Ewan Mitchell in season two, episode 4 of ‘Home of the Dragon.’
Theo Whiteman/HBO
[This story contains spoilers from season two, episode four of House of the Dragon, “The Red Dragon and the Gold.”]
It’s all the time Aemond, isn’t it?
Home of the Dragon followers had been lastly awarded some dragon-to-dragon motion Sunday night time when, in episode 4 of season two, titled “The Crimson Dragon and the Gold,” Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Workforce Inexperienced try and storm a fortress within the Crownlands known as Rook’s Relaxation.
Little do they know, Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) council would obtain phrase of the assault and ship Rhaenys (Eve Greatest) on her dragon, Meleys, to set ablaze Cole’s military. However because the forest leaves rustle, Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) dragon Vhagar — the biggest of the Targaryen brood — awakes. A battle ensues. Audiences see Vhagar’s monumental tooth fatally crunch down on the neck of Meleys and Rhaenys dies within the battle — however not earlier than Aemond takes down his personal brother, King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who drunkenly tried to hitch the struggle on his dragon Sunfyre.
The episode ends with Cole at his knees, in entrance of a blistered Sunfyre. Aegon lies lifeless with him. Aemond, who had unsheathed his sword earlier than Cole interrupted, walks away. It’s an escalation typical of the second son.
In a dialog with The Hollywood Reporter, Ewan Mitchell, who performs Prince Aemond within the HBO hit, discusses the place the battle leaves issues because the civil warfare spirals additional into bloodshed. He additionally shares who his character needs on the Iron Throne, what sort of retaliation from Workforce Black lies forward and why he has by no means needed to observe the present that introduced him right here: Sport of Thrones.
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Yeesh. That episode goes to fulfill some dragon-hungry followers. Rhaenys actually met her demise, however Aegon’s destiny was left a bit extra imprecise. Is he lifeless?
It’s a seismic occasion that’s modified the longer term going ahead with these characters. Aegon’s destiny stays unknown. I don’t need to spoil something for anybody. However going into episode 5, you’ll see the fallout of Rook’s Relaxation, which I can’t watch for folks to see. It’s an enormous blow for Workforce Black. The road within the sand has been drawn, and Aemond simply crossed that line. And there’s no going again. I’m positive there will likely be retaliation.
In episode 4, Aemond is keen to threat Rhaenys’ escape at Rook’s Relaxation so he can assault his personal brother, the king, on Sunfyre. What are Aemond’s true motivations on this warfare? If not loyalty, what’s it that’s driving him?
I feel there are numerous issues which are driving him, however certainly one of them that I beloved to play with and discover was this concept that he needs his mum. Each time I shared a scene with Olivia Cooke [playing Alicent Hightower] across the council desk, each time I checked out Alicent Hightower, I very a lot imagined Aemond and Alicent sitting on a Dornish seaside, removed from warfare, sipping on piña coladas … Aemond having turn into the warfare hero and managing to make his mum completely satisfied, in his eye, so to talk. Whether or not or not that’s Alicent’s model of happiness is one other factor. However that’s how Aemond sees it. So I feel that’s certainly one of his is driving motivations.
Additionally, what Alicent does in episode seven of season one, that’s one thing that Aemond doesn’t overlook. After they’re all arguing about the place Aemond had heard this illegitimate [child of Harwin] Robust [rumor] from, Alicent went again to the concept that this child had been bodily broken and adjusted for all times. She was the one voice that was backing him up in that second.
Who does Aemond consider belongs on the Iron Throne?
You don’t essentially know what’s going on behind Aemond’s eye. You don’t know what he’s considering, however you do know that he’s considering. He’s a really calculative particular person. He’s not simply your one-dimensional black cat and senseless sociopath form of character. He’s considering always. You see that within the first 4 episodes — in a lot of them he operates from the peripheries. However, does he even need the throne? (Shrugs.)
Has he fallen sufferer to the “inheritor and the spare” resentment, like Daemon (Matt Smith)?
He feels that Aegon lacks the perseverance to be king. Aegon says it himself: He has no want to rule. Whereas Aemond, he’s been finding out with the masters. He’s been coaching with the sword, so he very a lot appears like he would make a worthier king, whether or not or not that’s what Aemond needs.
Does Daemon see himself in Aemond?
That’s a great query. I don’t know if I might reply it. Possibly it’s one for Matt [Smith, who plays Daemon]. However I feel part of Aemond would need that Daemon noticed Aemond in himself. There’s a lot of his picture that lends itself to that concept that Aemond could be very a lot paying homage to a younger Daemon Targaryen, with the Targaryen black and the lengthy hair. It’s very paying homage to the rogue prince. Aemond being Daemon’s largest stan, he would positively need to reside in Daemon’s head rent-free.
We’re seeing a special aspect to Aemond this season — actually. Had you completed full onscreen nudity earlier than this?
I did, nevertheless it wouldn’t have been so obvious prefer it was in episode three of Home of the Dragon.
What was that like?
