Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 5 AheadEmily Carey has been excellent through five episodes of House of the Dragon. She consistently steals every scene she's in and finally allows her presence to truly be felt in the fifth episode of the debut season. Her character, Alicent Hightower, has gone through a rollercoaster of emotions with Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock). Their relationship reached a breaking point in We Light the Way, the most recent installment in the series, which premiered on Sept. 18.
The troubles began when Alicent married Rhaenyra's father, King Viserys, in the second episode of the series. Her character may have gotten a bad rap following the marriage between the two; however, Emily Carey insists her character isn't a villain. During an interview with Variety, the 19-year-old actress admits she makes questionable choices, but nothing that would make the character irredeemable.
"Marrying Viserys is a choice. But it was never her choice to make. The choice was made by the men around her. The amount of misogyny that Rhaenyra faces, Alicent gets just as much. I read the books. In the future, she does make some questionable choices — let's put it that way. But that's not the adolescent that I play. I'm playing her in the beginning of her life. The 'villain origin story,' in quotation marks, because I personally don't believe the Alicent that I play is a villain."
Although Carey may not play a villain, the actress won't play the role of Alicent any longer. Instead, Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy will join the cast of House of the Dragon next week, taking over the parts of Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen, respectively. Alicent is quite angry following the events of Episode 5, where she is now aware of Rhaenyra's lie and is entirely loyal to her own House Hightower. The stakes have been raised in House of the Dragon, and fans are excited to see where the series goes from here.
Emily Carey is Proud to Hand the Role Over to Olivia Cooke
Emily Carey has played younger versions of characters in other projects, including iconic roles such as Wonder Woman and Lara Croft. However, the actor admits it was strange to get so attached to a character through five episodes only to switch with another actress halfway through the first season.
She tells Variety, "It's very strange, having this much freedom and this much ownership of a role, and then not even being able to read the rest of the scripts, because it was so top secret." Carey continues, "I am incredibly excited to see Olivia and Emma [D'Arcy] do their thing. They are both the loveliest people ever, and I've admired Olivia's work for years and years. So to be able to hand off a role to her of all people fills me with so much joy and pride."
Although Emily Carey and Milly Alcock are leaving the show, for now, the actress has left a possible return in future seasons up in the air. Fans can see how Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy perform in their new roles when House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9 pm E.T.