The Dragon House is halfway through its first season, and the Game of Thrones spinoff is gearing up for a serious time warp. The sequence is about to span 10 years, with older actors taking on many key roles. Millie Alcock, who played Rhaenyra, was changed by Emma Darcy, while Olivia Cooke took over from Emily Kelly’s Allison Hightower.
Kelly and Alcock won plaudits for their performances as young queens and heirs to the Iron Throne, but their roles also became the subject of hypothetical talk. Many followers are aware that the intimacy between the two young women appears to be bordering on romance, with some accusing now of “queer bait” by showing LGBT connections without an absolute commitment to creating gay characters.
In an interview with Selection, Carey admitted that she’s been talking about conversations about the characters possibly having romantic feelings for each other, though the extra evil claims about queer bait are false.
“I mean, we started this conversation,” Carey said. “We’ve been in the rehearsal room…I think it’s episode 4. I used to sit on the bench. It’s not essentially a thing we discussed before. We did this scene and Millie and I checked each other out. Just like, ‘It feels like we’re going to kiss? That’s actually weird! That’s how we talk about it.'”
Carey added that the characters’ younger age means that choices about their romantic and sexual feelings aren’t inherently binary choices.
“As a queer girl, I was aware of that. But I didn’t start it consciously,” she said. “They’re 14-year-old women who don’t know the difference between Platonic and Romantic. They don’t even know what those phrases mean, let alone what emotions mean.”
While the actress ultimately denied that the show was deliberately urging the characters to have a romantic relationship, she also saw no problem with fans choosing to interpret the connection that way.
“We’re not going to play it. We’re not ‘making them gay’ or ‘queer bait’ or anything like that,” she said. “As long as you understand it and want to see it that way, do it. If you don’t want to see them as mere buddies, do it. If not, then don’t.”
New episode of “The Dragon’s House” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO
Registration: Keep up to date with the latest film and television news! Join our email e-newsletter here.
Emily Kelly disputes Dragon House’s queer bait claims