Eve Best Talks About 'Secretive' Auditions For 'House Of The Dragon'

Eve Best, who portrays Princess Rhaenys Velaryon in the upcoming HBO series "House of the Dragon," has opened up about the "secretive" auditions for the much-awaited show.

The 51-year-old actress revealed that when she received the script, she noticed that the characters' names were changed. She also said the show's title wasn't even shared with them during the audition.

"Everything was so secretive," Best told The Guardian in an interview published Sunday. "To audition, we were initially sent a scene from the original 'Game of Thrones' with the names changed. We weren't even told the title of the new show."

But when she finally got her hands on the "real script," she fell in love with its writing.

"When eventually I was sent a real script, I loved the writing. Ryan [Condal] and Miguel [Sapochnik, co-showrunners] hooked me in immediately with the driving theme of the series," she said.

Best also revealed one of the lines from the series, commending its relevance.

"There is a line my character says early on: 'Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne.' Lose the word 'Iron' from that sentence and it feels all too relevant," she said.

She then shared what motivated her to fully commit to the project. "To top it all off, they told me my character was a dragon rider. I was in!" she added.

"House of the Dragon" is a prequel to the popular HBO series "Game of Thrones," which ran from April 2011 to May 2019 and is based on George R. R. Martin's 1996 novel "A Song of Ice and Fire."

"House Of The Dragon," on the other hand, is based on a portion of Martin's 2018 novel "Fire & Blood." The show is set to premiere on HBO on Aug. 21.

In case you missed it, here's the trailer for the highly anticipated series: