TV

Get to Know Milly Alcock: The House of the Dragon Star Who's About to Take Over Hollywood

Get to Know Milly Alcock: The House of the Dragon Star Who's About to Take Over Hollywood
Image credit: HBO

The young actress is already making waves in the industry.

October 2022 saw HBO air the first season finale of House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel about House Targaryen. Opinions about the show varied but even the most hard-core George R.R. Martin fans loved the cast. The showrunners deliberately avoided casting big ticket actors, going instead for young unknowns in key roles.

Milly Alcock is the young Australian actress who appeared in House of the Dragon as Ranira, the young heiress to the throne. And she definitely got noticed by many in this role. It is our belief that Milly may very well have a great acting career ahead of her.

Milly was born in Sydney. She made her acting debut in 2014 and since then she’s already appeared in half a dozen short films and TV series that have earned her a cult status in Australia.

One of her first notable roles was in the period drama A Place Called Home about mid-twentieth-century Australia. Her next notable role was on Upright, a dramedy series by Tom Minchin, of Californication fame, about the misadventures of two misfits hauling an old upright piano across the Australian outback. Tim Minchin played the main role, choosing Alcock to play the teenage runaway that wrecks the protagonist’s car and then agrees to help him. Upright got Milly noticed by people in the know but it didn’t exactly make her famous.

Milly says she’s lucky to have a very supportive family. Her mother, Emma, has always encouraged Milly to pursue acting, seeing how Milly’s always been super excited about it. When it came time to choose between school and acting in Upright, Emma put her daughter’s education on hold without hesitation. Milly did always manage to make time for various hobbies, though, such as skateboarding, football and even horseback riding.

The latter skill came in handy on the set of House of the Dragon: while many of the other actors had to learn how to ride a horse from scratch, Milly needed no extra learning whatsoever. When she got cast as Rainier, Milly was still living with her mother and working part time at a local cafe between auditions and filming engagements. Participating in House of the Dragon meant not just moving out but moving to another country. Milly had to relocate to London to be closer to the filming locations. She also got to visit her ancestral home: her family moved from England to Australia generations before.

Milly worked hard and was persistent as she went about getting ready for her big role. She watched Game of Thrones multiple times to get into the story and develop a feel for it. Still, for the first three months of filming, she was scared she might get fired.

The older cast members. Rhys Ifans, Matt Smith and Paddy Considine, took Milly Alcock and her peers under their wing and helped them settle into their new surroundings, but they could not prepare them for the scrutiny of the fans: Milly said it was extremely stressful to see her face everywhere, as it made her feel exposed and insecure.

Now Milly is worried she may never again get another role as big as her outing in House of the Dragon. We, however, feel most optimistic about her future career as she seems to have a pretty good grip on it. She says that after flying dragons she doesn’t want to get involved with big franchises, adding that she’s now developed a taste for low-key arthouse projects like Normal People and the more contemplative approach to acting, like that of Paul Mescal.