House of the Dragon star feared HBO would “abduct” her if she revealed spoilers

House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke talks about the “extensive” audition process for HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series.

HBO is taking a big swing with House of the Dragon, the first of several possible prequel series to Game of Thrones. This one is about the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart over 100 years before the events of the original show.

Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon has an ensemble cast where it’s hard to pinpoint one “main character.” But one of the big players is Alicent Hightower, an ambitious social climber and the mother of one of the main claimants to the Iron Throne in the story. She’ll be played by Olivia Cooke, who before coming aboard House of the Dragon made waves with her performance in the Oscar-winner film Sound of Metal, among other projects. If the new show is a success, she could become a household name.

And that might be the least we could do for her, because it sounds like the casting process for House of the Dragon was intense. “It was extensive,” Cooke revealed on an episode of Good Morning America. “I don’t know how many auditions I did. I did loads, and then I was put on hold for six weeks and sword to secrecy, and then I found out that I had it, and then sworn to more secrecy before the press release came out. So I had best friends of mine being like, ‘What? Why didn’t you tell us?’ And I was like, ‘I was so scared that someone was gonna come and abduct me and make me disappear.'”

"Interview with Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) She doesn’t give any details about HotD, but she does talk a little about how she got the role and the audition process. from HouseOfTheDragon"

It sounds like HBO hasn’t gotten any less serious about trying to prevent leaks and spoilers since the Game of Thrones, for better or worse.

Cooke also mentions that while she had seen the first season of Game of Thrones years ago, she didn’t make a point to watch the rest before her House of the Dragon audition, “just in case I got too invested and I didn’t get the job.” Since then, however, she’s watched every episode and is “obsessed.” We’ll see what she does with the role when House of the Dragon debuts on HBO sometime in 2022.

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