Aegon II Targaryen will not be a villain, or so says the person who performs him on Home of the Dragon. For all his scheming and bludgeoning, the newly anointed Lord of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t evil. “I don’t suppose he’s,” insists Tom Glynn-Carney. “He’s a product of his historical past. He’s complicated and multidimensional and riddled with insecurity. He’s an empath!”
The 29-year-old from Salford, who has gained plaudits for his work on each stage and display in movies similar to Dunkirk and exhibits like SAS Rogue Heroes, has a gentle spot for the character, whom he portrays in Home of the Dragon, the prequel sequence to HBO’s megahit Recreation of Thrones. To name the present’s return to display extremely anticipated could be a gross understatement. Its first episode drew in almost 10 million viewers in 2022, making it the most-watched sequence premiere in HBO historical past; likelihood is season two will prime it.
Primarily based on George RR Martin’s 2018 novel Hearth & Blood and set two centuries earlier than Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys was born, the sprawling epic chronicles a turbulent time within the Targaryen household tree, when the ambiguous half-muttered final phrases of a dying monarch (performed by Paddy Considine) result in the violently contested accession of a king whose place on the Iron Throne grows extra precarious by the minute. Because the reluctant boy-king Aegon, Glynn-Carney finds himself on the coronary heart of the battle – and within the firing line of fervid followers more than pleased to let actors know after they’re less than scratch.
Glynn-Carney tries not to concentrate to the noise. “If I did, I’d freak myself out and by no means step foot again on set,” he laughs. But when he have been to tune in, he’d be happy at what he hears, with early opinions singling Glynn-Carney out as a spotlight.
He’s memorable as Aegon, staking his declare to the function with a gobstopper of a efficiency that includes layers of teenage petulance, privileged entitlement, bone-deep insecurity, and sure, empathy. Any notion that his tackle Aegon could be Joffrey 2.0 (a facsimile of Jack Gleeson’s magnificently sadistic king from Recreation of Thrones) dissipates rapidly.
For what it’s price, Glynn-Carney sees Aegon and Joffrey as opposites. “I can perceive why individuals have made these comparisons, however I all the time considered them as being very completely different. Joffrey is chilly and calculated, whereas Aegon is frantic, and when he feels, he feels so deeply – which is as harmful as somebody who doesn’t really feel in any respect,” he says, sounding a little bit protecting of his much-maligned character. “He doesn’t have wherever to place that, which I guess generally manifests in violence.”
Glynn-Carney is nearly unrecognisable as we speak within the plush lodge suite. Not least as a result of these signature Targaryen silver locks are nowhere to be seen. “Season one, I dyed my hair white below the wig in order that I might get used to it,” he says. For season two, he simply shaved it off. His hair has since grown again; a crop of soiled blonde peeks out from beneath a herringbone flat cap.
He can recall the primary time he noticed himself in costume: the scraggly wig, in fact, but additionally the royal tunic, and the Targaryen seal on his chest. Did he really feel highly effective? “The other, really,” he says. “It felt very exposing. In distinction to Ewan, who performs Aemond, who advised me he felt robust and regal. In the meantime, I felt bare, which was fascinating given the trajectory of their characters.” What precisely that trajectory entails, he isn’t at liberty to say (and, having seen 4 episodes, neither am I).
The Thrones legacy casts an extended shadow, however Home of the Dragon is a beast of its personal. For one factor, it has pared again the carnage (a little bit). One significantly grim scene on the finish of episode one is mercifully depicted off digital camera, displaying an uncharacteristic restraint. “That can break up the viewers,” says Glynn-Carney. “Some individuals activate a present like this as a result of they need that blood and gore, that shock issue, however I feel what our imaginations can do is commonly far more stunning.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled
Equally, they’ve cooled it on the intercourse scenes and nudity. “I thought that they’d,” says Glynn-Carney. “That they’d take a unique strategy, as a result of it did really feel like perhaps Recreation of Thrones was too near oversexualising girls, and that wouldn’t be cool in the event that they did that this time. I believed they have been suitably delicate and took a greater, extra sustainable angle.”
