House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock portrays Rhaenyra Targaryen

Before Daenerys Targaryen was the famous “mother of dragons” in Game of Thrones, her ancestor, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, was to become the first Queen of Westeros.

Milly Alcock, 22, who stars as Rhaenyra in the first five episodes of the “GoT” spinoff series “House of the Dragon” told The Post that she had not seen “GoT” prior to winning the role.

“But of course I knew that,” she said. “I realized that it was very large and very popular. [After getting cast]I watched it to prepare. I ate all 8 seasons in 2 weeks. It was intense, I quickly became a fan and understood why everyone loved it.

“House of the dragon” (on Sundays at 21.00) HBO) takes place some 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and follows the ancestors of Daenerys and Jon Snow, the silver-haired, dragon-riding Targaryen family. In the show’s Sunday premiere, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) sits on the Iron Throne and has just appointed his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, his heir – even though women’s rule is not the norm and his advisers fear it will bring the kingdom into chaos.

Alcock, 22, is an Australian actress (“The Gloaming”) who currently lives in London. She was still living in the house in her mother’s attic when she answered the call that she had gotten a loud part.

“I was shocked and incredulous. It took me to actually pre-produce it to fully process it and allow myself to get excited and not feel like I would be fired, ”she said. “The throne room was just cool. Every time you walked onto the set, the novelty didn’t fade away. “

While she enjoyed Emilia Clarke’s performance as Daenerys, she didn’t draw inspiration from him to play Rhaenyra, she said. “Of course there are parallels in their fundamental morality as humans, but ultimately they move around the world very differently.”

Instead, she drew inspiration from two other sources.

Cate Blanchett in “The Golden Age” and Audrey Hepburn in “The Roman Festival.” If you could bring these two women together, I think it’s Rhaenyra. She is witty and cheeky, but must constantly perform and fulfill this royal role. But you can see below the surface that her skin is quite uncomfortable. “

As the first episode of “House of the Dragon” shows, Rhaenyra has an unusual relationship with her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith, “The Crown”) that has flirty undertones (Targaryni are quite pro-incest, so this part is not too big). their concerns).

“Me and Matt came to a mutual agreement: that [the relationship] it’s charged, but it’s beneath the surface, ”Alcock said. “It’s almost as if they were having two conversations in each scene. It is what they actually say and what they say with their body language, eyes and tone. It was fun and working with Matt. He is such a generous actor, he is so kind and considerate that it improved my performance.

“I think Rhaenyra is at an age where she can’t tell the difference between platonic love, romantic love, and lust because she hasn’t lived long enough and gone through these experiences. So I think she understands there’s a feeling here [with Daemon]but she’s not quite sure where she lands, how to behave and navigate with it, which makes the dynamics so interesting.

Since Game of Thrones was the biggest show in the world from 2011 to 2019, Alcock said the cast of House of the Dragon felt pressure.

“Yes of course. But not when we were filming. Only in this part we remembered how big it is. I really don’t know how to approach this. It is very intimidating. So I was a little lonely than normal. Just by gaining the confidence to interact with this fandom – you want to do them justice. It is quite interesting for an actor that there is already a fanbase, unlike the fans that come to you.

“It’s almost as if they have to accept us first. It will be interesting to hear everyone’s answer. ”