Olivia Cooke plays Queen Alicent Hightower in the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, and if you watch the series, you'll know her actions often divide opinion.
Fans have often disagreed over whether Alicent is a sympathetic victim trapped by her circumstances or a hypocritical villain responsible for sparking a devastating civil war. Unfortunately, it's all too common for some viewers to take out their frustrations with characters like this on the people who play them.
For Cooke, that's proven challenging. She shared her thoughts on navigating the hostile elements of the Game of Thrones fandom—and social media backlash—during a recent interview with GQ (via SFFGazette.com).
"I think some of those interpretations just catch fire, and they become something that bears no resemblance to what was shown on the screen at the time," Cooke said of the theories and opinions fans often come up with for House of the Dragon. "There’s a lot of ugliness to that fandom as well. It’s steeped in misogyny. There’s a lot of racism. I try to let it take up minimal mental real estate."
Cooke explained that this led to her deciding to step away from social media before Season 3 premiered in June, acknowledging, "I was just like, I’m on this too much. It’s not nourishing."
"I think the celebri-fied nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster," she explained. "And I just think we need to get off this train and realize that we make these TV shows and films, yes, for escapism, but also because it’s artful and it’s creative and it’s not for followers or for a brand deal or to get free shit. Even though that is nice sometimes."
Regardless of whether it's Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or Game of Thrones, major franchises have huge fanbases with some toxic elements. Cooke has obviously experienced that firsthand, as did her co-star Millie Alcock, both in House of the Dragon and in DC Studios' Supergirl.
The fourth season will also be the Game of Thrones prequel's last, though we'll likely be waiting until 2028 to find out how the story ends. The books provide a good indication, of course, but the series has already veered from those in a big way at times (much to author George R.R. Martin's chagrin).
Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the series, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.
Returning cast members for season 3 include Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim.
New additions include Tommy Flanagan as Lord Roderick Dustin, Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly, and James Norton as Ormund Hightower.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming weekly on HBO Max.