Mental health is an issue that is rarely talked about, most tend to hide away from it. More so in the world of Westeros, where shedding your tears is seen as a sign of weakness. House of The Dragon’s first two episodes have been absolute blockbusters, where every character has some kind of trauma lying deep within themselves. Alicent Hightower, played by Emily Carey, is one of the prime examples of characters who have innate mental health issues.
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In the most recent episode of the Official House of The Dragon Podcast, Carey called herself the Queen of Mental Health issues. She talked about how she connected with Alicent going through the same, “I mean it’s diagnosed. That’s how I relate you know? It’s very present in my life.”
“I’ve never played a character that’s anxious before. I’ve done a job where I had to like, play one or two panic attacks, which were interesting cause they felt so out of context. I felt like if this was set in a modern-day world, in a modern-day audience, I feel like Alicent’s anxiety storyline would be projected and played a lot more. But because of the world, and the context, she has to internalize it. And the only way it sort of seeps out and escapes is through that cuticle biting and that picking.”
She added, “I process my emotions in a similar way that Alicent does in the sense of we both try to internalize things, but they always seep out.”
What do you think of Alicent’s anxiety symptoms in House of The Dragon? Tell us in the comments below!
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