Milly Alcock has certainly emerged as the breakout star of HBO's Game of Thrones (GoT) prequel House of the Dragon. The new series tells the story of the brutal war that broke out within House Targaryen as the family dealt with an internal struggle for power. And at the center of it all is Alcock, who plays the younger version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen just before Emma D'Arcy takes over the character.
This marks Alcock's first starring role in a series after taking on various TV projects (she's known for her role in the Australian dramedy Upright) for years. This also appears to be the Australian star's first-ever period show. And when it came to getting into character, the costumes certainly helped.
Casting for House of the Dragon was kept under wraps for some time and as it turns out, even the audition process itself was shrouded in mystery. In fact, when Alcock did her auditions over Zoom, she was only told that the character is supposed to be someone called "YR."
After some time, the actress also received word that she landed the mysterious part.
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"I got the call and I obviously couldn't tell anyone and I just kind of like sank to the ground," Alcock recalled.
"I asked my friend if he had any wine and I couldn't really tell him why. He thought something really awful had happened. He was like: 'Someone's sick, someone's dead, something catastrophic has happened.' I couldn't tell anyone for so long."
At first, Alcock also thought that the show had only given her a minor role. "I had no idea how big my part was until they sent me the script," the actress explained.
"I was like, 'Ah, I'll be in a few flashback scenes.'" Clearly, it wasn't just going to be some flashback scenes.
Period costumes can be lengthy and stuffy, depending on the look that a show or film is going for. In the case of House of the Dragon, Alcock found that they limit her movement, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
"The clothing that we wear is also very restrictive, which actually helps get you into the character and the restricted within the world that she lives in," the actress explained.
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And while the tight-fitting costumes helped Alcock get into the headspace of Rhaenyra better, it did pose another problem when she had to remain in the naturally lit set. Much like GoT, House of the Dragon relied on "source" lighting, which meant utilizing moonlight, sunlight, and when necessary, torches.
"Because there's no electricity in this world, everything is lit by fire," Alcock explained.
"So all the lighting that you see in the show would have people that come around and light everything on fire and the set would get incredibly hot."
Luckily, she found a way to get a bit more comfortable. "I will admit with all the live fire and heavy costumes, it got really hot during filming, and I'm a sweater, so I often had to go and stand in front of the fans with my arms up," the actress said.
As expected, no expense was spared in bringing the world of House of the Dragon to life. And for Alcock, there was nothing like seeing the London set for the first time.
"It felt like that I had been literally picked up from Australia and someone had just dropped me in the middle of, like, the ocean with nothing around," she recalled. "I'd done Aussie television where our whole show's budget is less than one episode [of Dragon]."
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And of course, there's the dragon rig, which is quite the update from the green screen that was used on GoT for the dragon scenes. This time around, the show utilized a Volume stage, the very same one that Jon Favreau used on The Mandalorian.
For Alcock, that greatly helped with having to pretend-ride a dragon. "Someone would take you through the moves of how you're going to move so you could preempt how the [dragon was going to turn]," she explained.
"Then they would pop you up and they'd blow air at you. It was really fun. But I didn't know what to do with my face [expressions]. I haven't done any action stuff. You're not actually moving, you're just going to . somewhere."
And while it's highly unlikely that fans will get to see more of Alcock in House of the Dragon after the show got renewed for season 2, it seems this isn't the last anyone would see of the star. After all, Alcock already has some ideas for her future roles.
"I really want to play a boxer or a musician," the actress shared. "I'm jealous of musicians and the power that they have onstage and their ability to captivate an audience with their voice." Alcock is also interested in pursuing theater.