Meet Milly Alcock, the Aussie playing Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon

She was living in an attic and washing dishes before the show

2 years ago

Game of Thrones is officially back on TV screens, well sort of via HBO’s new prologue series House of the Dragon with the first episode dropping last Sunday. The series is set 200 years before Game of Thrones begins and explores the reign of the Targaryen family. King Viserys currently sits on the Iron Throne and has two potential heirs; his brother Prince Daemon Targaryen, played by Matt Smith, and his own daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who is played by Milly Alcock.

Whilst reviews of the first episode have been mixed, one thing everyone is decided on is how much Milly Alcock is carrying the series already. One person on Twitter said she had “given an all-time performance” and another said Milly: “NAILED the Valyrian dialogue I’m still not over how good she is.”

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So who exactly is the newest Game of Thrones cast member everyone has become obsessed with? This is everything you need to know about Milly Alcock:

Milly grew up in Australia

Milly is 22 years old and grew up in Sydney, Australia but she’s now based in east London full time after moving into her first flat recently.

Her first big acting role was in 2014

Milly started acting in a number of commercials for Cadbury, KFC and Woolworths growing up, but her first TV acting role was in 2014 in the series Wonderland.

Since then she’s appeared in Australian TV series Janet King, High Life and A Place to Call Home.

Milly dropped out of school for an acting job

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Aside from House of the Dragon, Milly is perhaps most well known for her role in the TV series Upright opposite Tim Minchin.

Whilst she was auditioning for the role she was still attending Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, however once she landed the role she decided to leave her school early.

“I knew that this opportunity would be so much more of a valuable experience than getting my piece of paper. I never doubted it for a second. I was almost too impulsive,” Milly told Australian Vogue.

The second series of Upright is currently in production and Milly was spotted filming earlier in the year.

She was working in a restaurant before House of the Dragon

Though she may be the star of the newest HBO series, before her role as Rhaenyra, Milly had a very low-key lifestyle.

In an interview with Stellar, Milly said she never believed this opportunity could happen to her and she was just “washing dishes in a restaurant, living in my mum’s attic,” before she got the part.

Milly had no idea about Game Of Thrones before she took on the role

During an interview with Vulture, when asked if she was aware of the massive franchise before playing Rhaenyra, Milly said she had no idea about the series.

She said: “I was completely oblivious. I was about 10 when it came out, and it wasn’t really age appropriate, you know what I mean? Fantasy isn’t my go-to genre. But I watched it over pre-production and fell in love with it, and understood why it had the amount of success that it did. It’s very good!”

To prepare for the role she read parts of Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin and also had to learn some Valyrian.

She has over 150,000 followers on Instagram

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Right now Milly has just over 150,000 followers on her Instagram which is full of vibey shots. There’s pictures from photoshoots she’s appeared in to photos from her trips on holiday with her mates.

Her account handle is @millyalcock and you need to be following her.