How Milly Alcock Prepared to Play Princess Rhaenyra on House of the Dragon

Milly Alcock is a woman of many talents.

The 22-year-old actress went from washing dishes to starring in the much anticipated Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. And while her experience working in a restaurant has served her well, Milly had to learn a lot—like dragon-riding, sword-fighting and royal etiquette—to play the white-haired princess.

Now, Milly can call herself a true Targaryen, having mastered the Valyrian language—but not without some help. The actress recalled the many hours she spent working with a dialect coach, exclusively telling E! News, "We just repeated and repeated and repeated until I didn't have to think about what I was saying."

This doesn't include the time Milly spent learning the scripts, which she then translated from English to high Valyrian. In other words, Milly was an A-plus student.

Milly wasn't alone in her studies either! Her co-star Fabien Frankel was schooled in the art of horseback riding, which was arguably more grueling work than Milly's homework.

House of the Dragon Cast in and Out of Costume

"We go to this place called The Devil's Horseman, which is like an amazing old British institution," Fabien told E! News. "They've been teaching actors to ride for like 150 years. They taught me to ride and to fight with a morningstar, which is like a bull with spikes on it, which is an incredibly dangerous weapon."

The really difficult part came when the stars had to film their scenes though.

Milly wasn't a huge fan of the source lighting employed on the House of the Dragon set, as it made her incredibly sweaty. "Because there's no electricity in this world, everything is lit by fire," she recently told The Hollywood Reporter. "So all the lighting that you see in the show would have people that come around and light everything on fire and the set would get incredibly hot. I would get really sweaty and stand like this (extends arms) with two girls with hair dryers."

She jokingly added, "It was all very glamorous."

New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays on HBO.

--Reporting by Leanne Aguilera

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