The Princess and the Queen, “the latest episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon,” takes place 10 years in the future and has two new cast members. Emma D’Arcy played Princess Rhaenrya Targaryen in lieu of Milly Alcock, and Queen Alicent Hightower was played by Olivia Cooke in place of Emily Carey.
Why was the cast altered? Although that wasn’t originally the goal, the quick explanation is that it happened to accommodate the time jump. The original intention, according to showrunner Ryan Condal, was for House of the Dragon to premiere following the death of King Viserys, at which point Rhaenyra and Alicent would be fully grown.
This, however, left out a lot of the backstory, which was both too hard to fill in as the series went on and too important to comprehend throughout the series. Ryan Condal changed the series as a result, turning it into the show’s first season’s multidecade narrative.
Condal expressed excitement about the pacing and organization of the first season’s narrative. It’s incredibly intricate. In order to tell the tale of this generational conflict that is fought, children must get married off, grow up, and then have children of their own who grow up. This takes place over a long period of time.
“It differentiates this premium HBO content from the material we would have had to produce for another outlet,” the speaker went on.”Most other places lacked the forbearance and audacity to let us tell the narrative we are telling. But this is the proper way to tell this tale. We’re narrating the tale of a generational conflict.
By the time the first sword strike is drawn, you will have a clear understanding of every participant, their positions, and their motivations. Instead of having the past explained to you, it is all present. This way, you can see everything unfold. “
Condal also discussed the likelihood of Alcock and Carey making a comeback in upcoming episodes of the show, which has already been renewed for a second season with Condal serving as the sole showrunner. Condal told Variety, “I mean, look, I don’t know. He also mentioned the younger actors “are not yet included in the narrative we’re portraying. We’re not currently engaged in anything like that. “
Saying Farewell to ‘House of the Dragon’ by Milly Alcock and Emily Carey
Milly Alcock and Emily Carey are alright, so don’t get your torches out and march on HBO HQ! They didn’t lose their jobs at House of the Dragon! They were aware going into their House of the Dragon audition that they would only be appearing as Rhaenyra and Alicent for a limited number of episodes.
In actuality, Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who played their older equivalents, were chosen initially to play Rhaenyra and Alicent. This is because Rhaenyra and Alicent will be played by D’Arcy and Cooke in the last few episodes of House of the Dragon.
The first season’s showrunners, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik had a variety of exciting locations to begin their adaptation of “The Dance of the Dragons” from George R.R. Martin’s Targaryen “history” book, Fire & Blood. But they chose to begin with the Great Council of 101.
Following that, the timeline has been linearly moving forward, with each episode of the first season advancing to the next dramatic moment that would push the protagonists ever closer to an unavoidable civil war. As a result, the story begins while Rhaenyra and Alicent are in their early teens, but when they are old enough to have their own battle-ready adolescents, things really start to heat up.
Similar to how The Crown recasts everyone every few seasons to indicate a significant time jump, House of the Dragon does the same to depict children’s and teenagers’ maturation. Now let’s move on:
- Emma D’Arcy will be playing Rhaenrya Targaryen, not Milly Alcock
- Olivia Cooke will be playing Alicent Hightower, not Emily Carey
- John Macmillan will play Laenor Velaryon, not Theo Nate
- Nanna Blondell will play Laena Velaryon, not Savannah Steyn
