House of the Dragon‘s Olivia Cook on Her Most Difficult Scene So Far

House of the Dragonelevated itself very quickly from being “ that Modern Game of Thrones spin - off ” to must - watch appointment TV , thanks in no small part to the extreme play experienced by its well - acted persona . Olivia Cooke ’s Alicent Hightower — daughter , queen , mother — had more than her plowshare of trials , but the role player was able to single out one momentthat stood out more than most .

“ In episode eight , the view with [ servant young woman ] Dyana where she enjoin me that my son knap her … I had to hit Tom [ Glynn - Carney , who plays Aegon ] really firmly , ” Cooke say in an interview withthe Hollywood Reporter . “ And Tom was like , ‘ No , just hit me . ’ The first go - around , I nip off him on his chin . And he was like , “ No , just really fence at me , ” and I just really fucking went for it to the item where it ring all the style through the hall , and my hand suddenly had a beat . fortuitously the tv camera ’s on Tom , and I was completely make out of the scene [ because I was ] trying to suppress a really awkward laughter . God knows what it did to his face . … We only did it once or maybe double . But it was like , ‘ Oh my God , do n’t mess with you . ’ ”

Episode eight was a particularly important one for Alicent , and Cooke made sure she was prepared to get all the heightened emotions it requred . “ Sara Hess wrote that episode , so I talk endlessly with her and [ director ] Geeta Patel . It ’s such a glaring position that Alicent has to be in … you have to in that moment consider about what Alicent herself really stands for , and that ’s for her children and for order , ” Cooke said . “ Her first sentiment is to love and protect her boy as much as possible … but at the same sentence , her human race gets the good of her and she ca n’t facilitate but really find for this girl — but then an Fe buckler has to come in . There ’s a task at hired man , and that ’s to , one , reprimand Aegon , but also to quieten anyone who knows . It was just such a grim scene to film , and it was an eerie , quiet , subdued atmosphere on bent that day . ”

Photo: Liam Daniel/HBO

When asked if the House of the Dragon puke ever needed to “ decompress ” after filming the show ’s more traumatic scenes , Cooke answer in the approving and tally that program are already underway to visualise out where to gather next season . “ A muckle of the show ’s [ filmed ] in Watford … next season , we ’re sound out we require to find a local public house in Watford , where we can go and just have a drink and just be like , ‘ What the fuck did we just do ? ’ ”

maneuver tothe Hollywood Reporterto register the full interview . House of the Dragon ’s first season is now streaming on HBO Max .

Want more io9 news ? Check out when to bear the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on photographic film and TV , and everything you postulate to know about James Cameron’sAvatar : The means of Water .

Ankercompact