House of the Dragon Star Emma D’Arcy on Whether There Was Conflict With Milly Alcock Over Rhaenyra’s Portrayal

House of the Dragon launched a bold experiment in TV characterization and casting, by giving viewers two versions of its female lead characters, Princess Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent Hightower, in the span of just ten episodes. Actress Milly Alcock played the young version of Rhaenyra in the first five episodes of House of the Dragon before Emma D’Arcy took over as the adult Rhaenyra for the final episodes of Season 1 – and the subsequent episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2 (and beyond) that are in the works.  

While things always seemed cordial during Hosue of the Dragon Season 1’s run on HBO, viewers, and industry analysts have openly wondered just how much of this unprecedented casting move actually affected the actresses. Game of Thrones is one of the biggest brands in TV, so only getting to play half a character role could easily ruffle an actor’s feathers, if not cause some understandable tension, as two different individuals tried to break out in the same shared role. 

However, in a new interview looking back at House of the Dragon Season 1, Emma D’Arcy puts any bad rumor and/or speculation to rest, by stating in no uncertain terms that she never weighed in on Milly Alcock’s performance of Rhaenyra, and there was no real tension between the two actresses:

 “There was no laying down of the law for Rhaenyra. I also didn’t feel like that was necessary,” D’Arcy told Deadline. “I think something that’s so nice about how the first series is constructed is that it does give sort of a tangible distance from one’s childhood. I definitely feel my childhood self to be quite separate from me and I can sort of see the edges of the person that I was as a child in a way that I’m not as good at seeing my edges now. I loved how that was literalized in the show. It was also just a huge honor because Millie is such a brilliant actor, and it was very lovely to come in after they’ve taken care so beautifully in the first five episodes. It was a very generous springboard for me and Olivia, I think.”

Actress Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel) also had to make the deep-end jump into the Game of Thrones pool alongside D’Arcy, playing the adult version of Alicent. Actress Emily Carey played the young Alicent, and like Milly Alcock, she won Game of Thrones fans over with her performance, before the shock of the re-casting was dropped on them. In the end, Alcock and Carey have both achieved career breakouts thanks to House of the Dragon, while D’Arcy and Cooke managed to come in and cement themselves in the roles. 

House of the Dragon Season 2 is in development. It is expected to arrive on schedule, despite the current Hollywood Writers’ Strike.