Olivia Cooke Quit Social Media Over ‘House of the Dragon’ Fandom’s ‘Ugliness’

Olivia Cooke deactivated her Instagram before “House of the Dragon” returns for its third season in June. The reason, she told GQ, is the fandom itself.

Cooke plays Queen Alicent Hightower in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel. It is not a thankless role. It is, apparently, a target.

“There’s a lot of ugliness to that fandom as well. It’s steeped in misogyny. There’s a lot of racism. I try to let it take up minimal mental real estate,” Cooke said in the GQ interview.

What set her off?

Fan theories, partly. Cooke singled out interpretations of the show that metastasize online until they bear no relation to what aired. “I think some of those interpretations just catch fire, and they become something that bears no resemblance to what was shown on the screen at the time,” she said. The theories extend to Cooke herself and to her relationship with the show’s directors.

Season 3 handed her character plenty of combustible material. Hightower’s storylines this season include a kiss shared with her son, followed by an incestuous daydream scene — the sort of plot development that, in a healthier discourse, might simply be discussed. Instead, Cooke logged off.

The break reached a point where she found it “not nourishing.” Her diagnosis of the wider industry is blunt: “I think the celebri-fied nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster.”

Her prescription is equally direct. “And I just think we need to get off this train and realize that we make these TV shows and films, yes, for escapism, but also because it’s artful and it’s creative and it’s not for followers or for a brand deal or to get free shit. Even though that is nice sometimes.”

She is not the only one

Cooke’s co-star Milly Alcock faced her own toxic corner of the fanbase, after a faction of viewers began pitting the show’s younger cast members against their adult counterparts — a rivalry nobody on screen asked for. Co-creator Ryan Condal did not mince words: “It’s horrible for all these young performers that did a great thing, and kind of did an impossible thing… Everybody should have just been celebrating the success and reception of that show. And people should find something else to do with their time, frankly.”

Not everything in Cooke’s account is grim. On working with director Clare Kilner, she offered a rare unmixed compliment: Kilner proves “you don’t have to stomp around the set and exert testosterone. You can just handle each department with kindness and care.”

The show itself is doing fine

“House of the Dragon” premiered on HBO in 2022. It has earned three Golden Globe nominations and one win, for best television series, drama. Its Emmy record stands at 14 nominations and two wins: outstanding fantasy/sci-fi costumes in 2023 and outstanding period or fantasy/sci-fi makeup (non-prosthetic) in 2025.

The awards keep coming. The actors keep leaving the platform. Season 3 arrives in June with one of its leads offline — and, on the evidence of this interview, not especially conflicted about it.