At the end of House of the Dragon season 2, Alicent Hightower offers to surrender King’s Landing and accept Rhaenyra as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. The bargain would see the end of the war, but Aegon would lose his place on the Iron Throne. Plus, Rhaenyra is out for blood.
This bargain will undoubtedly have incredible repercussions and fallout in season 3. But don't take it from me. In a recent interview with Forbes, star Olivia Cooke touched on this conversation and how it ignites conflict in season 3.
Olivia Cooke talks "huge" House of the Dragon season 3
"What can I say? Well, we’re filming it currently. We’ve got like a month and a half left. Alicent has made a bargain at the end of season two, so she’s desperately trying to enact that," she said.
Furthermore, Cooke went on to applaud the show's production team for upping the scale even further for season 3. The season is all set up to be the most action-packed yet, with such battles as the Battle of the Gullet and others expected.
While Alicent isn't exactly the type to march into battle, Cooke has been admiring the team's craftsmanship. "I mean, it’s huge - this season is huge. Every single penny has gone on the screen," she said. "I’m excited for people to see the behind-the-scenes of it when like the making of it comes out, because [showrunner] Ryan [Condal], when I’ve come to set has been showing me bits of like all the stunty stuff that’s been going on, and it’s mad. It’s incredible.”
Between House of the Dragon and her latest project, Amazon Prime Video's The Girlfriend, Cooke is fast becoming a household name. But rather than sinking into the vast and chaotic world of Hollywood, she prefers to live as normally as possible.
"You can just exist as an actor and also exist as a person, and people will honor that," she explained. "You have to do your press where you’re contracted and sell the thing. I’m happy to - but it’s so important to have a very, very, very normal life as much as you can, in order to play a plethora of people.”
House of the Dragon season 3 wraps filming this fall. The release is expected sometime in 2026, though an exact date has not been confirmed. In the meantime, you can catch Cooke alongside Robin Wright in The Girlfriend, which is now streaming on Prime Video.