“There is a real reticence to see women age on screen”: House of the Dragon Star Feels Weird About Playing a Grandma When She is Only 30-Years-Old
House of the Dragon (HotD) is the most popular fantasy TV series at the moment. It is the prequel to the show Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s novel A Song of Ice and Fire. Post the release of the first season in 2022, HotD is back to grace the screens with the members of Taragaryen royal family ready to battle over the Iron Throne.
Amidst all the buzz for the brand new second season, actress Olivia Cooke, who plays the role of Alicent Hightower, dubbed the ‘Green Queen’, in the show has admitted her complex feelings regarding playing the role of a grandmother despite being as young as 30 years old.
House of the Dragon Star Olivia Cooke on Her Feelings About Playing a Grandmother at 30 Years Old
Olivia Cooke began her journey in the entertainment industry at a young age and had her first local agent by the age of 14. She starred in numerous drama shows such as Bates Motel and Blackout, before making her feature film debut with the supernatural horror film The Quiet Ones.
Fast forward to 2022, she secured the role of Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon (HotD). Being a prequel to Game of Thrones, HotD attracted a huge viewership and it did not take long for Olivia Cooke and her fellow actors to become household names in the industry.
Even so, 30-year-old Cooke has recently expressed her disappointment regarding the fact that she is playing the role of not only a mother but also a grandmother on the show despite being in the same age group as her co-stars Tom Glynn-Carney (29) and Ewan Mitchell (27), who portray her sons King Aegon II Targaryen and Aemond Targaryen, respectively.
In a recent interview with The Times, she noted that she was aware of this lack of a realistic age gap between her on-screen children and herself. She told the outlet that has “complicated feelings towards it”.
If they can create dragons, they could have made me look younger – and then older. Or maybe they should have cast actors in their forties? It’s happened now and I’m grateful for the role, but I’ve just turned 30 and I’m playing a grandma. There is a real reticence to see women age on screen. A real reticence.
Although Alicent is supposed to become a grandmother at a young age according to the books, 30 years old might be a decade too young for Cooke to appear as a grandmother.
Olivia Cooke Finds Her Role as Alicent Hightower “Hysterical”
Alicent Hightower became a grandmother towards the end of the first season of the show when her son King Aegon II and his wife Helaena became parents became parents to twins. Cooke finds playing such a character “hysterical” because of this strange dynamic. She told the outlet:
Because Tom [Glynn-Carney] is a year younger and I’m, like, ‘Son, come here! Come on to the bosom!’ It is a strange dynamic that I’m very aware of. But I also don’t want to slag off the show – it’s just something Emma [d’Arcy, who plays rival Rhaenyra Targaryen] and I have talked about a lot.
The Thoroughbreds actress also mentioned in the interview that she felt upset about losing her accent from spending so much time living and working in southern London. She even talks to her therapist about it.
House of the Dragon is available for streaming on Max.
