Being a celebrity on social media can’t be easy, but it must be significantly more difficult when you’re thrust into the limelight on account of starring in one of the most highly anticipated series of the year — and one that already has a legion of passionate fans. It’s an experience that House Of The Dragon star Emily Carey is currently going through, and she’s already over it.
The 19-year-old, who plays the younger version of Alicent Hightower in the Game Of Thrones spin-off series, told news.com.au that fan backlash to a comment she made at Comic-Con this year pushed her off Twitter.
“I love social media. I’m 19, so I’m all on social media, and I’ve been on social media since I was a kid because I’ve worked since I was a kid so I’m very conscious of things … Any hate that comes in, it’s just … It’s a person behind a screen. You just have to move on from it,” she began, before acknowledging that sometimes it can be too much.
“But I will say I did delete Twitter [after Comic-Con] because it’s just so loud. Even when it’s good, there’s so many and it’s so loud. I love the buzz, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it can be overwhelming, and that’s me being completely transparent.”
That “overwhelming” buzz came after Emily Carey told the crowd at Comic-Con that she formed a backstory for Alicent, who in the George R.R. Martin books is an immoral villain. Fans then took to Twitter, irate at Carey as they felt she was altering the nature of her character by humanizing her.
Still, while the incident was the catalyst that drove her off the social platform, Carey clapped back initially. Though the Tweet has since been deleted, she wrote “I stand by what I said in the panel. Alicent is not the villain, folks. When we meet her she’s a child, a product of the patriarchy. Just you wait and see. Maybe you’ll sympathize.”
One thing is for certain, House Of The Dragon will still see a legion of GOT fans tuning in for more.
