The fire before the blood: House of the Dragon starlets make their marks on Game of Thrones

Rhaenyra and Alicent's adult life on House of the Dragon may be consumed with civil war, but in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, two sisters from other misters found each other halfway around the world.

English actress Emily Carey, then 17, who uses she/they pronouns, got their first glimpse of Australia-born Milly Alcock, then 20, over FaceTime. Alcock was sitting in the sun outside a library in Sydney, reading a book. Carey was in gloomy England, waiting to see if London would go back into pandemic lockdowns, as the city had multiple times already. "We were midway through crisis in London, and in Australia they were living their best lives," Carey, now 19, tells EW over Zoom in May. "We were mainly talking about the differences. That was the icebreaker."

Alcock, now 22, has come to think of Carey as a little sister. The first time the two met in person was at the table read for the Game of Thrones prequel series with the rest of the cast in 2021, though they had FaceTimed a few more times since then. Carey remembers giving Alcock the biggest hug after so much long distance. "I leaned on her a lot, and I feel that she leaned on me," Alcock says. "She was the only other person that understood being a really young girl in a life-changing experience or something that's really overwhelming. So we stuck together. I'm very protective of her."

Ollie Upton/HBO Milly Alcock and Emily Carey appear as younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent in 'House of the Dragon.'

Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke, as adult Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, are the de facto faces of House of the Dragon, the first successor series to Game of Thrones that's set 200 hundred years in the past during the height of the Targaryen empire in Westeros. But D'Arcy and Cooke won't be making their grand debuts on the series until halfway through the 10-episode first season, which kicked off on HBO Sunday. For the time being, it's Alcock and Carey's game.

House of the Dragon begins in a time of peace. After the death of her mother, Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke), and her newborn brother, who died shortly after leaving his mother's womb, the dragon-riding Rhaenyra is named sole heir to the Iron Throne by her father, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). The lords of Westeros swear her fealty, but it's not until a few years later, when Viserys successfully conceives a son, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), that the realm becomes split in two over succession. This leads to the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war that will bring the Targaryen dynasty to its knees.

Rhaenyra and Alicent are at the center of this dance. It's their close childhood friendship and later falling out that fuels the coming chaos. It was important for Ryan Condal, series co-creator with George R.R. Martin and co-showrunner with Miguel Sapochnik, to begin this story with the characters' younger selves.

"Our show is, at its core, the story of the dissolution of this very close female friendship that began in a very young and impressionable point in these girls' lives," Condal explains. "They had the pressures of station and power and pride and their fathers' constant reaching for more things, all placed on them at an impressional age. We were interested in how those forces affect two very different women at that pivotal point in their youth and then how it spurs their growth into adults."

The princess that was promised

Ollie Upton/HBO Milly Alcock's Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen stands before the Iron Throne in 'House of the Dragon.'

Alcock feels a kinship with Rhaenyra. As a young woman, the Targaryen princess is never expected to be queen. But when her father makes the decision to name her heir, the pressures of the nation fall on her shoulders. "I felt that my journey as Milly aligned with hers, being thrust into a position that could have been possible, but you never really thought would happen," Alcock says, Zooming in from her family's Sydney home back in May.

The actress now finds herself as the star — at least for the first half of the season — of a show teaming with obsessive fans. She hadn't watched Game of Thrones before accepting the role, but she knew that much was true.

"Yes, scared of the fandom," Alcock admits. "People already come in and know what's going to happen and know what everything means, sometimes better than you. So am I trying to serve what's expected of me, or am I trying to make individual, independent decisions on the day? That's where it's weird. How do I counteract this balance of me having control with control, but having an input in the role, but also serving homage to the fandom?"

Alcock's first television gig was in 2014 as an unnamed "teen girl" in Aussie series Wonderland. She later appeared in Starz's The Gloaming, Netflix's Reckoning, and Sky TV's Upright. House of the Dragon is the most high-profile project she has done thus far. The actress found comfort in the knowledge that the series has its own distinct flavor in the Game of Thrones universe.

While Alcock feels there's a bit of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in her character, being that "they're both women who don't behave the way that they're expected to," she describes Rhaenyra as "very stoic" with an "underlying cheekiness" that she uses to get what she wants. At the same time, Alcock adds, that aspect "gets used against her as a woman."

