"With some prosecco in it." Why everyone is talking about House Of The Dragon's Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke.

If you're not watching House Of The Dragon, then you're definitely part of the rare few who doesn't tune in every Monday evening to explore the fantasy world of Westeros.

After an agonising three-year-long wait since Game of Thrones wrapped, House Of The Dragon finally came to screens in 2022. The wait has certainly been worth it – and it's partly due to the show's front runners, Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke.

In the show, we've seen them go from being best friends to enemies during a decade of bubbling rivalries and an aggressive pull for power.

Of course, D'Arcy's character Rhaenyra Targaryen has their reasons, just as Cooke's character Alicent Hightower has hers. 

While we've really only just met D'Arcy and Cooke – despite being more than halfway through the season – the world has come to know them and love them...  A LOT. 

Watch the trailer for House Of The Dragon. Post continues after video.

From episode six onwards, Cooke took on the role of Alicent, but her place was determined years before, in 2020, after a long and exhausting audition process. It took a solid three months of secretive zoom calls and a lot of back-and-forth until she learnt the highly sought-after role was hers.

"When I was auditioning, I was definitely like: 'I don’t know if this is what I want for my life.' But then I got to see the first two scripts, and it was good," she said in a conversation with The Guardian. "It felt amazing. But then also, obviously – oh my God. Is my life about to change in a really scary way? And, what have I done?"

Oddly enough, Cooke hadn't seen a single episode of Game Of Thrones – the show that the House Of The Dragon is the prequel of – before she auditioned.

"I resist things that are popular," she explained. "But to my own detriment, because it’s really f**king good."

Just like Cooke, D'Arcy also hadn't seen Game Of Thrones before landing their role – but in their opinion, not having love or familiarity with the show was what got them the role of Rhaenyra Targaryen.

"If I had the love for Game of Thrones before my audition that I have for it now, I don’t think I’d be sitting here," they explained to inews. "The pressure was already significant. If I already had a personal investment in the franchise, I don’t think I would have held my nerve honestly."

For D'Arcy, they thought  House Of The Dragon was simply a "parody" of Game Of Thrones. 

"I think that’s entirely a reflection on me," the actor admitted. "Everyone else managed to work it out; I remained very naïve. Everyone’s making fantasy series these days, so I just thought it was some spoof version. I didn’t realise until I was asked to send in another audition tape.” 

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Landing the role was bizarre for D'Arcy after a year of no acting roles thanks to COVID halting a lot of productions.

"It was very strange timing. I was just really delighted at having something to do again," they said. 

Since the series premiered, it has averaged around 29 million viewers per episode across all US platforms, according to HBO. 

While neither D'Arcy or Cooke could have possibly anticipated the success they'd gain in just a mere three episodes, the pair are currently going viral for different reasons. 

In a snippet of a video interview posted by HBO promoting House of Dragon, Cooke asks her co-star D'Arcy, "What’s your drink of choice?"

"A Negroni – Sbagliato, with prosecco in it," they replied in a low, silky voice. 

@hbomax I'll take one of each. #houseofthedragon ♬ a negroni sbagliato w prosecco l hbo max - hbomax

The response from fans was, uh, immediate.

i have never been more attracted to another person in my entire life oh my GOD pic.twitter.com/EDKwYy1qju

— chai ⵣ (@proyearner) October 7, 2022

make Emma D’Arcy the new James Bond, and “negroni … spagliato … with Prosecco” is their audition tape

— Nora Biette-Timmons (@biettetimmons) October 8, 2022

I would conservatively estimate that about 95% of my brain's storage right now is just Emma D'Arcy saying 'Negroni ... spagliato ... with prosecco in it' on a loop.

— Trigg (@DanielTriggeh) October 8, 2022

In just one week, the clip has amassed over 10 million videos (and that's just on TikTok alone, by the way). 

While we still have a few episode left to go with Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower at each other's throats, it's almost certain that outside of Westeros, D'Arcy and Cooke are building their own kingdom of fans. 

Feature Image: HBO.