Who is Milly Alcock? How She Went From Washing Dishes to ‘House of the Dragon’

Before she was embroiled in a succession war as Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO‘s House of the Dragon, she was just Milly Alcock — an aspiring actress who dropped out of high school to pursue her dreams. Despite having a few credits to her name, Alcock’s performance in the Game of Thrones prequel series is sure to cement her as the next breakthrough star.

Alcock was born in Sydney, Australia in April 2000, making her 22 years old. She made her television debut in a 2014 episode of Wonderland, an Australian romantic comedy series, before going on to feature in other Australian shows like A Place to Call Home, Fighting Season, and award-winning series Upright — which was the leading gig in which she ditched her diploma for.

“School’s never been for me. I’ve never been somebody who’s thrived in the school environment,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald. “There’s a stigmatization of people who drop out of high school. But I couldn’t turn down Upright for a piece of paper. That just seemed ridiculous to me and infuriating.”

The 2019 drama series follows two misfits, Lucky (Tim Minchin) and Meg (Alcock), as they meet by chance in the desert and form a bond as they try to transfer a precious upright piano from one end of the country to another.

However, despite the show’s success, sometime between the end of Upright and the start of House of the Dragon, Alcock found herself working as a dishwasher in a restaurant and living in her mother’s attic. She recalled the moment she found out she got the part of Rhaenyra to Just Jared, adding that she was cooking dinner at a friend’s house when she got the call.

“I never thought this would happen to me,” Alcock told the outlet. “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.”

In an interview with the New York Post, the Australian actress said she had never watched Game of Thrones before landing the part, but binged all eight seasons in two weeks once she was cast.

“It was intense, and I quickly became a fan and understood why everyone loved it,” she said.

House of the Dragon takes place 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones. Alcock stars as a young Rhaenyra Targaryen, the ancestor to Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen. The show chronicles the Targaryen civil war and the turmoil that comes from Alcock’s character potentially being named heir to the throne, even though she’s a woman.

House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO and HBO Max.