*WARNING: This article contains minor spoilers for House of the Dragon season two and for Netflix’s Glow.
House of the Dragon fans might know talented actress Gayle Rankin is the mysterious healer Alys Rivers, who resides both in Harrenhal and in Daemon Targaryen’s (Matt Smith) nightmares.
However, what fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off series may not realise is that Gayle previously played a beloved character in a popular Netflix show with a cult following. GLOW, which was prematurely axed by the streaming platform, follows America’s first-ever women’s wrestling organisation in Los Angeles during the 1980s.
The series fronted by Mad Men’s Alison Brie had been picked up for a fourth and final season in August 2019, but this decision was sadly reversed following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In GLOW, Gayle plays one of the show’s more eccentric and misunderstood characters: Sheila the She-Wolf.
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In the first two seasons, wrestler Sheila constantly sports dark and incredibly heavy eye makeup, whilst never taking off her bizarre wig because she believes she is “spiritually a wolf”.
While her character appears very butch and tough, it is clear that she is hiding behind something.
The big change to her look comes in season three, when drag performer Bobby Barnes (Kevin Cahoon) encourages her to embrace her feminine side by dressing up like Liza Minnelli.
Later on in the season, having felt liberated by finally taking off her wig, she burns her wolf costume in the desert and reveals a short crop of blonde hair.
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“Why did you do that?” Alison’s character Ruth asks her, to which Sheila replies: “It was getting in my way.”
Fast-forward to five years later, and Gayle is now best known as House of the Dragon’s Alys, who haunts Daemon’s dreams as he begins to lose his mind.
Whilst also a brunette, Alys keeps her long locks in a tidier condition and looks decidedly fresh-faced.
House of the Dragon season 2 is set to air in the UK on Mondays at 2am BST (British Summer Time) on Sky Atlantic and NOW. The same episode will also be broadcast again on Monday at 9pm.
All three seasons of Glow are available to stream now exclusively on Netflix.
