
Image via HBO

What was the thing that really helped key you into your character? Was there one thing that you always really kept attached to, so that you could figure out the humanity of your character, at the core of all the court politics?

CAREY: For me, it was my journal. I journaled in character. It was very near and dear to my heart. Alicent and I are very similar people, so I found it very easy to tap into her brain and write firsthand. Throughout the whole rehearsal period is when I got most of the journaling done. And then, when we went to shoot the scene, I would just look back on it and read it, so that I was in the same headspace. But for me, it was quite easy to tap in and out of the character, just because we are very similar people.

ALCOCK: For me, what weighed Rhaenyra down was the costumes, in a weird sense. And I don’t mean by the way that they look, it was more in the way that they didn’t let me move. That is the antithesis of what she faces within the world and her inability to move throughout it the way that she wants to. She’s physically restricted, so it impacted the way that I would approach a scene.

You guys do the hair and makeup tests, the wardrobe fittings, and you see the sets, but what is it like to be there with all of that, surrounded by that atmosphere and all the other actors that are also in all of that? Did you just need to take a moment, every day?

CAREY: For me, that’s every day of my life, where I need a minute because it’s crazy. The first time that I was in costume and on the set was for a camera test. I remember stepping onto set in my costume, and for a camera test, you don’t get any dialogue. You just are put in front of a camera and have to walk around a little bit. I remember that I was itching to just do it. I’d stepped on set and it was so immersive. The costumes pull your shoulders back and they change the way you walk. I was there with Milly. It was just the two of us. And I remember looking at her like, “This is it. What do I say? Come on, give me something to do now.” It suddenly became very real, and it felt so right. Suddenly, a lot of my nervousness had gone away because I was there and everything clicked. I was, “Right, I don’t have to be scared anymore. This feels good.”

ALCOCK: Yeah, every day was just heaven, in a weird way. It was exhausting and demanding and very long, but what a privilege to get to work so hard on something that is going to be hopefully so special.

house-of-the-dragon-milly-alcock-01
Image via HBO

What was your connection to Game of Thrones? Had you seen it, or had you just heard of it? Did that add any weight or responsibility to all of this?

CAREY: Of course, it adds a certain amount of pressure that it’s a preexisting show. And not just that, but it’s the biggest TV show, possibly ever. It’s impossible to not feel the pressure and the weight of that. But neither of us had seen the original show before we booked the role. We both watched it in pre-production. I stopped watching it in pre-production because I got so overwhelmed by it. It’s such a mammoth show, so trying to take that in whilst also trying to break down our show as well, completely confused my brain. I had to prioritize a little bit.

ALCOCK: How do you live up to the greatest show of all time? You don’t. I don’t know. Or you do. I don’t know.

CAREY: I guess we’ll find out.

ALCOCK: I guess we’re going to find out. It feels like there’s such a responsibility to old fans, and we have to live up to that. Ultimately, I know that we’re all here to try to tell a new and authentic story. With that added pressure, it sometimes creates a lot of white noise, and you have to really focus on what it is that you’re doing and why you’re doing it, and not let it overcrowd you.

CAREY: I second that.

It’s so interesting, what a personal story this feels like. The scope and the scale are there and there are giant dragons flying around, but it feels like a very personal story. Did it help to connect, with the whole family drama aspect?

CAREY: One hundred percent. For one, what makes it so watchable as a viewer is that, even if you aren’t necessarily into the genre. For a fantasy fan, this gives you everything and more. It’s never really been my genre. I never really got the hype until I watched it and was like, “You know, it’s not just about the dragons and the fantasy and this crazy world. At its core, it’s a very grounded story with very grounded, truthful, complex characters.” I think our show is the exact same. That’s why it was so fun to play with, as an actor. Yes, you have this fantasy realm, but at the same time, underneath it all, when you take back all of those layers, it’s so truthful.

ALCOCK: It’s just good writing. It’s good writing that’s set into the context of a world that we don’t live in. Ultimately, it’s quite clever because it’s going to draw in two groups of audiences – people who watch shows like Succession that are very naturalistic, and an audience of people who adore and love fantasy. When these two things collide, it’s what makes a show really special, because you don’t really see those things in tandem. Hopefully, House of the Dragon executes that as well as [Game of Thrones].

CAREY: Fingers crossed.

house-of-the-dragon-milly-alcock-emily-carey-03
Image via HBO

There are dysfunctional families in every genre and every time period.

ALCOCK: Families are dysfunctional, inherently.

We get to meet your characters when they are very close, but we know that that’s going to change, over the course of the season. What did you guys most enjoy about getting to explore the dynamic between your characters, at this age that they’re at?

CAREY: I think just the palpable closeness between them. When you’re 14, especially when you’re a girl, the relationship that you have with your best friend is a closeness like no other. It toes the line between platonic and romantic. I don’t think you even know what those words mean at 14. You don’t know what the feelings mean. It’s just this need to be with that person. You love them with your whole being, and you just adore them. I think that’s the case for Alicent and Rhaenyra, which is what makes it so heartbreaking when their relationship starts to demise.

ALCOCK: And there’s something just really lovely about getting to be someone who works alongside an actor that you adore. There’s something really nice about it. Having to be sad, or having to be confused or angry, there’s something that’s really lovely about that. That’s what I loved most about our relationship. You meet them at such a happy point within their adolescence.

House of the Dragon airs on Sunday nights on HBO and is available to stream at HBO Max.