Flying high! Meet the dragon-riding princess performers in the Game of Thrones prequel

Emma D’Arcy as the older version of Princess Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon.
(PHOTO: Gallo Images/ Alamy)

She was just 10 years old when Game of Thrones first hit the screens in 2011, so it’s no surprise that she didn’t watch it then. But it’s been 11 years and Milly Alcock is all grown up – and finding herself the star of the new series set 200 years before Daenerys Targaryen wowed the world with her dragons in Game of Thrones. Milly (22) has since binged the eight seasons of the hit show and has given a stellar performance as the young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the sixth great-grandmother of Daenerys, in House of the Dragon. 

The Australian actress plays Rhaenyra for the first few episodes before the series jumps forward in time and Emma D’Arcy takes over the role. She and Emma weren’t allowed to meet, Milly says. “We wanted to have a meeting with [director Miguel Sapochnik] and have a discussion about Rhaenyra’s progression as a character,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And Miguel didn’t want us to meet – which was really interesting! “Miguel was like, ‘Just trust that you both have it.’ I think he was aware we would be trying to mimic each other.”

Milly, who’d been acting since she was a teenager, auditioned several times for the part on House of the Dragon, via Zoom from her family home in Sydney, Australia.