From her roles as a young Lara Croft Tomb Raider and young Diana aka Wonder Woman, to the cyberbullied Mika in the hit Netflix teen drama, Get Even, the name on everyone’s lips is Emily Carey. Even if CGI dragons aren’t your thing, the rising British star now plays a young Alicent Hightower – a key player in the Targaryen civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons” – in HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, easily the biggest show of the year.

How do the younger years of your character Alicent Hightower play out?

People are expecting to see Alicent as this angry woman, with a lot of people already seeing her as the villain. Her early years give an insight into why she grows into this woman and what (or who) pushes her to grow this fire within. I think bringing her out as a young girl, the perspective of the character that people already have should hopefully change. It shows her journey in a way we hadn’t seen in the book.

Was it a long audition process? How does it feel to be part of such a highly anticipated show?

The audition process was a good few months and it was a while before I even knew what I was auditioning for. Every time I went in the room for this, it felt as if things were clicking into place. This job felt very right for me. It’s of course absolutely massive. Slightly intimidating as it’s such a highly anticipated show but it’s an honour to take on this role and it amazes me every day that I was trusted with it. I’m so incredibly excited for the world to see this wild show we’ve created. Somebody pinch me.

Left Full look **Givenchy**
Right Jacket **MSGM** and earring **N°21**

“To truly feel beautiful comes from a place of self-love and acceptance.”

Did you feel that same “pinch” with Wonder Woman and Lara Croft, in terms of being part of such strong female-led movies?

Wonder Woman was such a monumental film - to be involved in any way is an honour but being able to play young Diana herself was a dream. Similar with Tomb Raider, playing an iconic woman like Lara Croft even for just a scene was the experience of a lifetime. Coming off both those sets I felt empowered as a young woman. I don’t think I fully understood each moment as it was happening but to reflect on both films now, it astounds me that I got to play such classic feminist roles. Millions of young girls could see and feel strength through the characters I played and that is a magical thing.

What about the female actors you admire?

I fell in love with Hailee Steinfeld’s acting style after seeing The Edge of Seventeen years ago and now I am falling in love all over again watching Dickinson. She always feels so grounded and relatable, the dark comedy is so organic. Career wise, I aspire to Florence Pugh. She’s taken on such a variety of genres and is so versatile, which is something I hope to be.

Left Full look **Miu Miu**
Right Full look **Givenchy**

Speaking of being relatable, your character Mika in Get Even really highlighted the prevalent issue of cyberbullying of women in this age of social media. What’s your view about the societal pressure heaped on girls to be this version of “sexy” that feels so outdated?

It’s so difficult to ignore this societal pressure on women when the media’s favourite topic is women. Girls are joining social media younger and younger now and are only being exposed to this earlier. It’s about unlearning what’s been pumped into us for years. Women don’t owe anybody sexy, and you don’t owe anybody femininity or political politeness. It’s been drilled into us that we must look what society deems beautiful and perfect all the time. But that ‘beautiful’ is simply ‘desirable’. No one should be able to give you that validation other than yourself, but women are taught that to be wanted is to feel beautiful. It’s rooted so deeply in society that we should rely upon men to feel worth. To truly feel beautiful comes from a place of self-love and acceptance in a world where we are taught to hate ourselves from the second we hit puberty.

Are you drawn to more challenging or darker roles which explore life lessons and boundaries?

My favourite thing about my job is there’s always newness to explore and I’d hate to limit myself to a certain type of character or a certain genre, however I do love darker roles! I’m drawn to psychological stories, something thrilling but more unsettling that horrifying. As an actor, I get to play with my own emotions and have a sense of control over them and I love any character that pushes me to delve deeper into my mind and lets me discover parts of myself that hadn’t seen the light before. Emotion is such a vast spectrum, and we often don’t realise how deeply we’re capable of feeling things until it’s happening. I really enjoy any role where I get to push those boundaries and test my own emotional limits. Exploring real human feelings keeps things truthful.