Summary
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House of the Dragon
stars Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke became viral sensations with a simple “Stunnin!” meme moment. - Olivia Cooke initially hated the meme, but later embraced it as a reflection of her and co-star’s chemistry.
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House of the Dragon
reignited interest in
Game of Thrones
post-season 8, featuring the dragon battles fans wanted.
HBO’s House of the Dragon has achieved many things. The prequel series has re-invigorated fans’ excitement about Game of Thrones following Season 8’s divisive ending, finally giving fans the dragon versus dragon battles they’ve been desperate for, and spawned one of 2022’s most popular memes. On that last point, the show’s star, and focal point of the TikTok trend, Olivia Cooke, didn’t find her time as an online meme as enjoyable as the millions of social media users that scrolled through videos featuring her voice.
To promote the first season of House of the Dragon in 2022, Olivia Cooke sat alongside her co-star, Emma D’Arcy, for a ‘get to know you’ style featurette. During the video, Cooke asked D’Arcy about her drink of choice. D’Arcy famously said “Negroni… Spagliato…. with prosecco in it!” Cooke then famously reacted in her Mancunian accent, saying “Stunnin!” The unassuming moment was clipped, turned into a soundbite, and went viral across TikTok and Instagram.
House of the Dragon
Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. The popular HBO spinoff show first starred Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower before they were replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play the older versions of the characters. Also starring in the series is Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) and Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.
- Release Date
- August 21, 2021
- Seasons
- 2
The pair recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly, for the cover of their new digital edition, and had to take a moment to address the trend. Going viral is a phenomenon that studios are desperate to achieve in the 21st century (with many desperate to recreate the unprecedented Barbenheimer moment from 2023), but for Cooke it was a nightmare. The actress said:
“We were just trying to make each other laugh. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I did hate it for a very long time. I was in the pub. A woman opened the door for me, and she said with a thick Spanish accent, ‘Stunnin’!’ I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ Over a decade’s worth of work reduced to a single word in my lexicon.”
Olivia Cooke then elaborated that the most frustrating part of going viral was her feeling that it detracted from her work on House of the Dragons. In the series, Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, the former best friend of Rhaenyra Targeryan (Emma D’Arcy) and the queen mother to the usurping king. Cooke elaborated:
“It’s just sad how you work for eight months and it f*cking gets reduced to a f*cking TikTok, and that makes me sad.”
Olivia Cooke Has Since Learned to Love Being a Meme
While Olivia Cooke hated being a TikTok meme for months following its emergence, the actress has since learned to appreciate the viral moment. The actress said she found solitude in the fact that the moment was born from her and D’Arcy’s natural chemistry, one of the many moving cogs that makes House of the Dragon such a successful show.
House of the Dragon Season 2 Timeline and Plot Revealed by Cast
House of the Dragon’s stars reveal some major details about the show’s upcoming second season.
Season 2 of House of the Dragon is right around the corner and fans cannot wait to see Rhaenyra and Alicent go head-to-head as their friendship-turned-rivalry diverges into all-out war following the shocking Season 1 finale. To promote the upcoming war, HBO recently released dueling trailers, named after their characters’ respective house colors.
Season 2 of
House of the Dragon
starts on HBO and Max on June 16.
House of the Dragon
Season 1 is available to stream on Max.
