The House of the Dragon star admits she hates the viral Negroni meme

The last time House of the Dragon When stars Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy hit the press tour, they gave us the iconic “Negroni Sbagliato” meme.

However, the press tour for season two revealed that while the internet loved it, Cooke wasn't particularly pleased.

In 2022, Cooke and D'Arcy met for an HBO promo for the game of Thrones Prequel series in which they took turns asking each other questions. Cooke asked D'Arcy about her drink of choice.

“A Negroni Sbagliato with Prosecco in it,” D’Arcy said, causing Cooke to say in her Greater Manchester accent, “Stunnin!”

The scene went viral almost immediately and even saw a custom Google search animation, much to Cooke's dismay.

“I hated it for a very long time,” says Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower House of the Dragonsaid in an interview with Weekly entertainment.

“I was in the pub. A woman opened the door for me and said in a strong Spanish accent, “Stunning!”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God. Over a decade of work has been reduced to a single word in my lexicon.'”

“I can't say anything insightful about that because it's very hard to know how to react when you become a meme,” said D'Arcy, who plays Rhaenyra Targaryen.

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The pair, who play friends-turned-enemies on screen but seem to be good friends off screen, are much better prepared this time around.

“Honestly, as we walked along and I saw the chessboard, I thought, 'Well, this is over.' “It’s in my head all the time,” Cooke said of the life-size chessboard set for her cover shoot.

“I thought, 'This is torture.' We physically can't do this.'”

“I refuse to do it. It's just sad how you work for eight months and then it's reduced to fucking TikTok and that makes me sad.”

The meme's popularity was spurred by the clear chemistry between the two actors, which viewers and writer Sara Hess believe elevates the show.

“There are so many ways that women are marginalized or simply ignored in the historical record,” she said.

“Apparently, Fire and blood is a fictional thing, but if you incorporate the same thought process… that was very interesting to me.”

The second season of House of the Dragon will focus on the Targaryen Civil War known as Dance of the Dragons. The season follows the aftermath of the end of the first season, in which Alicent's son Aemond ultimately kills Rhaenyra's son Lucerys, sparking a violent civil war.

Season two of House of the Dragon will air on HBO starting June 16th.

Last year, game of Thrones Creator George RR Martin revealed that he had received a preview of the first two episodes of the new season of House of the Dragon and found them “simply great”.

“Dark, mind you. Very dark,” he continued. “They could make you cry. (I didn't cry myself, but one of my friends did). Powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, heartbreaking. Just what I like. (What can I say? I've been weaned on Shakespeare and love the tragedies and history plays the most.)”

In a four-star review of the first season of House of the Dragon, The IndependentChief television critic Nick Hilton wrote that the prequel series was “bigger, bolder and bloodier than Game of Thrones.”