As fan fury festers around her House of the Dragon character Alicent Hightower, Olivia Cooke has quietly stepped into a blood-soaked new role: leading Brides, a feminist vampire horror backed by Neon and directed by Watcher’s Chloe Okuno.
Production has reportedly begun on Brides, a genre-bending reimagining of Dracula’s infamous brides, this time set against the lush but isolating backdrop of 1960s Italy. Cooke stars as Sally Bishop, a woman whose trip to a remote Italian villa with her husband takes a sinister turn when the mysterious count host develops an eerie obsession with her.
Quick Read:
- Olivia Cooke stars in the upcoming vampire horror film Brides.
- Brides is a feminist reimagining of Dracula’s brides set in 1960s Italy.
- Olivia Cooke replaced Maika Monroe as the lead in Brides due to scheduling conflicts.
Olivia Cooke Takes Lead in Chloe Okuno’s Vampire Thriller ‘Brides’ Set in 1960s Italy
Photograph by Theo Whitman/HBO
Brides isn’t your grandmother’s Gothic horror. Directed and written by Chloe Okuno, who made waves with Watcher and the chilling short Slut, this film reinvents Dracula’s brides not as helpless victims but as complex, empowered women haunted by desire, power, and patriarchal shadows (per Deadline).
Set in a sultry post-war Italy, the film follows Sally Bishop (Cooke) and her husband as they arrive at a secluded villa owned by a mysterious aristocrat who becomes disturbingly fixated on her. With Neon distributing the film theatrically, and Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman and Stefanie Azpiazu producing, Brides aims to sink its fangs into both psychological horror and cultural commentary.
The project comes hot on the heels of Neon’s Cannes success, where it secured its sixth Palme d’Or win with Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident and acquired buzzy titles like Sirât, Alpha, and The Secret Agent. The company also premiered Splitsville, starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona, and produced by Michael Angelo Covino.
The role was originally announced with Maika Monroe in May 2025, but Cooke replaced her due to Monroe’s scheduling conflict with Universal’s Reminders of Him.
Olivia Cooke’s casting marks yet another strategic move in her post-HOTD career, pivoting sharply from epic fantasy to intimate horror. Best known for Ready Player One and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, her alignment with Okuno signals a darker, riskier chapter for the actress.
Olivia Cooke Slams Toxic House of the Dragon Fan Reactions Amid Season 3 Anticipation
House of the Dragon | Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO
While Olivia Cooke prepares to face onscreen monstrosities, the real-world ones are far too human. The House of the Dragon star is done playing nice with viewers who confuse fiction for reality. “Some of the fans have been f****** horrible to our cast,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
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.
And the vitriol isn’t limited to Twitter threads or Reddit posts. “They’ll take a picture, and then they’ll be like: ‘We HATE your character!’” Cooke revealed.
Sometimes people do say that with a lot of malice.
Despite the backlash, she praised her co-stars for how they handled the negativity.
I’m so glad that Emma gets as much love as they do as well, because they’re f****** fantastic… 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.
Her frustration highlights a broader truth about toxic fandom: audiences often conflate actors with the flawed roles they portray. But it’s the writers and creators who steer the ship, not the performers reading their lines.
Production for House of the Dragon season 3 continues into 2026.
Also Read: Did Game of Thrones Just Lose Its Throne to This 91% Rotten Tomatoes-Rated Apple TV+ Sci-Fi Show?
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