Cooke turned the unlikable Queen Alicent of Fire and Blood into an intriguing, nuanced character.
When I first readGeorge R.R.
Martin’sFire and Blood, I couldn’t stand Alicent Hightower.
Olivia Cooke now plays Alicent Hightower, as seen opposite Fabien Frankel’s Ser Criston Cole.Ollie Upton / HBO
Cooke’s performance makes Alicent’s disappointment in her children’s peculiarities clear.
Again, she finds herself beholden to a man’s whims instead of her own.
It’s something thatRhaenys Targaryen notices in their meetingwhen Alicent comes to beg for support.
Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen struggles with Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower in HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon.'.Ollie Upton/HBO
Same with Rhaenyra, for that matter.
