Milly Alcock's meteoric rise from Maccas to megastar

She cut her teeth on House of the Dragon, burning out along the way, and now she's taking a few steps back to set a blaze to a well-trodden stage.

She cut her teeth on House of the Dragon, burning out along the way, and now she's taking a few steps back to set a blaze to a well-trodden stage.

A highschool drop-out turned megastar might feel they don't have much left to learn when draped in accolades considerably more prestigious than a final year certificate, but it’s not the case for House of Dragon star Milly Alcock.

The 22-year-old scene-stealer broke the monotony of young adulthood by working part-time at McDonald’s, then leaping to starring beside Tim Minchin in Upright.

Now that she’s cut her proverbial teeth portraying Rhaenyra Targaryen in the mythical onscreen world of House of the Dragon, the rising star admits she “missed” some steps in her path to acting and now is the time to go back. (Read our House of The Dragon review here.)

Milly Alcock shines among British heavyweight actors as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon. Photo by HBO/Binge.

“I skipped adolescence. I knew this was what I wanted to be doing… I was in a school play as a kid and I just got this feeling. And I thought, whatever it is, I want that feeling,” she shares.

“I really want to do theatre and I really want to do independent films because I missed those steps. I want to go back and I want to get better as an actor.”

Alcock’s meteoric rise happened within a matter of months, splitting the actor between casts, characters and continents. In London, where she currently resides, she adopts the demure persona of Targaryen, standing with a delicate strength on the shoulders of British heavyweights. 

At home, she sheds the etiquette and frills of a multi-million dollar production and dawns the fresh-faced perils of Meg - a nose-ringed teen forced to travel the Australian desert beside a fellow misfit [Minchin].

But for someone with a proclivity for range, the young star lives up to the hype her performances garner: powerful, defiant, “badass”.

Pictured beside fellow actor Tim Minchin, Alcock got her big break on local soil with the series Upright. Photo by Scott Belzner.

With the release of both second seasons of both shows she currently stars in around the corner, Alcock says the pressure of soaring into stardom bears a particular sense of burn out.

“I didn’t have any transition, I went straight from Dragon into Upright. So I was just absolutely exhausted, And that was the hardest thing for me, to find my footing and kind of being burnt out while trying not to look burnt out,” she explains.

Put succinctly, Alcock admits, “I was so f–king tired. That was really hard.”

"I skipped adolescence. I knew this was what I wanted to be doing" Milly Alcock for The Weekend Australian Magazine. Photo by John Tsiavis.

The intensity of the Australian stars’ filming schedule appears to be something she manifested for herself, a rigorous, rigmarole of sets, stages and scenes that tantalised her from the moment she stepped into the phosphorescent lights cast over a school performance.

“The feeling you get when you’re on stage or you’re on set and there’s something scary about it because it feels like you’re completely exposed and I got hooked on that feeling. I told myself, ‘I have to make this work,’” Alcock reflects.

“It’s like … when you’re at the edge of the water and you’re going to do a big jump and you’re scared of going down but as soon as you make impact it’s so fluid and free and euphoric … and you’re on a high with adrenaline.”

House of the Dragon is on Binge, as is the first season of Upright. The second season starts November 15 at 8.30pm.