If You Love Olivia Cooke In “House Of The Dragon,” Here Are Nine Of Her Other Best Performances

As if a television show about incestuous homicidal motel owners or a film about a teen girl dying of cancer weren’t dark enough, Olivia Cooke’s followup to Earl was this grizzly serial killer mystery set in Victorian England. Cooke plays Lizzie Cree, a woman on trial for the murder of her husband, who is in turn a suspect in a series of brutal Jack the Ripper-style killings in London. Bill Nighy (who was marvelous in this year’s Living) plays the lead detective trying to exonerate Cree, and Cooke seems right at home acting against such a veteran. Dark, moody, and with plenty of brutal murder scenes, The Limehouse Golem is a wonderfully haunting murder mystery that deserved more attention than it got upon its largely VOD release in the US. It feels only right and proper that you should watch this as a companion piece to House of the Dragon, where people in old-timey attire are also stabbed to death. 

Rent it on Prime Video. 

Words cannot express how much I adore this dark comedy about a pair of high school girls planning to commit murder. Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) wants her evil stepdad dead, and she enlists the help of her sociopathic, monotone classmate Amanda (Cooke) to get the job done. Cooke again thrives in this dark, creepy tale, and if you are loving the familial intrigue in House of the Dragon, this will certainly appeal to you. Plus ATJ’s outfits are perfect, and the final living room one-take scene will stay with you for months after you watch it. It’s hard to declare a favorite Olivia Cooke film or performance because she really has so many, but this is definitely near the top of the list if not #1. 

Watch it on HBO Max. 

If you forgot that Olivia Cooke was in Ready Player One, it’s probably because for much of the film, she is voicing the virtual reality version of herself Art3mis, who looks nothing like Cooke. When our hero Wade (Tye Sheridan) comes under threat outside of the game, however, he meets up with Art3mis’ corporeal counterpart Samantha Cooke (convenient naming) who is played by O. Cooke in the flesh. While I would argue that the Steven Spielberg-directed film is not nearly as good as the Ernest Cline novel it’s based on, it is still a rompy adventure, and by far Cooke’s biggest hit. While there is a sequel to the novel, let’s all pray that they do not make it into a film because the book was horrifically bad, and Olivia Cooke’s talents should not be wasted on such trifles. 

Rent it on Prime Video. 

If you are a British actor, you are contractually obligated to do at least one adaptation of a classic novel. (It’s some kind of UK actor illuminati thing. IDK, I don’t make the rules.) Miss Cooke completed her required “you could be required to watch this in a Brit Lit class performance” by taking the lead role in this miniseries adapting William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel (which as been sitting on my bookshelf for some time, but which I have not read). Cooke got rave reviews for portraying Becky Sharp, the cynical social climber. As I have been saying, Olivia Cooke is not here to play the nice girls-next-door or the naive love interests. She’s working on a darker, more twisted level (see Alicent Hightower), and that carries over even to this project. The costumes may be pretty and pink, but there is just a hint of sinister behavior here that makes the character pop. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

I will be on my deathbed as an 95-year-old gay man dying at the Upper West Side AMC (my final resting place), and I will still be hoarsely shouting about the injustice that was Olivia Cooke not getting her first Oscar nomination for her work as the bleached-eyebrowed girlfriend Lou in Sound of Metal. The film got six Oscar nominations and two wins. Olivia Cooke has several tremendous scenes trying to process the fact that her lover is going deaf. And yet, she got basically no awards attention for the film. Shame on everyone who did not vote for her and decided to nominate Glenn Close as Mamaw in Hillbilly Elegy instead. Cooke is tremendous here as someone trying to be supportive and yet selfish at the same time. I look forward to the day when the Academy finally pays her her due. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

You’ve probably never heard of Pixie, as it was unceremoniously dropped onto VOD in the States after its theatrical release in the UK, but I’m here to tell you to go watch this Irish heist thriller. Cooke yet again plays a dark character with mixed motives, this time avenging her mother while pulling off a heist on a bunch of gangster priests and gangster nuns. While Olivia Cooke is very fun in her deadpan, let’s-stir-up-trouble way, this movie is also worth watching for Daryl McCormack, who had a breakout role this year in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and is also exceptional here. Plus, who doesn’t like watching a middle-aged nun wield a machine gun? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Finally, Olivia Cooke’s most recent pre-House of the Dragon performance comes in the first season of this British spy series in which she plays Sid Baker, the only competent MI5 agent on a team of misfits. Eternally exasperated by her colleagues, especially Jack Lowden’s River, she provides the show with some of her dry humor. While she won’t be returning for the second season of the show, leaving Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Gary Oldman to proceed without her, Cooke launches the show strongly and proves what she’s capable of even in a bit role. While it remains unclear how long Cooke will star in House of the Dragon, this work shows how powerful she can be in just a few episodes. 

Watch it on Apple TV+.