House Of The Dragon's Milly Alcock quit school to pursue her acting

2022-08-17

House Of The Dragon’s rising star! Milly Alcock, 22, quit school to pursue acting, was living in her mother’s attic when she got the call to play Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and admits she ‘feels a bit out of her depth’

House Of The Dragon’s Milly Alcock, 22, is set to become a household name
Just two years ago, the Australian actress was living in her mother’s attic
She dropped out of Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts

She’s set to become a household name as she plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO’s fantasy series House Of The Dragon – yet Milly Alcock has so far enjoyed a down-to-earth life.

Just two years ago, the 22-year-old was living in her mother’s attic and washing dishes in a restaurant to make money, but now she’s set to become one of TV’s biggest new stars thanks to her performance in the Game of Thrones prequel.

The Australian actress dropped out of Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts to pursue her acting career after winning the role as misfit Meg in the award-winning Australian drama Upright.

She’s set to become a household name as she plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO’s fantasy series House Of The Dragon

‘I knew that this opportunity would be so much more of a valuable experience than getting my piece of paper,’ she told of Vogue on her decision to ditch her Year 12 at school.

‘I never doubted it for a second. I was almost too impulsive. I was like: “No, this is what I’ve been working towards and I’ve been given this amazing opportunity with this amazing cast, with this beautiful script.”

She also told Gold Coast Bulletin in 2020 that school was never for her, and she’s glad she discovered acting.

‘It wasn’t my place. I never did well. I really struggled and I really wanted to do well,’ Milly said. ‘It just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really have any great teachers who saw me until I found acting, which was where I felt safe. So, yeah, it was the right decision.’

Upright was an eight-part series about two misfits, Lucky (Tim) and Meg (Milly), who find one another and forge an unlikely friendship. They bond during a road trip through the Australian desert as they transport a valuable piano across the country.

The 2019 series swept up at the 2020 AACTA Awards, with lead actor comedian Tim Minchin winning the Best Comedy Performer award for the show.

‘I knew that this opportunity would be so much more of a valuable experience than getting my piece of paper,’ she told of Vogue on her decision to ditch her Year 12 at school

Milly was also nominated for Best Comedy Performer but lost to her co-star, while the prestigious AACTA Award for Best Comedy Series also went to Upright.

Meanwhile, speaking to Stellar magazine, the Sydney-born star revealed how she ‘froze’ when her agent told her she’d landed the coveted role in House of Dragons.

Recalling the moment she discovered she was going to play a young princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the new Game Of Thrones prequel, she said: ‘I never thought this would happen to me.

‘I was washing dishes in a restaurant, living in my mum’s attic. This doesn’t happen to people like me, so it was incredibly quick,’ she said of the call that changed her life.

‘I froze, and took a deep breath and said to my friend, “Do you have wine?” Then I called my mum.’

Milly lives at home with her parents and two brothers, who are more of a sporty family than creative.

Meanwhile, speaking to Stellar magazine, the Sydney-born star revealed how she ‘froze’ when her agent told her she’d landed the coveted role in House of Dragons

She is a relative unknown in Hollywood at the moment but is expected to become a huge star after the series is released.

Yet Milly admitted that due to the response she feels a ‘bit out of my depth at the moment’.

‘I’m still young, I’m still at home. This is my first big response to anything I’ve done,’ she told Vogue.

She made her first appearance on the small screen in the Channel 10 series, Wonderland, which premiered in 2014. She later appeared in the Australian series Janet King.

Her film roles include The School (2018), The Gloaming (2020), and Reckoning (2019).

Set 200 years before the bloody battle for the seven kingdoms depicted in Game of Thrones, House Of The Dragon will document the events leading up to author George R.R. Martin’s fictionalised War of Succession.

Recalling the moment she discovered she was going to play a young princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the new Game Of Thrones prequel, she said: ‘I never thought this would happen to me.

She made her first appearance on the small screen in the Channel 10 series, Wonderland, which premiered in 2014. She later appeared in the Australian series Janet King

It airs from August 22 on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK and on HBO and HBO Max in the US.

The series is is based on portions of Martin’s 2018 novel Fire and Blood and will see Milly star alongside Emma D’Arcy, who will play the older Rhaenyra Targaryen in the series, and Matt Smith.

Her character is described as ‘the king’s first-born child of pure Valyrian blood and a dragonrider’.

The new show is shrouded in secrecy – but it’s known that it will depict the war of succession between Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors Rhaenyra and Aegon II, two dragon-wielding heirs to the Iron Throne, in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.

The Dance of the Dragons saw Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon II fight over their father Viserys I’s throne in a war that lasted three years, and led to untold death and misfortune to the Targaryen line.

Rhaenyra was declared the heir to her father Viserys I, but upon his passing, Aegon II was hastily crowned and she swore revenge against him.

She was shortly crowned queen with their father’s stolen crown, thus leading to a power struggle between the two.

Rhaenyra wed her uncle Daemon following the death of her first husband Ser Laenor Velaryon, prior to the Dance of the Dragons, and he helped support her campaign against her half-brother.

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