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SPOILER ALERT: This interview comprises spoilers by way of Episode 5 of ‘House of the Dragon,’ which aired on HBO on Sept. 18 and is streaming on HBO Max.
Emily Carey isn’t right here for any Alicent Hightower slander. The 19-year-old “Home of the Dragon” star is aware of her character might not instantly win hearts — the thought of your finest buddy marrying your father is a troublesome capsule to swallow, in any case.
However Carey insists there’s a lot beneath the floor for the younger queen, who they consider deserves extra sympathy.
“Marrying Viserys is a alternative. Nevertheless it was by no means her option to make. The selection was made by the lads round her. The quantity of misogyny that Rhaenyra faces, Alicent will get simply as a lot,” the actor tells Selection forward of the sequence’ fifth episode.
“I learn the books. Sooner or later, she does make some questionable selections — let’s put it that manner,” she acknowledges with fun. “However that’s not the adolescent that I play. I’m taking part in her to start with of her life. The ‘villain origin story,’ in citation marks, as a result of I personally don’t consider the Alicent that I play is a villain.”
They add, “What’s so heartbreaking about this entire state of affairs is these two younger ladies, neither of them are in management at any time. Their lives are mainly being dictated by their fathers.”
Followers have taken observe of the highly effective bond between Rhaenyra (performed within the first 5 episodes by Milly Alcock) and Alicent, stirring up on-line dialogue that they may very well be extra than simply pals.
“I imply, we type of began that discourse,” Carey says. “We have been within the rehearsal room…I consider it’s Episode 4. I used to be sat on the bench. It’s not essentially one thing we had talked about but. We have been doing that scene, and Milly and I checked out one another like, ‘It type of felt like we have been about to kiss? That was actually bizarre!’ And so we talked about it.”
Carey doesn’t really feel the necessity to put a label on the connection, leaving it as much as viewer interpretation: “We didn’t intend to play it. We weren’t ‘making them homosexual’ or ‘queerbaiting,’ or something like that. It’s simply, if you wish to learn into it and see it like that, do it. If you wish to see them as greater than pals, do it. When you don’t, then don’t.”
“Being a queer girl myself, it was one thing that I used to be aware of. However I wasn’t consciously placing it on the market,” Carey provides. “They’re 14-year-old ladies, they don’t know the distinction between platonic and romantic. They don’t even know what the phrases imply, not to mention what the emotions imply.”
However in Carey’s closing episode as Alicent, the royal reckons with a devastating deceit from her once-close buddy Rhaenyra — one which noticed her father stripped of his title.
Carey recollects that her scene with Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel), wherein Alicent discovers that he was intimate with Rhaenyra, as one in every of her favourite sequences to shoot. “She goes by way of so many feelings in a single go — a concoction-cocktail of all of those emotions.”
She eagerly breaks down the advanced sentiments at play: “To begin with, there’s the betrayal of, ‘You lied to me.’ Then the betrayal of, ‘I swear this upon the reminiscence of my mom,’ which is what you see in Episode 2 with their shared trauma. It’s one thing that they bond over. Alicent took Rhaenyra to the Sept and confirmed this emotional vulnerability, and let her see this a part of her that she doesn’t actually present to anybody.”
They proceed, “After which it’s the betrayal of, ‘Maintain on. You slept with him, and I’m in love with him, and you recognize this. That’s not honest.’ Alicent is all about obligation, by way of and thru. It’s all the time obligation versus coronary heart together with her… I’m glad that I received to indicate how she turned this offended girl. And I feel that scene is such a turning level.”
After uncovering the reality, Alicent makes a grand entrance throughout Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon’s wedding ceremony feast. When Carey first learn the script, she assumed the dramatic second wasn’t meant for her.
“I bear in mind going again to our script supervisor and being like, ‘OK, so that are my bits? As a result of absolutely that’s not all me? Particularly that final bit, that’s not me. That’s, like, a girl. That’s not me.”
Carey felt the stress of all eyes being on her: “Oh god, I’ve to do my massive stroll down right here,” she recollects considering. “I’m so gonna journey in entrance of everybody.”
In the end, she used these nerves to tell her efficiency: “That is type of the final massive hurrah that I’ve on this on this present. The stress that I felt inside me, I channeled into Alicent.”
After that final hurrah, Carey bid farewell to Alicent, passing the function on to Olivia Cooke, who will painting the queen after the present’s 10-year time bounce, starting within the sixth episode.
Whereas the grownup Alicent is actually knowledgeable by her previous, Carey says Cooke’s interpretation is all her personal — in actual fact, the actors didn’t work collectively on the character in any respect.
“We didn’t even meet for a really very long time,” Carey recollects. “A lot occurs inside that 10-year hole…we’re going from virtually kids into fully-fledged ladies. There’s an entire load of rising as much as do in that blend, so it’s type of like we’re taking part in utterly totally different individuals.”
Carey is not any stranger to portraying the younger model of iconic heroines, beforehand getting into the footwear of Marvel Girl and Lara Croft. However “Home of the Dragon” gave them extra alternative to craft a personality than ever earlier than.
“It’s very unusual, having this a lot this a lot freedom and this a lot possession of a job, after which not even having the ability to learn the remainder of the scripts, as a result of it was so prime secret,” Carey says of the “bittersweet” transition, including that she will’t wait to benefit from the present purely as a fan.
“I’m extremely excited to see Olivia and Emma [D’Arcy, who plays the adult Rhaenyra] do their factor. They’re each the loveliest individuals ever, and I’ve admired Olivia as work for years and years. So to have the ability to hand off a job to her of all individuals fills me with a lot pleasure and delight,” they are saying.
“I simply can’t wait to see the episodes and really watch the present with the viewer, and never be cringing at myself. I can really take it in from an viewers’s perspective, which is kind of good.”
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