House Of The Dragon’s Olivia Cooke Recalls Star Wars Audition

Long before she was cast as Alicent Hightower in the Game Of Thrones prequel House Of The Dragon, Olivia Cooke was previously in the running to join another major franchise, she has revealed.

During a new interview with Josh Horowitz for his podcast Happy, Sad, Confused, the British star dismissed the “weird rumour” that she had previously been up for a role in the eighth Star Wars film, The Last Jedi.

However, what she did disclose is that, earlier in her career, she auditioned for the role of Rey in Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

“I did audition a few times for the other one,” she explained, noting that “everyone and their dog auditioned for that”.

She recalled: “I auditioned once in L.A., and then once with J.J. [Abrams, the director of The Force Awakens]. And I was shit. I was really bad.

“You know when you go into an audition, and you’re just not bringing it and you’ve let yourself down, you’ve let everyone down in the room?”

The part of Rey eventually went to Daisy Ridley, on whom Olivia heaped praise.

“Daisy did such an amazing job, I just wasn’t that kind of an actor at that time,” she enthused. “It just wasn’t a fit.”

Olivia is in good company for missing out on a key part in the rebooted Star Wars trilogy, though.

Back in 2021, Tom Holland disclosed that he’d also tried out for the part of Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which would eventually go to fellow Brit John Boyega.

“I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega’s role,” the Spider-Man actor revealed. “I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was [playing] a drone.

“So I was doing all of this, like, ‘We gotta get back to the ship!’ And she was going, ‘Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop’. [And] I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny.

“And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called. Yeah, I obviously didn’t get the part. That wasn’t my best moment.”