‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Star Reacts to Casting News With Elated TikTok

Newly anointed Westerosi queen Emily Carey is overjoyed to be joining the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. On Tuesday, HBO announced that Carey would play a young version of Alicent Hightower on the series, while Milly Alcock will play a young version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Carey celebrated the casting news with her fans on social media.

Carey retweeted the news of her casting on Tuesday afternoon, adding: “The most comely girl in court has ARRIVED.” She then posted a TikTok video where she posed in surprise in front of an article about her casting, while the Game of Thrones theme music in the background. Finally, Carey went to Instagram where she re-posted messages of support from her friends and family and spoke about the casting news on an Instagram Live broadcast.

“My brain is fried. It’s just insane,” Carey told her followers now that the news is finally out. “I auditioned. It was a fairly long audition process and I didn’t know what the project was or the character was until I got it. I can’t answer any questions or who I’ll be in scenes with but stay tuned for more and I love you and have a great Tuesday!”

Alcock posted about the big news on Instagram as well, with a simple caption of “Ahhh” to accompany the headline. Carey left the top comment, reading: “DUDE.”

The casting gives fans some hints about the format House of the Dragon will take, or at least creates new space to speculate. The series is based on George R.R. Martin‘s book Fire and Blood — available here in print, digital and audiobook formats — which is written as a history book, not as a novel. That means the timeline is condensed, so it makes sense that younger versions of the characters will be needed. The question is, will there be timeline jumps, concurrent stories, or will Carey and Alcock appear only in flashbacks?

Of course, we won’t have an answer until House of the Dragon does premiere. Martin recently said that the series is expected in the spring of 2022, though HBO has only promised it sometime in that year. The series is currently filming in the U.K., with several new locations but a few borrowed from Game of Thrones itself.

House of the Dragon has the advantage of working off of a completed narrative rather than an incomplete ongoing series of novels, but that also means it needs to flesh out more things on its own. Carey and Alcock will be a major part of that effort, but we won’t know how exactly until next year.

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