Olivia Cooke performs Alicent Hightower, daughter of the Hand of the King, reverse Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra. The first episode focuses on their childhood within the Red Keep, the place they’re performed by Milly Alcock (Rhaenyra) and Emily Carey (Alicent). Those scenes assist inform the older variations we observe, in constructing their characters.

Cooke shared whereas [she and D’Arcy] didn’t go to throughout [the younger actors’] shoot, they did watch their scenes. “We were being really respectful of their process. We’re like, we don’ t want to impose anything on them because of what we know. I would be shown scenes that Emily had done and almost like implant a memory. And that was really, really helpful for me.”

D’Arcy chimed in. “It was like watching a Targaryen home video or something. There is definitely an element of seeing yourself as a younger person and so much as you feel familiar and you sort of recognize what’s going on there and simultaneously feel very distinct from the person.”