House of the Dragon viewers have mixed reactions to Rhaenrya and Alicent's recasting
Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 6. Turn back now if you've yet to catch up with the Game of Thrones spin-off.
House of the Dragon has played it fast and loose with time so far, but as the story jumped forward ten years in episode 6, it kind of reintroduced Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. To ensure the actors appeared closer to the characters' ages, the latter half of the first season will now see them played by Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke, respectively – and viewers seem to have mixed reactions to the recasting.
"I genuinely don't understand why they're recasting the House of the Dragon characters. I know there's a time skip, but Milly Alcock is 22 playing a 13-year-old when the show starts," one confused fan asked on Twitter (opens in new tab). "Why can't she play a 28-year-old?"
"House of the Dragon recasting everyone is such a brain dead decision. Some aging makeup [and] CGI would have been fine. I'm no longer invested in these characters," wrote a harsher critic (opens in new tab). "Recasting half way through due to time jumps is just lame," penned another (opens in new tab). "Story doesn't feel cohesive and now I’ve lost all interest. Goodbye House of The Dragons.
Some were happy to admit that D'Arcy and Cooke slid into the roles well, however, with one Twitter user tweeting: "Recasting of House of the Dragon wasn't as bad as I thought. Enjoyed this episode a lot still. Thought the replacements still did fantastic."
"It's easy to see the difference the better actors make on the new Game of Thrones House of the Dragon series. I immediately loved the show that much more after tonight's episode," argued another (opens in new tab). Check out some more reactions
Read more on gamesradar.com
