“It’s just sad how you work for eight months and it f—ing gets reduced to a f—ing TikTok.”

Thanks to the Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke meme, it’s now impossible to hear the two words “Negroni Sbagliato” without thinking “ooh, stunnin’!” However, it turns out that one person who didn’t enjoy the “Negroni Sbagliato” meme was Olivia herself.

Back in 2022, House of the Dragon stars Emma and Olivia filmed a standard “Get To Know Me” video as part of promo for the HBO series. During the interview, Olivia asked Emma what her drink of choice was and, as you no doubt already know, Emma said “Negroni Sbagliato with prosecco in it”. Olivia then replied “Stunnin'” and a new, hilarious meme was born.

Now, Olivia and Emma have given us some context behind the meme and revealed how they both felt about it at the time.

Eve Best, Emma DArcy, Olivia Cooke Milly Alcok and Emily Carey at the House of the Dragon premiere. Picture: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the day the meme happened, Olivia said: “We were put into this room and we were just so jet-lagged.”

As for how they both felt about the meme when it originally went viral in 2022, Emma said: “I don’t have anything illuminating to say on it because it’s very hard to know how to react when you become a meme.”

Meanwhile, Olivia explained: “We were just trying to make each other laugh. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

She then admitted that it used to annoy her: “I did hate it for a very long time. I was in the pub. A woman opened the door for me and she said with a thick Spanish accent, ‘Stunnin’!’ I was just like, ‘Oh my God. Over a decade’s worth of work reduced to a single word in my lexicon.”

Olivia added that, while she “appreciates” it now, she is much more conscious of how anything that she says can be turned into internet fodder. She explained: “It’s just sad how you work for eight months and it f—ing gets reduced to a f—ing TikTok, and that makes me sad.”

House of the Dragon returns with season 2 on June 16th.