Glynn-Carney was driving on the motorway when he received the decision from his agent telling him he’d landed the half. On the time, he hadn’t even identified what he was auditioning for, requested solely to movie a self-tape for an “undisclosed” venture. Absolutely, although, he would’ve had some inkling? Scripts about dragons and ascensions aren’t precisely a dime a dozen. “All I might say was that it felt classical in its language, a hybrid between up to date and Shakespeare – and that’s my bread and butter,” says Glynn-Carney, who starred reverse his idol Mark Rylance in Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman in 2017, and Amy Adams in The Glass Menagerie 4 years later. In 2018, he gained the Night Normal Rising Expertise Award.
When Christopher Nolan gave the script to Michael Caine for ‘Dunkirk’, he even sat with him whereas he learn it after which took it from him – clearly didn’t belief him!
When he received the function, “I wasn’t allowed to inform anybody,” he says, “however I’ll have unintentionally let it slip to Alfie [Allen, who played Theon Greyjoy in Thrones] as a result of I knew I might belief him, and we have been on set collectively [for SAS Rogue Heroes]. He advised me ‘Get pleasure from it, lap it up. It’s a world that’s large, greater than any TV present you’ll most likely ever do, however simply get pleasure from it and belief your instincts.’”
Because it seems, Glynn-Carney was apparently the one individual alive who hadn’t seen Recreation of Thrones. “I blasted via eight seasons in about three weeks,” he says. “And what did he consider the much-despised, critically maligned ending? He cracks a figuring out smile. “Look, no matter I say, I’ll get in bother right here. It felt to me that it was a poisoned chalice for any author to have the ability to please everyone. I believed they did an awesome job, personally.”
Scripts for Home of the Dragon are scorching property, prime secret paperwork despatched over on encrypted hyperlinks. (Glynn-Carney is the exception to the rule; “I’m fairly dyslexic so I’ve mine on yellow paper. I can’t learn off a display that properly.”) Forged and crew are sworn to secrecy “on ache of demise”, he jokes. “You are feeling the purple laser in your again the entire time. there’s cameras in right here?” There will not be cameras, however there are two publicists huddled close by able to swoop ought to he let something slip.
They needn’t fear. Glynn-Carney is aware of when to maintain shtum. His first main function was in 2017’s Dunkirk, in spite of everything. Christopher Nolan is nothing if not tight-lipped about his movies. Scripts are famously hand-delivered to properties, printed in purple to forestall photocopies. “Actually darkish purple that’s robust to learn,” says Glynn-Carney. “When he gave the script to Michael Caine for Dunkirk, he even sat with him whereas he learn it after which took it from him.” He throws his head again and laughs. “Clearly didn’t belief him!”
I ponder what it’s like on the set of Home of the Dragon. It’s straightforward to think about digital camera assistants dodging Matt Smith stalking round as Prince Daemon, or Emma D’Arcy sustaining Rhaenrya’s wide-eyed grief-stricken state in between takes. Or maybe Aegon’s insolence spilling out from behind the digital camera.
“Everybody has their very own means of going about it,” he says. “For me, it all the time is determined by what the day wants. If the day wants me to remain within the zone, I’ll keep within the zone. If there may be some alternative for levity and pleasure, I’ll sniff it out. And everybody, forged and crew, could be very affected person with no matter anybody wants.” Glynn-Carney recollects a few days when it had been the case. “There’s a little bit individual in my head, going ‘I hope I don’t look a dick,’ but it surely’s simply my means of doing it – although not all the time!”
Past slipping on a bald cap, Glynn-Carney faucets into Aegon’s mindset utilizing music. So, what does Aegon Targaryen, the Second of His Identify, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, hearken to in his downtime? “Little bit of Eminem,” says Glynn-Carney. “Some Stiff Little Fingers, Intercourse Pistols, Rolling Stones. Plenty of rousing classical. Something with angst and a guttural punch to it.” Season two’s playlist has plenty of Jeff Buckley. “Learn into that how you’ll,” Glynn-Carney smirks. (He was, up till not too long ago, a part of a band; “There’s not sufficient hours within the day to do each.”)
Home of the Dragon is surely Glynn-Carney’s greatest function so far. And baptisms of fireplace don’t burn a lot hotter than this. However for now, he’s having fun with a peaceable existence again up north within the countryside, the place his solely neighbours are sheep. For essentially the most half, he can get round undetected. “If I’ve any quantity of facial hair, I do get away with it, however as quickly as I shave…” He drifts off, widening his eyes. I inform him that likelihood is, subsequent time we converse, he’ll have a full-grown beard. He laughs: “And face tattoos!”
‘Home of the Dragon’ season two launches on Sky and NOW on Monday 17 June
