House of the Dragon elevated itself in a short time from being “that new Game of Thrones spin-off” to must-watch appointment TV, thanks in no small half to the acute drama skilled by its well-acted characters. Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower—daughter, queen, mom—had greater than her share of trials, however the actor was capable of single out one second that stood out greater than most.

“In episode eight, the scene with [servant girl] Dyana where she tells me that my son raped her … I had to hit Tom [Glynn-Carney, who plays Aegon] really hard,” Cooke stated in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “And Tom was like, ‘No, just hit me.’ The first go-around, I clipped him on his chin. And he was like, “No, just really wall at me,” and I simply actually fucking went for it to the purpose the place it echoed throughout the corridor, and my hand all of the sudden had a heartbeat. Luckily the digicam’s on Tom, and I used to be utterly taken out of the scene [because I was] making an attempt to suppress a very awkward snort. God is aware of what it did to his face. … We solely did it as soon as or possibly twice. But it was like, ‘Oh my God, don’t mess with you.’”

Episode eight was a very essential one for Alicent, and Cooke made positive she was ready to convey all of the heightened feelings it requred. “Sara Hess wrote that episode, so I spoke endlessly with her and [director] Geeta Patel. It’s such a gross situation that Alicent has to be in … you have to in that moment think about what Alicent herself truly stands for, and that’s for her children and for order,” Cooke stated. “Her first thought is to love and protect her son as much as possible … but at the same time, her humanity gets the better of her and she can’t help but really feel for this girl — but then an iron shield has to come in. There’s a task at hand, and that’s to, one, reprimand Aegon, but also to quiet anyone who knows. It was just such a grim scene to film, and it was an eerie, quiet, subdued atmosphere on set that day.”

When requested if the House of the Dragon solid ever wanted to “decompress” after filming the present’s extra traumatic scenes, Cooke answered within the affirmative and added that plans are already underway to determine the place to collect subsequent season. “A lot of the show’s [filmed] in Watford … next season, we’re saying we need to find a local pub in Watford, where we can go and just have a drink and just be like, ‘What the fuck did we just do?’”

Head to the Hollywood Reporter to learn the total interview. House of the Dragon’s first season is now streaming on HBO Max.

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