Warning: spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1.
House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke has opened up to Metro.co.uk about Alicent Hightower’s huge twist in season 2, explaining why it might come as a ‘shock’ to audiences.
The Game of Thrones spin-off series has finally returned after a two-year break, continuing to follow the battle brewing within the Targaryen family, with Alicent on one side and her former best friend-turned-stepdaughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) on the other.
In episode one of the new season, it’s revealed that following the death of Alicent’s husband King Viserys (Paddy Considine), she and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) have sparked up a sexual relationship.
This might come as a huge surprise to viewers considering Ser Criston is Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and therefore took vows of chastity.
What’s more, he previously broke the vows that he swore when he and Rhaenyra slept together several years previously, an act that Alicent highly disapproved of when Criston confessed to her what they had done.
In the first scene that Alicent and Criston share in season two, it’s clear that being with the knight brings her immense pleasure, as he’s shown going down on her – the complete opposite of what it was like for her when she had to reluctantly have sex with her husband the King.
Metro.co.uk recently had the chance to speak to Emma and Olivia, who – unlike their characters – have a very warm friendship in real life.
We brought up the fact that as viewers, we don’t get to see how Alicent and Criston’s passionate affair begins.
‘We don’t get to see where it starts, which was a challenge for me to sort of fill in the backstory,’ Olivia outlined.
‘It’s interesting because there were moments that hinted at it in season two, but you know, for the sake of the runtime, things just do get cut out.’
The 30-year-old added that while it may therefore come ‘as a bit of a shock to audiences’, she and Fabien, also 30, ‘knew that it was heading that way’.
The actress continued: ‘I think this is Alicent’s first experience of like, teen lust and sexuality and she’s not been able to experience that because she was married off when she was 14, and so this is full-bodied for her.
‘I think it’s really – in a way – really beautiful to get to show that side of Alicent that is just like all body.’
We then brought up how ‘polar opposite’ Rhaenyra and Alicent’s first experiences of sex were in season one, when the former put her lust into action with her uncle Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and then Criston in the same night, while the latter had a completely passionless relationship with the King.
‘So opposite yeah,’ Olivia agreed, before adding: ‘I mean she’s a hypocrite, obviously as well.’
In a recent interview, Fabien opened up about what fans can expect from his character this season, saying: ‘I think Criston Cole… I can’t remember who said this. Maybe David, one of the writers was saying, in season one Criston Cole is like very much a sort of byproduct of everyone else’s storyline, and in season two he very much – without giving too much away – has his own storyline.’
Continuing to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor said: ‘He becomes a kind of POV [point of view] character, and so I think the audience will get a chance to see the world through his eyes a bit, as opposed to seeing it through Rhaenyra’s eyes or Alicent’s eyes last year.’
Rhaenyra, on the other hand, could be facing marital strife with Daemon, her uncle who went on to become her husband.
Speaking to Collider, Daemon star Matt said: ‘There’s a deep fraction between their relationship.
‘Without any spoilers, with the events that happened at the end of episode one, it seems almost irreparable, and I think that sort of sets him off. He’s riding towards a very dark, stormy place of self-reflection and deep abyss.’
House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Monday June 17.
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