Olivia Cooke Drops Some Harsh Truth for Alicent Haters

Let's get straight to the point – is House of the Dragon 's Alicent, the second spouse of late King Viserys and the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand to several kings and the artful schemer, a villain or not?

Olivia Cooke who plays the character for the franchise believes she is not necessarily a villain. In an interview with Deadline she was open and frank. Olivia said she could understand why the fandom treats Alicent as such although she does not play her as a villain.

"I know she makes morally questionable decisions and her reactions can be quite uncouth, to say the least. But I have to believe in what she does in order to play her with absolute honesty and truth. I really have to empathize with Alicent and know that she's coming from a place of undying love and protection for her children," the actress said.

Indeed, Alicent manipulates her eldest kid just like she protects her problematic sons because she fears Rhaenyra may be a threat to them once she comes to power.

But what about the source material? It's been already highlighted that House of the Dragon showrunners diverged from the book Fire & Blood. For instance, they made the Prince Aemond's killing of Prince Lucerys look like a teenage bullying game gone wrong. In George R.R. Martin's book it is a clear-cut premeditated murder. The same applies to portraying Alicent. In the book her character is not that sympathetic. But of course, the online community can argue until they're blue in the face whether such change to the book is good or bad.

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Olivia Cooke believes that the internet discourse can sometimes be too black and white. While a myriad of posts on social media naturally condemn Alicent, a fair share of them show sympathy with Rhaenyra's childhood friend turned foe.

Naturally Redditors have crossed sword over if Alicent is a villain. "I don't think she is a villain in the sense of being wicked or evil though", one of them said. Another redditor echoes the view saying that if she's a villain, she's an incredibly sympathetic one because she's been manipulated since she was at least 15 and got put in an arranged marriage with the king.

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Others believe she is certainly an antagonist, being one of the instigators of the conflict itself – just like all the main characters who share villainous traits except Corlys and Rhaenys.

Filming for Season 2 has started but it isn't expected to end until summer 2023. Hopefully, it will premiere in 2024.