While we have reported on it before, Olivia Cooke has once again spoken about the hilarious —and very NSFW—prank she played on Fabien Frankel while filming a scene in House of the Dragon season 2. But this time she goes into a bit more detail.
When appearing on the Reign podcast with Josh Smith, Cooke was asked to recall one of her fondest or funniest memories from the set, and there was only one thing that popped into her mind. It involved an intimate scene with Frankel, who plays Criston Cole. Rather than play by the rules, she decided to enact one of the weirdest (but most hysterical) pranks imaginable.
Olivia Cooke's prank on Fabien Frankel during an oral sex scene
Olivia Cooke’s prank during an intimacy scene on ‘House of The Dragon’ bought another level of drama to set🐉 🔥😂 Listen to the full chat on my podcast ‘Reign’ for more great stories like this here: https://t.co/aHUegXp1tQ #HouseOfTheDragon #hotd pic.twitter.com/c7Cr5ZKtPL
— Josh Smith (@joshsmithhosts) September 16, 2025
Instead of trying to explain it ourselves, we'll let Cooke spill the details:
"I mean, it involved a merkin," she said. If you're blissfully unaware of what a merkin is, it's a pubic wig. "There was a scene in House of the Dragon season 2 when Fabien Frankel's character, Criston Cole, seemed to have dropped something. And so he was looking for it in my skirts. That is a mortifying scene to have to wrap your head around anyway," she explained.
That's where she got the strangest of ideas. "I said to Amanda Knight, our amazing head of makeup, 'I need you to make me the brightest, fieriest merkin there is. I want it to look like the sun.'"
Naturally, she was polite enough to inform the director of her elaborate prank. A bright merkin wouldn't quite fit the aesthetic of the show, after all. "I told the director what I was going to do," she added. "I was like, 'Look, maybe don't use the first take, because it's not gonna be great.' They said action, and Fabien lifted up my skirt and acted like he'd just been shot. His body flung to the other end of the studio."
Naturally, Frankel freaked out, shouting things such as, "What's going on?" and "What's happening?" For Cooke, it was all laughs. "I was pissing myself laughing," she said.
With season 3 just weeks away from wrapping up filming, Frankel has limited time to dream up a prank of his own. But I don't think anything could come close to Cooke's prank. It's just so unbelievably crude and random, speaking to her fun personality.
House of the Dragon season 3 is set to premiere in late spring or early summer 2026. We'll keep you posted on the latest updates.