House of the Dragon stars address queer subtext: “It was purposeful”
Milly Alcock and Emily Carey are “conscious” of the queer subtext between their House of the Dragon characters. Following the premiere of the Game of Thrones prequel, viewers immediately took to social media to celebrate the romantic “tension” between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Alcock) and Lady Alicent Hightower (Carey). “Ngl Rhaenyra and Alicent… shipping these two hard.
They had great chemistry and gave me such queer vibes,” said one viewer, while another tweeted: “I know I absolutely should not be thinking this show could ever be queer but Rhaenyra and Alicent, the potential is there.” In an interview with Insider, Popsugar, and Metacritic, the actors admitted that the queer undertones was “purposeful” on their part. “It’s definitely something we were conscious of, something that we brought up with Clare Kilner, one of the directors, our female director, that we got to work with as the younger version of the characters,” said Carey. “It was something I was immediately conscious of when I read the script, as a queer woman myself, I was like, hey, they’re kind of in love a little bit.
But I think something we played around with is the closeness of young girls like that. “I think any woman could think back to the best friend that they had at 14 years old, and it’s a relationship and a closeness unlike any other where you toe the line between platonic and romantic.” According to Alcock, their relationship is “like a tactile closeness and emotional closeness,” with Carey explaining further: “Especially when it’s put in the context of this world where they are the only two young girls in the Red Keep. “It’s 100% something we were conscious of.
