‘He Keeps You on Edge, and It’s Quite Scary’

Following the heartbreaking death of Princess Rhaenys Targaryen at the hands (and dragon) of Prince Aemond Targaryen on the July 7 episode of House of the Dragon, is Aemond simply a ruthless killer, or is there more to him than meets the eye?

I sat down with the actor Ewan Mitchell to discuss the current second season of the HBO Original Series, wondering first what he has enjoyed most about the evolution of his rather layered character Aemond so far.

Mitchell said, “I love his evolution. Season one, a show full of morally compromised, grey characters, I wanted to present a character who at this point in his life appeared like complete darkness. His appearance lends to that, so I wanted to lean into it from the Targaryen Blacks – the eyepatch and the scar, the long hair – it all screams villain, only to contradict that theory at the end of the [season one] after he kills Luke and you see that face of regret on him. It’s tragic.”

He added: “I can’t wait for people to see that different shade of Aemond and see that he’s not just that one-dimensional black hat villain – that there is a shadow side to him.”

Following Aemond’s murderous actions on this Game of Thrones prequel series, does Mitchell think that his House of the Dragon character feels true remorse or holds onto his regrets?

“I think that’s one of the beautiful things about Aemond – you don’t know what he’s thinking, you know? You know that he is thinking – you know that the cogs are turning behind his eyes – you just don’t know exactly what it is. You don’t know where his loyalties lie, so he keeps you on your toes and it’s quite scary.”

Being that the House of the Dragon story is inspired by George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood and brought to the screen by showrunner Ryan Condal, Mitchell said, when speaking about what the television series brings to these stories that the historically fictitious book left out, “What I love about our show is that it does sometimes fill in those grey areas. It might reveal the motivations to some things – it might reveal the ulterior motives. It is the devil in the detail that I love about the story. This show is the objective truth of Fire & Blood.”

Knowing that Condal and the House of the Dragon writers have and will continue to take creative liberties with the show’s narrative, beyond what Martin’s book has foreseen for these characters, I was curious if Mitchell ever feels any playful paranoia in not knowing Aemond’s full story and his ultimate fate on the series.

Mitchell said, “Before I embarked on season one, I did sit down with Ryan Condal and he gave me the story beats of Aemond’s complete journey, so to speak – maybe not the beats in-between, just to keep me on my toes, but certainly the key story beats.”

Following up from Mitchell’s response, I wondered if he was able to speak with Condal about what he wanted to specifically bring to Aemond as an actor, going beyond the House of the Dragon scripts and the pages of Fire & Blood alone.

“Yeah, I think that’s one of the brilliant things about Ryan Condal and also the whole crew as a collaboration. This show, it feels like an indie movie but on just a ginormous scale. It feels very passionate and very personal from everybody. So, for you as an actor, you just want to go in much in that same passion, and if it’s personal for Ryan, it’s personal for me too – and open to experimentation, open to ideas – that’s one of the best parts of the job, that collaboration with Ryan.”

As we all continue to live in a world with what feels like endless video streaming options, what in Mitchell’s opinion makes the House of the Dragon series a truly unique television experience for audiences today?

Mitchell said, “You tune in for the dragons, but you’ll stay in for the characters. I think we have a lot of fantasy television and films, is that it’s often heavy on the spectacle and a little lighter on the character side, whereas I think House of the Dragon, we are heavy on the characters and we’re also heavy on the spectacle. It’s the best of both worlds and it’s a testament to Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin and HBO – they’re some of the best at what they do.”

As I concluded my conversation with Mitchell, I was curious what the actor would say to his character Aemond, as he continues to embody him and his journey on-screen.

“He’s a broken boy. He just needs someone to help fix him. Let bygones be bygones. He’s not very good at letting go of things – and so, I’d say be a bit nicer to people.”

Mitchell added: “Someone asked me the other day whether or not I thought that Aemond had mommy issues. I don’t know if he has mommy issues so much as he just wanted to be loved by my his mom and his family a little bit more. He never really felt that unconditional love as a kid growing up, so he doesn’t really know how to show it, either. And if he does, it’s a different kind of way.”