Olivia Cooke, one of many stars of Home of the Dragon, spoke out in opposition to followers who confront her about her character, Alicent Hightower. Home of the Dragon is the primary and, to this point, solely Sport of Thrones spinoff to make it to air, although A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is predicted to debut in 2026.
The sequence, which tells the story of the Targaryens, kicked off in 2022 with rave opinions and record-breaking rankings. Home of the Dragon season 2 did not fare almost as effectively, with many followers complaining concerning the lack of a climactic battle and even A Track of Ice and Fireplace creator George R.R. Martin criticizing the variation of his work.
A number of the characters, together with Alicent, have confronted backlash for numerous choices they’ve made on Home of the Dragon.
Throughout an interview with THR, Cooke pushed again in opposition to followers who complain about Home of the Dragon, particularly after they take drastic measures to make their offended opinions heard. The actress admitted that some followers have been “f***ing horrible” to the solid, and she or he does not wish to need to “bow down” to them after they make such “hate-filled” feedback.
Cooke significantly despises the moments when followers come as much as her and ask for a selfie however then will inform her, “We HATE your character!” Typically, the criticism comes throughout “with a lot of malice.”
Whereas Alicent is a really divisive character on Home of the Dragon, Cooke cannot consider individuals have such robust reactions, particularly since she has at all times tried to play the position with “as much complexity as possible.”
“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…[Alicent has] really stirred up a lot of feelings. It’s odd to be on the receiving end of that as someone who has only ever tried to convey her with as much complexity as possible.”
“Some of the fans have been f***ing 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.”
What Backlash Means For Home Of The Dragon Season 3
Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower in Home of the Dragon
Whereas the primary season of Home of the Dragon earned overwhelmingly constructive opinions, Alicent as a personality has by no means obtained the identical sort of response. She’s made choices which have negatively affected fan-favorite characters like Rhaenyra Targaryen. The 2 was once buddies, however they ultimately ended up on opposing sides.
What made the state of affairs worse was the truth that the advertising and marketing for Home of the Dragon has puffed up the “Team Green vs. Team Black” angle. Followers who’re Group Inexperienced again Alicent, whereas Group Black is with Rhaenyra. Encouraging followers to decide on a facet has led to quite a lot of tense discussions on social media between the 2 camps.
The world of Westeros is full of so many advanced characters who do not neatly match the labels of “hero” or “villain.” A lot of them are in that grey area within the center, which is how Martin wrote the characters in his books as effectively.
Home of the Dragon season 3 has the possibility to show critics fallacious, each when it comes to the storytelling that suffered within the sophomore season and for characters like Alicent. Nonetheless, protecting her a posh character who does not at all times make the proper selections helps hold the wealthy storytelling intact.
Our Take On Fan Backlash To Alicent Hightower
Alicent (Olivia Cooke) expresionless, strolling via the dense vegetation in Home of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 7
Picture by way of Max
Alicent is a polarizing character; there is not any doubt about that. Nonetheless, there are quite a lot of polarizing characters throughout each Sport of Thrones and Home of the Dragon, and so they do not at all times obtain the identical degree of backlash that is been directed at Alicent.
One other issue that ought to be taken under consideration is the truth that Alicent is a lady making these horrible choices. Horrible males dominate in Westeros, and but these figures escape quite a lot of the vitriol.
If Home of the Dragon season 3 will get the sequence again in followers’ good graces from a storytelling perspective, possibly a personality like Alicent might be checked out via a distinct lens going ahead, particularly after the season 2 finale confirmed her rising sympathy towards Rhaenyra.
Home of the Dragon
8/10
Launch Date
August 21, 2022
Community
HBO
Administrators
Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel
Fabien Frankel
Ser Criston Cole
