SPOILER ALERT! This story incorporates particulars from episode 5 of Home of the Dragon on HBO.
The epic dance of the dragons in episode 4 led many viewers to imagine that King Aegon, performed by Tom Glynn-Carney, wasn’t lengthy for this world after he and Sunfyre plunged to the bottom — no because of the evil Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).
However Glynn-Carney is right here to inform everybody that his risky character may be very a lot alive … for now. Right here, the U.Okay. actor talks about that aerial battle, what it’s prefer to play such an annoying bloke, and whether or not his character really reviles his youthful brother Aemond.
DEADLINE Is that you simply mendacity in mattress in episode 5, getting the burnt Valyrian metal peeled off of your physique?
TOM GLYNN-CARNEY It actually is me.
DEADLINE I believed you have been lifeless. So that you’re not lifeless but?
GLYNN-CARNEY I say a phrase … until lifeless individuals can converse.
DEADLINE So are positive as you’re sitting right here, you aren’t lifeless.
GLYNN-CARNEY I’m not lifeless but.
DEADLINE Let’s again to the day whenever you shot that epic dragon battle.
GLYNN-CARNEY Effectively, that day was, in truth, most likely about three weeks work, attempting to get all these sure angles and these set items collectively. It takes some time to coordinate one thing like that. And it was nice enjoyable. It was a bit of totally different. The stuff I needed to do beforehand with the large dialogue, the heavy council scenes and the moments within the pub … that felt extra theatrical. And by theatrical, I don’t imply hammy and stuff, I imply being in theater and doing a play. However this [dragon fight] felt very filmic, being strapped into this crane and having this large digicam on a protracted hydraulic arm thrown in your face. There have been plenty of inexperienced screens and grey screens and tennis balls on sticks and wind machines. It was nice. It was an enormous studying curve for me as effectively, as a result of I’ve by no means accomplished something fairly as elaborate as that earlier than by way of CGI work.
DEADLINE What was the takeaway from that? That Aegon doesn’t belong in battle, particularly on the again of a dragon?
GLYNN-CARNEY We at all times knew that he wasn’t the fearless, brave warrior that a variety of different characters within the present are. His strengths lie elsewhere. And I believe he was conscious of that. So going into it, he wanted to know for himself and to discover a coping mechanism to have the ability to show to folks that he wasn’t weak and he wasn’t ineffective, that he’d been kindly reminded of by his mom.
DEADLINE Do you assume Criston noticed what Aemond did to Aegon’s dragon in that battle? That Aemond is in charge?
GLYNN-CARNEY Criston positively sees Aegon on the bottom and Aemond close to him together with his sword drawn. So he could make his personal thoughts up about Aemond’s intentions, which remains to be unclear even to me. I’m unsure the story was there. There might be numerous outcomes.
DEADLINE What has it been prefer to play anyone who’s so bloody unlikable?
GLYNN-CARNEY So that you’re not group Aegon, then? Who needs to be preferred? The place’s the enjoyable in that? I believe it’s nice enjoying somebody like Aegon as a result of he’s so unpredictable. He’s so risky. He’s not simply somebody who individuals don’t like. He’s a tragic case. He’s an entire and utter tragedy of an individual, and I really feel deeply, deeply sorry for him. And I assume that’s sort of why I’ve needed to analyze his vulnerabilities, his fragilities and his boyishness, all of the issues that he lacks in his life that sort of inform his choices, which have given him a sure fame. There’s loads to unpack in him. He’s far more layered and complicated than simply an unlikable character.
DEADLINE It’s been an attention-grabbing journey watching Aegon and Aemond as a result of they’re clearly unhealthy youngsters, which doesn’t make sense as a result of it’s not like their dad was an terrible man. So the place does that badness come from?
GLYNN-CARNEY I dunno. I imply, they’ve received Targaryen blood working via them, so there’s going to be a component of insanity someplace. I believe if that they had a distinct upbringing and a distinct expertise of childhood, issues could have been totally different. If that they had the remedy that Rhaenyra received, for instance, their lives might be totally different. She was very a lot the golden little one. She got here first. She was the one whose image was on the fridge. So yeah, I believe that in some ways they’re a product of their historical past and their upbringing. However then once more, they’re spoiled as effectively. They’ve by no means needed to work for something and that may have its results. That’s most likely a query for a psychologist, not for me.
DEADLINE Why does he dislike his brother a lot?
GLYNN-CARNEY I don’t assume he does.
DEADLINE However he was such a shit to him in that brothel scene.
GLYNN-CARNEY That’s brothers. Aegon was pissed off that for weeks that Aemond has been within the small council and he’d been conniving and plotting with Criston behind his again. That sort of clique-ness and holding Aegon out of the state of affairs for Aemond’s personal self-gain, understanding that Aegon would take over the place of King ought to he get the chance, Aegon wanted to deliver him down a peg. I don’t assume it come from a spot of disliking him. It comes from a spot of being like, ‘you might be my little brother, know your home.’ It’s dismissiveness and likewise, I’m from Manchester. From the place I’m from, there are such a lot of sibling relationships which are utterly flawed and fractured. It’s very regular for me. I’m fortunate I’ve an awesome relationship with my sibling, nevertheless it’s very regular and never out of the atypical in any respect so that you can see two siblings who actively wish to damage one another. It doesn’t come from hatred. That’s simply the way in which individuals behave.
