In the fantasy hit “Game Of Thrones”, violence is practically celebrated; it is often directed against women. This is different in the script for the spin-off “House Of The Dragon”, confirms leading actress Olivia Cooke.
The eyes of all “Game Of Thrones” fans are on the upcoming prequel “Game Of Thrones: House Of The Dragon”: Finally there will be more series from the world of Westeros! With the Targaryens as the main characters and their dragons, there are also many well-known and popular elements from the mother series.
But when it comes to exaggerated, often unfounded portrayals of violence, especially with regard to women, HBO will not take an example from its hyper-successful series: In “House Of The Dragon” violence is handled differently.
That explains “Sound Of Metal” star Olivia Cooke, actress of Alicent Hightower, in an interview with The Telegraph. She would not be comfortable being part of something that contained outrageous, graphically displayed violence against women for no other reason than to be provocative and attract viewers.
Violence in “Game Of Thrones”: “A lot has changed”
That’s why Cooke is relieved about the other way of dealing with this topic in “House Of The Dragon”: “I was lucky that I could read the script beforehand, and it has changed a lot compared to the first seasons [von ‚Game Of Thrones‘] changed. I think they would also be out of their mind if they would still do something like that. “
Game Of Thrones has been criticized for its excessive portrayal of violence, particularly physical and sexual violence against women. In the first few seasons there were more and more scenes that led to controversy, including the rape of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) after her wedding, of Cersei (Lena Headey) on her son’s deathbed or of Sansa (Sophie Turner) by the sadist Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon).
The “GoT” final made Olivia Cooke nervous
“House Of The Dragon” is also likely to be pretty brutal, after all, it’s about a bloody civil war. But those responsible for the series must have learned from the past and, according to Cookes, are now considering when, against whom and for what narrative purpose they actually depict violence in the spin-off.
In an interview with The Telegraph Cooke also spoke of her concern about not meeting fans’ expectations. When asked for her opinion on the hated “Game Of Thrones” season 8 finale, she said she was nervous about how the new series would go: “You will never please everyone. I have to try not to do that [Reaktionen] to listen.”
Who is Alicent Hightower?
Alicent Hightower, played by Cooke, is the daughter of Otto Hightower, hand of the King of Westeros. In George RR Martin’s book “Fire and Blood” Alicent becomes the second wife of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine).
›› “Fire and Blood” on Amazon*
She becomes the stepmother of Viserys’ firstborn child, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy). When Alicent and Viserys have more children, including sons, Alicent wants to assert her firstborn son’s claim to the throne. Aegon II Targaryen is said to be the king’s first male heir to rule Westeros instead of his older sister Rhaenyra. A civil war emerges from this conflict, which will go down in the history of Westeros as the “Dance of the Dragons”.
“House Of The Dragon” is scheduled to start in 2022 on HBO, in Germany it will probably be on Sky. But there are still more “Game Of Thrones” series in the works! You can find out all the important information in our video:
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