"I completely blacked out" — House of Dragon star Olivia Cooke recounts her awkward experience meeting Tom Cruise

Olivia Cooke, the English actress recently opened up about her awkward first interaction with Tom Cruise on the set of Ready Player One, when the director Steven Spielberg introduced them to each other.

On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, the 30-year-old appeared in an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She talked about how Spielberg often invited celebrities, like George Lucas and Cruise during the making of the 2018 film.

Cooke recalled her encounter with the Top Gun actor when she was talking to a friend and saw Tom "walk across the stage". It prompted her to try and hide from the actor and avoid an interaction. However, she added,

"And then, I hear Steven go, ‘Olivia, come meet my good friend, Tom Cruise,' I completely blacked out, but apparently — my friend ran to the top of the stage to watch this interaction — and apparently, I bowed like a servant, like b*obs to knee, like bowed, and then just shook his hand and then came to."

Olivia Cooke was at the show to promote season 2 of House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel.

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"We got whispers that Tom Cruise was gonna come to set"— Olivia Cooke recalls meeting Cruise

Olivia Cooke began her career when she was eight years old at an after-school drama program. She went on to star in several movies and TV shows, including her role as Emma Decody in the thriller Bates Motel and playing Becky Sharp in the period drama miniseries Vanity Fair.

Olivia Cooke has gained significant popularity for her role as Queen Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon which came out in 2022. On Wednesday, the actress had a sit-down on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where she talked about how it was working with Steven Spielberg.

In 2018, she starred in the sci-fi movie Ready Player One as Samantha Evelyn Cook, alongside Tye Sheridan, who played Wade Watts.

Recalling the time she spent on the movie's set, Olivia Cooke told Colbert that she was "mortified" while interacting with Spielberg. She said that there "was a celebrity guest every single day" and added,

"I'm like, ‘Oh god, don’t look at me. And he’s got loads of mates and they happen to be celebrities, like George Lucas would come to set. And then, we got whispers that Tom Cruise was gonna come to set. Whispers around the cast."

Olivia Cooke said she "blacked out" when she was first introduced to Tom Cruise and quipped that the moment was "void of chemistry" because she was so nervous.

Stephen Colbert then asked her to use five words to describe the new season of House of the Dragon. She replied that the viewers could expect "bloodshed, legacy, power, s*xuality, and dragons, obviously" in the second season.

During the show's premiere at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Tom Glynn-Carney and Ewan Mitchell, who play Cooke's onscreen sons, also gave a teaser for the new season. On June 3, Mitchell who played the character Aemond Targaryen told People,

"I think season one very much established this family's world on a knife's edge and all it was going to take was a push from either side to draw blood, and Aemond drew first blood. He becomes the most wanted man in the realm. And come season two, you're going to see the most wanted man in the realm."

Season 2 of House of the Dragon is scheduled to come out on June 16, 2024, on HBO.