‘My mum says I’m not working class any more!’: Olivia Cooke on power, privilege, and dividing audiences in House of Dragon

The actor has a knack for playing characters that test viewers’ loyalties. As the Game of Thrones prequel returns, she talks problem fans, ‘boy mums’ and why the arts should be for everyone House of the Dragon is a massive television series. Over two seasons, the prequel to Game of Thrones has seduced viewers with its plotting, backstabbing, candlelit meetings about war, and massive sheep-munching dragons. Olivia Cooke’s dad, however, did not get the memo. We’re in London, on a stormy summer afternoon, and Cooke is sipping a bottle of neon juice (“Tell me if my teeth go purple”). Her dad texted her yesterday. She gets her phone and pulls up a photo of a television screen, with the first season of House of the Dragon loaded up and ready to go. “He said: ‘Raining outside, so starting a binge-watch.’” She laughs. “I was like, great, Dad, worked on it for six years, hope you like, kiss kiss.” What was his review? “Yes, I like it. Quite violent.” He was planning to watch another episode after he’d picked up Cooke’s nephew from school. Cooke may be just 32, but to be fair to her dad, there is a lot of her work to catch up on. The actor grew up in Oldham.