House of the Dragon season 3 is still quite a long time away, but one of the stars has opened up about the hate the cast often receives from viewers.
Olivia Cooke, who stars as Alicent Hightower in the Game of Thrones prequel, shared how some of the interactions with fans have impacted her and fellow House of the Dragon stars. She talked about how awful fans have been to the cast in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of her new Prime Video series, The Girlfriend, which premieres Sept. 10.
Here's what Cooke said to THR:
“Some of the fans have been f****** horrible to our cast. It makes me really angry that we’re then supposed to just bow down and [pay] obeisance to these people that only want to say the most debased, hate-filled things. But thankfully, we’ve all experienced it in our own way, and we’ve got each other, which doesn’t make it right.”
In the age of social media, access to the stars of these shows is, perhaps, easier than it's ever been, but it isn't just social media where Cooke and other stars are feeling the hate from some "fans."
“They’ll take a picture, and then they’ll be like: ‘We HATE your character!’ Sometimes people do say that with a lot of malice.”
As for why fans react that way, Cooke also shared her thoughts about that and praised her fellow cast members for dealing with the praise and criticism well.
“I think [it’s the] huge emotions. There’s also been really wonderful interactions and I’m so glad that Emma gets as much love as they do as well, because they’re fucking fantastic and such a beautiful, wonderful human as well… Matt’s not a stranger to the fury of fandom so he takes it on the chin. He holds himself in a really lovely way where he doesn’t let it stick to him.”
Why fans harass the actors isn't really that interesting to me, honestly. It's just shameful behavior. Unfortunately, we've seen it basically across the board from The Office to Game of Thrones and everywhere in between. When fans disagree with a character's behavior, often the person playing that character becomes the target. While actors do have a certain amount of control over their character's choice, those are usually limited to physical movements, expressions, costumes, and other minor details that make the role unique. They do not, almost exclusively, have any control over the story. That is up to the writers, creators, showrunners, producers, and more.
Yes, actors who have been in the business or are integral to the project are consulted and can influence the story in certain directors, things they will agree to, or boundaries they have. In a show like House of the Dragon, fan criticism should be solely reserved for the writers. And yet, those writers also deserve peace free from harassment of those who feel ownership over the characters, storylines, and show they are a fan of, checks notes, allegedly.
As with athletes, musicians, authors, and others in the public light through their work, actors deserve to freely move around, in real life and online, without being harassed for their character's choices.
Is that too much to ask? Apparently.
Barring any changes to House of the Dragon's story from what we know of George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, it's probably only going to get worse as the battle between the Targaryens continues. There's only one way to go now, and it's total war in Westeros.
That's what we'll see in House of the Dragon season 3, which appears to be at least a year away with production continuing for the next few months.
We'll share more news about House of the Dragon season 3 when we find out. Watch Cooke in The Girlfriend on Prime Video starting Sept. 10. And for the love of Gods, both old and new, please stop harassing the House of the Dragon cast.