It was a choice that we didn’t make evenly. Each scene begins with a dialog — how far are you comfortably ready to go? Me and Geeta Patel, our director, we had been very like-minded within the sense that we needed to be true to Aemond in that second. He’s caught in a very susceptible spot. His area is violated by his brother and his crew, and he’s finally humiliated. There’s this line from Michael Mann’s Warmth that I like. Robert De Niro’s character says, “By no means get hooked up to somebody you’re not ready to stroll out on in 30 seconds flat once you really feel the warmth across the nook.”
De Niro’s character lives by that, it helps him maneuver with out getting caught by the police. And Aemond has a really comparable code in that he doesn’t need to be caught and really feel like the child that he as soon as was in season one — that uncared for, bullied boy. In that second in episode three, that code comes into play. He goes from that susceptible, humiliated boy and that code simply turns a swap, this facade comes up, and he finally says what he says.
We see him quite hooked up to one of many intercourse staff, Sylvi, performed by Michelle Bonnard. Do you suppose this quote-unquote “monogamy” is one thing about Aemond that may shock audiences? What’s it saying about his character?
I feel simply seeing Aemond that susceptible is a shock for the viewers alone. I like talking concerning the costumes on our present, designed phenomenally by Caroline McCall, they usually’re nearly half and parcel with Aemond. These Targaryen blacks are Targaryen to the max. So to see him with out his eye patch, with none of that, it’s actually stunning.
Somebody requested me the opposite day whether or not or not I assumed that Aemond had mummy points. And I don’t know if he has mummy points a lot as he simply needed to be beloved by his mum a bit bit extra. Children form of want that, that unconditional love, to develop a balanced view of themselves. Aemond by no means acquired it. He needed to discover it elsewhere. He discovered it in Vhagar, this older she-dragon, which I feel is sort of a pleasant parallel. He discovered it in Madame Sylvi, one other surrogate. And since he by no means actually was proven love rising up, he doesn’t actually know how one can categorical it himself.
Do you suppose seeing Aemond in a extra susceptible mild in some way makes him extra scary? It’s like the private vendetta — whether or not it’s in opposition to his brother Aegon, Rhaenyra or anybody else — turns into a bit sharper.
I very a lot needed to painting the picture of somebody who had manufactured their physique right into a deadly weapon. This child doesn’t want armor. He doesn’t must be brandishing a Valyrian metal sword to seem like he might finally finish these characters’ lives in these moments. There’s one thing highly effective in that regard. Me and Geeta Patel, we all the time talked concerning the chance, as much as that scene, of perhaps Aemond wrapping a blanket round himself as he was leaving, or perhaps utilizing his arms to cowl himself as he was leaving. However we had been very-like minded within the respect that this can be a character who doesn’t care what you consider him. And that carelessness, it’s fairly scary. Speaking about that code coming into place, he can’t be seen as weak in any respect prices. Love in Aemond’s world is seen as a weak spot. And so he has to place responsibility above that. He places energy above that.
Would Aemond be in the identical hazard that he’s with out Vhagar?
Most likely not. He acknowledges that he’s a younger man who possesses an influence that nobody else has in Vhagar. He can do issues that nobody else can do, and she or he very a lot shapes the dynamic of any room that he walks into. He doesn’t must be something, as a result of her shadow looms so massive behind him. And so if he’s being threatening, it’s not as a result of he must be — it’s as a result of he needs to be.
Is it bizarre to see so many followers crushing in your character? They’ve been debating who’s extra “babygirl”: Daemon or Aemond.
I haven’t obtained social media, so I don’t see it. However one of many outcomes of not having social media is that it produces these lovely, badass, enjoyable letters from folks from all throughout the globe. To learn that, I take all of it as motivation, whether or not we’ve had a great response or a unfavorable response. I by no means take it without any consideration. However is Aemond babygirl? I don’t know. It’s a dilemma. What’s the definition of a babygirl?
I feel it’s a pretty character that individuals take pity on a bit bit. Delicate, a bit susceptible. Possibly they suppose his coronary heart’s in the correct place.
Like perhaps there’s good beneath all of it. I’ll take the praise.
What’s to come back from Aemond this season?
I don’t need to spoil it, nevertheless it’s going to be good.
When you might play some other Home of the Dragon character, who wouldn’t it be? And if you happen to might have performed any character on Sport of Thrones, who wouldn’t it have been?
I haven’t seen Sport of Thrones. I do know — blasphemy! I simply needed to steer myself away from it. I by no means watched it when it initially ran after which touchdown the half, I didn’t need it to tell my choices and decisions, whether or not it’s consciously or subconsciously, for Aemond. I needed to current a personality who was very otherworldly, and so I took from different worlds. If I might play one other Home of the Dragon character … We’re all excellent. I don’t need to decide a favourite.
Would you turn to Workforce Black?
No, no — I’d need to keep on Workforce Inexperienced.
And what’s to come back from Ewan Mitchell? Have you ever obtained something within the pipeline that you just’re enthusiastic about?
Nothing is ready in stone but. I’m right down to the previous couple of for one thing that I actually need and I’m not going to say what it’s as a result of as quickly as I do, I gained’t get it. [I’m up for] any problem, any character. I like horror, horror is certainly a style I’d like to enterprise into.
Home of the Dragon releases new season two episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max. Observe together with THR‘s season protection and interviews.