Actress Olivia Cooke will be returning to her role as Queen Alicia Hightower in the second season of House of the Dragons. The Game of Thrones spinoff sees her play the role of King Viserys I Targaryen’s wife and the mother of Aegon II and Aemond. She is constantly at loggerheads with Emma D’Arcy’s Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen.
While Cooke has played many roles in films such as Ready Player One and Sound of Metal, her role in House of the Dragon reportedly gave her a unique experience. Despite being only 30, the actress plays the role of a grandmother in the HBO show. The actress opened up about the weird realization of playing a mother to an actor who was only two years younger than her.
Olivia Cooke Remarks On Playing A Grandmother in House of the Dragon
While the second season of the Golden Globe-winning fantasy series House of the Dragon premieres this week, early reviews of the show have been incredible. Many critics who got a preview of four episodes in the series have praised it to high heaven and have also compared it to the best years of its flagship show Game of Thrones.
Apart from Emma D’Arcy’s role being a favorite again after her Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated performance in season one, the breakout star of the second season seems to be Olivia Cooke. Yahoo! News specified both Cooke and D’Arcy as the ones who were carrying the show with their ‘emotional and thought-provoking takes’.
However, one aspect of Cooke’s character, Queen Alicia Hightower has weirded out the actress. She mentioned how at the age of 30, she plays a grandmother to three children and the mother to an actor who is two years younger than her. She said to The Times,
I have really complicated feelings towards it. If they can create dragons, they could have made me look younger — and then older. Or maybe they should have cast actors in their forties? It’s happened now and I’m grateful for the role, but I’ve just turned 30 and I’m playing a grandma.
According to the A Song of Ice and Fire wiki, Alicia Hightower married King Viserys I at the age of eighteen in 106AC and gave birth to Aegon II a year later in 107AC.
Olivia Cooke Feels There Is A Resistance To See Women Age On Screen
Olivia Cooke recently remarked on the strangeness of playing a grandmother on screen despite being only 30 years old. The actress mentioned how it was hilarious to call her co-star Tom Glynn-Carney who plays Aegon II as her son when he was only two years younger than her. The actress also spoke about a notable pattern in the portrayal of women.
In an interview with The Times, Cooke spoke about the resistance from audiences or makers to show women age on screen. She spoke about how the makers could have aged her up on screen but still decided not to. She said,
There is a real reticence to see women age on screen. A real reticence. And it’s hysterical to play. Because Tom is a year younger and I’m, like, ‘Son, come here! Come on to the bosom! It is a strange dynamic that I’m very aware of. But I also don’t want to slag off the show — it’s just something Emma [D’Arcy] and I have talked about a lot.
Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond, her second son, is also only a few years younger than Olivia Cooke.
House of the Dragon Season 2 is set to premiere on June 16.
