5 House of the Dragon Leads Who Couldn't Care Less About Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon is a couple of days away from finally coming back with its second season that this time will bring nothing but a relentless full-scale war between House of Targaryen’s family members.

Initially launched as a prequel to a fantasy drama series Game of Thrones also based on George R.R. Martin’s medieval age-coded universe, House of the Dragon takes its viewers several centuries back away from Daenerys Targaryen’s attempts to seize the Iron Throne. Though there’s no direct connection to Game of Thrones’ characters in there whatsoever, House of the Dragon’s actors don’t appear to be that interested in what the future was like for their on-screen family.

It may come as a jaw-dropping revelation for many fans, but some of the series’ leads in fact still didn’t watch a single episode from the original show or did watch the series, but more as a home task.

Emma D’Arcy

Upon the first season’s premiere, the actor who in House of the Dragon portrays the Blacks’ leader and the rightful heir Rhaenyra Targaryen revealed that they’d never considered watching Game of Thrones until they’d landed the leading role.

According to D’Arcy, such a decision was actually the most right thing to do as they wouldn’t have handled the role if there had already been some love for the entire story from their part at that time.

Having no clue about what Game of Thrones was actually about helped the actor perceive their character from a more objective perspective and eventually avoid being pressured by all the facts that Game of Thrones had previously unveiled about the Targaryens.

Still, D’Arcy claimed they were pretty much aware of the show’s immense popularity claiming that “I haven’t lived under a rock and it was very much in my peripheral awareness.”

Olivia Cooke

The actress portraying adult Alicent Hightower in the show at some point also opened up about her own relationships with Game of Thrones. Just like her co-star Emma D’Arcy, Cooke hadn’t been really interested in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy world until Alicent’s role didn’t come along after the actress had nailed her Zoom audition back in 2020.

Talking about the reasons why she got encouraged to see Game of Thrones only after House of the Dragon showed up, Cooke revealed that she usually avoids things that are extremely popular, though she later on admitted that the show was “really f—king good”.

Ewan Mitchell

Aemond Targaryen’s actor seems to be on the same page with his on-screen biggest rival Emma D’Arcy, though the difference here is that his complete disregard towards Game of Thrones’ existence was a deliberate choice.

As the actor recently admitted, he stayed away from the original show for years just because he “didn’t want it to inform my decisions in any way, shape, or form, you know, whether it be consciously or subconsciously. I wanted to bring something fresh”.

Emily Carey

Young Alicent’s actor once revealed they hadn’t seen Game of Thrones either until the natural curiosity tempted them to get a sneak peek into the show during House of the Dragon’s pre-production period.

According to Carey, they were horrified by Game of Thrones’ amount of violence put upon women, so the first question they asked right after it was whether the same would happen to Carey’s character in the prequel.

The actor later admitted that they were relieved by how many women were involved in the filming process and the way the showrunners did their best to provide the actors’ safety on set.

Milly Alcock

Young Rhaenyra’s actress also had her own reason to not turn to Game of Thrones before she got the leading role in House of the Dragon’s season 1, and her statement is actually very simple.

According to Alcock, she was still very young when Game of Thrones’ first season was released back in 2011. As an 11-year-old girl, the actress knew what the show was about and felt like it’d be an inappropriate thing for her to see yet.

Sources: Interview Magazine, The Guardian, ComicBook