The world of A Song of Ice & Fire seems to be a hot bed for "fans" who don't seem to understand an actor is just acting. Jack Gleeson - who played King Joffrey in Game of Thrones - was harassed to the point of quitting acting for his excellent portrayal, and now the House of the Dragon cast members are feeling the heat, too.
Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower in the show, told The Hollywood Reporter about her frustrations with certain fans. "Some of the fans have been fucking horrible to our cast," she said. "It makes me really angry that we're then supposed to just bow down and [pay] obeisance to these people that only want to say the most debased, hate-filled things. But thankfully, we've all experienced it in our own way, and we've got each other, which doesn't make it right."
"There's also been really wonderful interactions and I'm so glad that Emma [D'Arcy] gets as much love as they do as well, because they're fucking fantastic and such a beautiful, wonderful human as well... Matt [Smith]'s not a stranger to the fury of fandom so he takes it on the chin," Cooke added.
House of the Dragon has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the source material, with even the original author George R.R. Martin going after the show's handling of the Blood and Cheese incident from the book. That blog post has since been deleted, but there's still a certain ire for the Game of Thrones prequel.