Olivia Cooke backs raunchy ‘House of the Dragon’ scenes as sex is ‘massive’ part of life
Olivia Cooke doesn’t want sex banned from ‘House of the Dragon’ as it’s a “massive” part of life.
The 30-year-old actress plays Alicent Hightower in the ‘Game of Thrones’ spin-off, which saw her character married off in series one aged 14 to Paddy Considine’s King Viserys.
Olivia told The Times about the plot and her character’s sex scenes: “She’s finding her sexuality. But she’s being pleasured.
“Also, I wouldn’t ever want there to be no sex because it’s a massive part of life.
“If you’re going to have bloody violence, then you need the opposite, which is life-affirming pleasure.
“It’s almost been fun.”
‘Game of Thrones’ was launched before the #MeToo movement in 2011 and has been criticised for its sexual violence and gratuitous nudity.
But Olivia said its hit follow-up ‘House of the Dragon’ contains deep themes.
It sees Alicent’s family at war with her childhood friend Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy, 31, and Daemon, portrayed by 41-year-old Matt Smith – who Olivia calls Rhaenyra’s “sexy uncle”.
Olivia said: “Paranoia is a big theme in this series, and it’s running amok in both castles.”
The actress also said she had twice met ‘Game of Thrones’ writer George RR Martin, 75, who wrote the books on which the series is based.
She added when asked to say what is he like: “He is sweet. He’s kindly, but then you think, ‘Your mind is f*****.’”
Despite her support of sex scenes in ‘House of the Dragon’, Olivia said she hates the objectification of actresses on the promotional circuit.
She added: “The public-facing aspect of this job where you have to promote and wear a nice dress and get all glammed-up is a bit confronting.
“There’s an expectation for you to be a f****** model. I want to mitigate that.”
