The series is, er, heating up?
"I'm so glad I can talk about this now. This is a big one."
Emily Carey of 'House of the Dragon' fame can finally talk all about that shocking twist that her character Alicent Hightower was a part of in the latest episode.
*SPOILERS FOR 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' EPISODE TWO BELOW*
The young star, who will only be seen on screen as Alicent for the first five episodes of the series before swapping over with her older counterpart Olivia Cooke, is happy to talk freely about the character's irksome development which we saw unfold this week.
The story goes that King Viserys (Paddy Considine) must choose a new wife just six months after the tragic death of his beloved Queen Aemma. He's got a 12-year-old first cousin once removed that he's considering (ew) in order to keep the Targaryen bloodline strong, but instead, he chooses to follow his heart (still a bit ew) and chooses the teenage daughter of his Hand, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).
Alicent is a very close friend of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock), who doesn't exactly see this match being a positive occurrence. Let's see what happens further down the line, shall we?
Anyway, Emily Carey spoke with Entertainment Weekly's 'West of Westeros' podcast about how this shocking development will impact the Targaryen dynasty going forward.
She said: "I'm so glad I can talk about this now. This is a big one. It changes one of the branches of the show, if that makes sense. It pushes things in a different direction. And for my character, it's of course, a massive turn."
She said she approached her character with a lot of confusion, after all, her father made her wear her late mother's dress when she went to comfort the King in episode one, giving us a clue about what was to come. She continued: "I was confused as an actor in not knowing what Alicent should be feeling, and then I also realized that's exactly how she's feeling. 'I should be happy. This should be what I want, but is it actually what I want?'"
Carey sympathizes with her character, pointing to the "huge pressures that should not be placed on 14-year-old girls", hoping that the audience won't view her as one of the series' villains.
Carey was aged just 17 when she got the part of Alicent Hightower in 'House of the Dragon'. Now aged 19, and with her on-screen partner Paddy Considine aged 48, the two actors bonded on set by comparing notes on 'RuPaul's Drag Race', naturally.
Carey said: "Paddy is a massive 'Drag Race' fan, and so am I. So I'd come into set and be like, 'Hey, Paddy, did you watch the new episode of 'All Stars'?' He'd be like, 'Oh my God, yes! Let's talk about it.' And so that's how we'd start every morning."
The cast's love of 'Drag Race' even trickled down into the crew, who were quoting the show during the opening episode's jousting scene: 'Two jousters stand before me. Are you ready to joust. For. Your. Life?!'"
Carey identifies as a queer woman, and said that the brief sexual undertones shared between her character and Rhaenyra were something that she and Alcock discussed. Ultimately, however, it just showed the close bond shared between young girls, something which young boys don't often get the opportunity to share with one another: "This emotional vulnerability that you share with one another, it's almost like having a partner. You want to be with that person all the time, and all in all just encapsulating you with love.
"You just want to love that person so deeply, and you think your best friend of 14 is going to be your best friend for the rest of your life. It does toe the line between platonic and romantic. But I also think, at 14, you don't know what those words mean. You don't know what the feelings mean. It's just love. That's all it is.
"I would love if they were a little bit fruity, but it's up to you how you want to read it. It's just a beautiful bond between two young girls, let's put it that way."
Watch a new episode of 'House of the Dragon' on Sky Atlantic and NOW every Monday.