One of the creators of House of the Dragon is majorly calling out “fans” who have tried to start a cast war.
Every fandom, sadly, has a toxic side that casts the rest in a bad light. It’s come up a lot across various movies and franchises, from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings and beyond. That’s also happened with Game of Thrones, particularly after the show’s disappointing finale.
The prequel series House of the Dragon has likewise seen its fair share of haters for various reasons, from valid criticism of storyline choices to unfair, nasty racism around the castings. However, one of the more unexpected takes is the argument over the actors playing the younger and older versions of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower.
House of the Dragon actors faced unfair backlash
For the first five episodes of the show, Milly Alcock portrayed Rhaenyra, while Emily Carey portrayed Alicent Hightower. The two had wonderful chemistry on screen and helped establish the show as a success. That made it striking when Episode 6 jumped ahead in time a decade, with Rhaenyra and Alicent now played by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, respectively.
This apparently led to arguments on online forums, with people pitting the two pairs of actors against each other and allegedly insulting the older stars in comparison to their younger counterparts. In a feature on Alcock this week in Variety, the show’s co-creator and showrunner, Ryan Condal, spoke about it, and his feelings are clear.
“It’s an unfortunate by-product of the internet rage machine — we have so turned against ourselves in fandom,” Condal said. “This kind of fandom used to be the happy place to go, where people who liked different things within the same world could just find common ground.”
Condal pointed out that the entire point of the Rhaenyra/Alicent conflict is that two women who truly love each other as sisters are pitted against each other by the patriarchy around them. To see the fandom make that a reality only makes it worse.
He became more passionate, adding, “And I thought it was horrible! And it’s horrible for all these young performers that did a great thing, and kind of did an impossible thing. Everybody should have just been celebrating the success and reception of that show. And people should find something else to do with their time, frankly.”
Alcock, set to star in the upcoming Supergirl movie, shared her frustration with this “debate,” stating that it “broke my heart” to see some fans tear into the actors, adding, “I just felt for Emma.”
It’s okay for fans to perhaps enjoy Alcock more than D’arcy in the role. It’s not okay for them to make it a personal attack against D’Arcy. The showrunner and actress’ words should point out how foolish this fight is. House of the Dragon deserves better than to be dragged into this mess.
Fans can see Alcock in Supergirl when the highly-anticipated DC film hits theaters on June 26. Meanwhile, House of the Dragon fans can tune in for the season 3 premiere on June 21.
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