'House of the Dragon' star Milly Alcock says newfound popularity following the show's success is 'straining'

• "House of the Dragon" star Milly Alcock says she's not enjoying being in the limelight.
• "Dragon" is the Australian star's biggest role to date and she has quickly become a fan favorite.

"House of the Dragon" star Milly Alcock has said that she finds her sudden popularity following the show's premiere "straining."

While the "Game of Thrones" prequel is not the Australian actor's first role, it is her biggest role to date and she has quickly become a fan favorite due to her portrayal of young princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.

However, during an interview with Nylon magazine, Alcock said that she hasn't enjoyed being in the limelight.

"I'm trying to not look at it and trying not to engage with it because it doesn't benefit me," the actor said. "It just makes me incredibly anxious. Me seeing my face constantly is straining. No one should have to do that. It fuckin' sucks, man. I don't know how the socialites of the world can do that. It's kind of driving me off the wall. It's an incredibly difficult space to navigate."

Alcock shared that she doesn't have many people in her life who are actors or celebrities, so she can't really talk to them about it.

"I don't really know anyone who's kind of gone through what I'm going through," she said. "All of my friends are very normal and go to uni and just do very basic things, and my family's not in the arts whatsoever, so it's strange. It feels like someone's opened Pandora's box and you're kind of just looking through the looking glass. It's a bit Alice in Wonderland-y. It's fucking weird."

During a roundtable interview, which Insider attended, Alcock's costar Matt Smith said that he thinks a lot of the young actors in the show will "emerge as stars," including Alcock and Emily Carey, who plays the younger version of Rhaenyra's best friend, Alicent Hightower.

Alcock told Nylon that it was also "ironic" that fans of the hit HBO show are pitting her against Carey, similar to how the actions of men in the show have forced their characters to become enemies.

"[Alicent and Rhaenyra are] forced to be put at odds with one another by the choices by men," Alcock said. "But what I found quite hilarious is that the fan base is also putting the actors, the young Alicent and the young Rhaenyra at odds with each other, and choosing who's better, also by decision of mostly men. So I think that it's really just fucking ironic."

The young "House of the Dragon" star also said she felt intimidated on set.

"You quickly adapt and it all becomes quite normal," Alcock said. "But the first two, three months I just thought I was going to get fired constantly.

New episodes of "House of the Dragon" air Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.