"There is that kind of rebellious and cheeky spirit that they both possess," she says of Arya and Rhaenyra, "which I think is why people are going to adore her."

Alcock spoke with D'Arcy about their connected roles and approached the showrunners to schedule a time to dig deep into Rhaenyra. She felt it was important that their performances were consistent. But that meeting never happened. In fact, they, as well as Carey and Cooke, were discouraged from discussing work with each other.

Condal and Sapochnik were already confident in the actors from their auditions. Cary also points out, "In the 10-year gap between our versions of the characters, there's a big change in Alicent. It's almost like we're playing two different people. We had to hone in on the smaller character traits, which I can't say too much about, but there are a few things that link our versions together rather than the really obvious things."

"This would've happened if they wanted it to happen, because it's quite important," Alcock says. "I just think that Miguel and Ryan had full faith that we knew who Rhaenyra was and that it could create more confusion if we were aware of the way that we behaved and interacted. I haven't seen any of Emma's stuff, and I'm very excited to see that performance."

Friends for (half)life

Ollie Upton/HBO Emily Carey portrays Alicent Hightower in her younger years on HBO's 'House of the Dragon.'

This isn't the first time Carey has played a younger version of a notable character. It's their sixth or seventh time, by their own estimate, though it's clear Carey has lost count. Their two big ones were in 2017's Wonder Woman as a young Diana at age 12 (Carey's first movie) and 2018's Tomb Raider as a young Lara Croft.

"Apparently, I look like a whole lot of people, but I'm not complaining," Carey says with a laugh. House of the Dragon, however, felt like one of the first times she had creative input on a lead character.

Fire and Blood, Martin's book about the Targaryens that served as the basis for House of the Dragon, is written as a fictional history of events that quotes various sources who claim to really know what happened, as opposed to a literary narrative full of specifics. Carey felt empowered by the producers to help craft this earlier incarnation of Alicent, who isn't much of a presence in Fire and Blood until an adult.

"We got to work together to create something that didn't necessarily exist before, or fill in the gaps that George had left for us in the book," she says.

As the daughter of the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Alicent grew up in the Red Keep of King's Landing in Westeros. Her mother died when she was young, so she became attached to her father, though that love isn't always reciprocated. Alicent is much more reserved than Rhaenyra. She's like the quiet best friend to a large personality.

Carey maintained a journal in character as Alicent as a means of living in her mind — a process she embraced on earlier projects. Her character was further fleshed out through discussions with Condal and Sapochnik.

"Something that we talked about a lot on set is how a relationship between two young girls is unlike any other relationship in any circumstance, whether it's family, whether it's friendships, whether it's [romantic] relationships," Carey explains. "I think at the age that we play them, friendship is such a wild, intense journey. You feel so much at that age for your friends. That was definitely something that we played around with a lot. Me and Milly get along so well off set, and so a lot of that is carried over when we were portraying the characters. They go through a lot as people, individually and together. Their relationship with each other changes them as people as the storyline continues."

Carey, like Alcock, was initially intimidated by the fandom. It was something she was overtly conscious of when filming began. She feared that because Alicent comes across as a villain in Fire and Blood, viewers would channel their hatred of the character towards them. So far, that hasn't happened. "There's a preconceived notion that Alicent's this scheming, wants-her-blood-on-the-throne kind of thing, but you see how these women became who you see in the books and who you'll eventually see in the show," she stipulates. "I think origin stories are so interesting and so important because you see circumstance."

When EW spoke with Alcock and Carey, it was weeks before the cast's first appearance at San Diego Comic-Con in July and even further out from the House of the Dragon world premiere in Los Angeles. Some of the cast were enjoying their bubble of virtual anonymity. Carey still feels the immensity of what they were doing.

"TV-wise, it generally doesn't get much bigger than this," Carey says, adding, "I'd say that Milly and I have been welcomed with open arms, which has been lovely. It's such a cult fanbase."

As for Alcock, not much is different about her life so far. Though, she does mention one change: "People's parents are nicer to me."

House of the Dragon's premiere episode is currently streaming on HBO Max.

Subscribe to EW's West of Westeros podcast — which goes behind the making of House of the Dragon and the growing Game of Thrones universe — on Amazon Music, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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