House of the Dragon star Emily Carey has revealed she had to delete Twitter after angry fans didn’t like her interpretation of her character.
The teenage star plays a younger version of Alicent Hightower in the Game of Thrones prequel. The character is (mild spoiler alert) considered a key villain in historical accounts of the bitter Targaryen throne-succession dramas à la Cersei Lannister.
When Carey said she tried to humanise her character to be able to relate to her — which is literally her job as an actor — greasy GoT fans accused her of ignoring G.R.R Martin‘s source material.
“I love social media,” Carey told News.com.au.
“I’m 19, so I’m all on social media, and I’ve been on social media since I was a kid because I’ve worked since I was a kid so I’m very conscious of things … Any hate that comes in, it’s just … It’s a person behind a screen. You just have to move on from it.
“But I will say I did delete Twitter [after Comic-Con] because it’s just so loud. Even when it’s good, there’s so many and it’s so loud.
“I love the buzz, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it can be overwhelming, and that’s me being completely transparent.”
ICYMI, the drama went down during a Comic-Con panel back in July after Carey discussed her acting process and revealed she practiced in-character journalling to get a feel for who Alicent is.
“There were some gaps that we had to fill, so to figure it all out I sort of started journaling, and with the help of Ryan and Miguel (the show runners) I managed to come up with some form of backstory, and it proved to be very useful,” she said.
“I’ve never had the freedom to create a whole human being like this before. So it was so much fun being able to go so in depth with her.”
“We play an ugly game.” pic.twitter.com/4RI2xr40ll
— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) July 11, 2022
Carey then said the process helped her see Alicent as “multifaceted”.
“I think it gave me a deeper understanding of Alicent,” she said.
“I think she’s so multifaceted. There are so many layers to her. I think lots of people are already expecting her to be the villain of the show, but I think bringing her in younger, there was a lot more to explore.”
G.R.R. Martin, literally the creator of these characters, backed Carey during the panel and reminded fans that “we’re not going to have anyone who’s called Lord Evil.”
“There is certainly evil,” he said.
“I always believed that the most interesting characters are great characters. They’re capable of generosity, good and love. And next week they do something they’re ashamed of.”
Despite Martin’s support, fans still attacked Carey for daring to be nuanced in her portrayal of Alicent. Some on Twitter accused her of not reading Fire and Blood, the book House of Dragons is based on. FYI, Fire and Blood is written as a collection of conflicting accounts surrounding historical events in the Game of Thrones universe, meaning a lot of it is up to interpretation.
Carey defended herself in a tweet which said: “I stand by what I said in the panel. Alicent is not the villain, folks. When we meet her she’s a child, a product of the patriarchy. Just you wait and see. Maybe you’ll sympathise.”
The tweet didn’t go down well with fans and Carey eventually deleted it before leaving the platform. She’s now back on Twitter.
Ugh, Game of Thrones fans stop thinking you know better than everyone else challenge.
