Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis didn’t meet as two leads carrying equal weight on House of the Dragon. She plays Alicent Hightower, one of the show’s central queens. He appeared in six episodes as Ser Leon Estermont, a background member of King Aegon’s Kingsguard most casual viewers would struggle to place. Somewhere between those two very different roles, the two actors fell for each other.
Table of Contents
- How Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis actually met
- The slow, cautious road from costars to a confirmed couple
- What Olivia Cooke has said about him since going public
- Who Ralph Davis is beyond House of the Dragon
- Frequently asked questions about Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis
How Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis actually met
Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis crossed paths when Davis joined House of the Dragon for its second season in 2024, playing Ser Leon Estermont, a minor Kingsguard member serving under King Aegon II Targaryen. NetflixJunkie’s reporting notes filming on that season began in 2023, and while neither actor has publicly detailed exactly how their relationship developed, fans have generally connected the dots back to their overlapping time on set together.
Their relationship stayed almost entirely under the radar for its first year. According to a timeline compiled by Cosmopolitan and republished by AOL, the Daily Mail published photos of the pair walking around London’s Soho neighborhood in April 2024, describing them at the time as simply enjoying “a catch-up around the city” — coverage that treated them as nothing more than friendly costars.
The slow, cautious road from costars to a confirmed couple
Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis kept feeding small, ambiguous clues to fans over the following year without ever confirming anything directly. Cooke posted behind-the-scenes photos from the show in July 2024 that included Davis, though AOL’s timeline notes the photo was part of a larger group shot with numerous cast members, making it easy to read as entirely platonic at the time.
That ambiguity started shifting a year later. The same timeline notes the pair went on holiday together and Cooke tagged Davis in a photo from the trip, and by May 2025, fans following the relationship closely had become increasingly convinced something more than friendship was going on. The moment that finally settled the question came on July 9, 2025, when Cooke and Davis attended Wimbledon together and were photographed kissing in the stands — a moment People described as the two trading “Westeros for Wimbledon” in a very public way.
“He’s a very therapised man, which is amazing… He’s taught me a lot,” Olivia Cooke said of Davis in a profile with The Times.
What Olivia Cooke has said about him since going public
Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis moved from paparazzi photos to an on-record confirmation once Cooke addressed the relationship directly in an interview with The Times, as reported by Wiki of Thrones. In that profile, Cooke explicitly referred to Davis as her boyfriend, explaining that a drawing hanging on her wall came from a Royal Academy life drawing class and was a gift from him.
Cooke described Davis warmly in that same conversation, calling him “a very therapised man” and crediting him with teaching her a great deal since they got together — while also teasing him lightheartedly about his own attempt at the life drawing class. It was a rare moment of Cooke speaking about her personal life on the record, following years of the relationship being pieced together mostly through paparazzi sightings and social media crumbs rather than any direct statement from either actor.
Who Ralph Davis is beyond House of the Dragon
Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis’s relationship connects two people with fairly different public profiles. IMDb’s coverage of the couple’s Wimbledon appearance notes Davis is close friends with White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood, and the two collaborated on writing Film Club, a BBC Three comedy series that Davis also co-created and stars in alongside Wood.
That creative partnership gives Davis a career identity well outside his relatively small House of the Dragon role, positioning him as a writer-performer in his own right rather than simply “Olivia Cooke’s House of the Dragon costar boyfriend” — a framing that early coverage of the relationship leaned on heavily before Cooke’s own comments gave fans a fuller picture of who he actually is.
For more on the actress at the center of this relationship and her role in the franchise’s final chapter, Read more: House of the Dragon Season 4’s Filming Timeline covers her recent comments on when production begins. And for more on the show’s ongoing awards recognition during this same period, Read more: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ 2026 Emmy Results breaks down the franchise’s latest Emmy showing.
Wiki of Thrones’ full coverage of Cooke’s Times interview goes deeper into her comments about the relationship, and it’s worth reading in full here.
Frequently asked questions about Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis
Who is Ralph Davis, Olivia Cooke’s boyfriend? Ralph Davis is an actor and writer who played Ser Leon Estermont in season 2 of House of the Dragon and co-created the BBC Three comedy series Film Club with actress Aimee Lou Wood.
When did Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis go public with their relationship? Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis went public on July 9, 2025, when they were photographed kissing together at Wimbledon.
Has Olivia Cooke confirmed she’s dating Ralph Davis? Yes. Cooke confirmed the relationship directly in an interview with The Times, referring to Davis as her boyfriend and describing him as “a very therapised man.”
How did Olivia Cooke and Ralph Davis meet? The two are believed to have met while filming House of the Dragon season 2, which Davis joined in 2023 to play Ser Leon Estermont.
What character did Ralph Davis play in House of the Dragon? Ralph Davis played Ser Leon Estermont, a member of King Aegon II Targaryen’s Kingsguard, appearing in six episodes of season 2.
