English actress Olivia Cooke who has recently made her place in the headline for playing the layered Green Queen, is twenty-eight years old born in Oldham, and active in the field of acting since 2012. Before being cast in HOTD she previously caught attention by starring in ‘Bates Motel’ and ‘Vanity Fair.
Olivia Cooke joined the cast of HOTD in December 2020 with Smith and D’Arcy as one of the first actors and actresses to be cast after Paddy Considine.
‘House of the Dragon‘ is the much-awaited spin-off prequel of HBO’s celebrated epic fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones. It is based on George R.R. Martin’s ‘Fire & Blood’ and is set nearly 200 years before the events of the original series and before Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) began preparation for her journey from Essos to Westeros to take the Iron Throne.
It tells the story of how the powerful dragon-owner royal Targaryen family broke into civil war when King Viserys I Targaryen named his eldest child Rhaenyra Targaryen, a girl, the heir to the throne and his second wife Alicent Hightower opposed this by wanting to make her eldest son Aegon II Targaryen the king.
The first season of ‘House of the Dragon premiered on August 21 and concluded on October 23 of 2022, with the second season being renewed only five days after the premiere. Quite expectedly the series has stirred the viewers and ignited among them the old feverish agitation peculiar to GOT.
As a worthy successor to the series, HOTD has gifted a season full of brilliant political designs, powerplay, the subtlest nooks of life, fantastic cinematography and symbolism, and strongly personal characters.
The character of Alicent Hightower has been carved through all of these means. With the help of the extraordinary writings of the writers and Cooke’s amazingly nuanced acting, the character has received such a magnitude that Alicent Hightower has become the most talked about and the most thought-about character of HOTD for the fans.
From being a straight-out villain wishing for her bloodline to prevail at any cost to a pawn in her father’s political game since childhood, manipulated by power-chasing men of the kingdom, a frightfully alone young girl and later a woman struggling to assert her own voice and who has to wage war against the only friend she ever had while secretly yearning for that lost relationship- Cooke has transformed the misinterpretation transfixed to the character of Alicent into sympathy and attachment.
Cooke took over the role from Emily Carey who starred as a younger version of the character and built the base of a complicated portrayal. She co-stars in the series with Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Matt Smith, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, and Emma D’Arcy. With the latter, she seems to already have made a close relationship.
Also Read: Virgin River Season 5 Stars Try the Tortilla Challenge
Olivia Cooke appeared in a number of films and tv series previously. The following is a list of her most important roles.
Films:
In the sci-fi romantic movie ‘Little Fish’ she starred as Emma Ryerson in 2021.
In the comedy-drama ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl she played the role of Rachel Kushner in 2015.
As Amanda Cooke co-starred with Anya Taylor-Joy in the black comedy thriller ‘Thoroughbreds’ in 2017.
In the supernatural horror movie ‘Ouija'(2014) she was cast as Laine Morris.
’The Limehouse Golem’ is a horror mystery movie that cast Cooke as Elizabeth Cree in 2016.
Cooke portrayed Louise Berger in ‘Sound of Metal’ (2019).
’Ready Player One (2018) is a sci-fi action movie that cast Cooke in the role of Samantha Cooke aka Art3mis.
In ‘Katie Says Goodbye’ (2016) Cooke portrayed a waitress and prostitute, the titular Katie.
Series:
Bates Motel-
Number of Seasons: 5
This is a psychological horror series that serves as a contemporary prequel to the 1960 film ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock. Cooke played the role of Emma Decody in the series co-starring with Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, and Max Thieriot. The series ran from March 18, 2013, to April 24, 2017, and gained Cooke much prominence as an actress.
Vanity Fair-
Number of Seasons: 1
This is a historical drama based on the renowned same-named novel of William Makepeace Thackeray of 1848. Cooke was cast in this miniseries as the central character of Becky Sharp, a cynical social climber using her charms to fascinate men of the upper class.
She co-starred with Claudia Jessie, Tom Bateman, Johnny Flynn, Charlie Rowe, Simon Russell Beale, Anthony Head, Martin Clunes, Felicity Montagu, Frances de la Tour, and Michael Palin in the series. The series ran from September 2 to October 7 of 2018.
Cooke is set to star in an upcoming film named ‘Mother’s Milk’ whose production is done but no release date has yet been confirmed.
