Posted in: HBO, Max, TV | Tagged: Aegon II Targaryen, HBO, house of the dragon, Tom Glynn-Carney

House of the Dragon Star Tom Glynn-Carney on Rook's Rest Aftermath

HBO's House of the Dragon star Tom Glynn-Carney discusses the aftermath of the dragon fight over Rook's Rest and how it impacts Aegon.

Both camps suffered in the House of the Dragon episode "The Red Dragon and the Gold," which saw a two vs one dragon battle that resulted in the death of Meleys and its rider, Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), a reluctant ally of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), aka Team Black. Rhaenys fought with Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) on Sunfyre and the surprise entry, Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) on Vhagar, aka Team Green. Aside from the major death, we're left with some additional devastating collateral damage. The following contains major spoilers for the episode "Regent."

House of the Dragon: Tom Glynn-Carney on How Episode 3 Aftermath Affects Team Green

Aemond has a track record of being reckless with the season one finale that resulted in the death of Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) as Vhagar made a meal out of him and his dragon. During the fight over Rook's Rest, Aegon got caught in the crossfire with Sunfyre locked in a grapple with Meleys from Vhagar's flame. While Rhaenys and Meleys escaped the fire before Vhagar delivered the eventual death blow to Meleys' neck. Aegon fell with Sunfyre, leaving the fate of the current king sitting on the iron throne uncertain. At the beginning of "Regent," Aegon is carried into his chambers by a team of maesters trying to triage his mortal wounds with his body badly singed as his mother, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), tries to figure out what to do with the King incapacitated.

"I knew it was coming. When it was coming, I wasn't aware," Glynn-Carney told The Hollywood Reporter. "But my immediate reaction was about how it came together by our amazing writers with this sort of amazing, theatrical, rousing, terrifying, unpredictable craftsmanship that I was very happy to be on the receiving end of."

As far as what drove Aegon to fly into battle, "He'd been a bit backed into a corner by all the things that have accumulated over time with being king, where his worst fears and insecurities were coming into plain sight and becoming true. He felt weak, and he was seen as weak and kind of useless — with what Alicent had said to him ('Do nothing') in his chamber, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Glynn-Carney said. "And he was just resigned: 'I don't have any option, I've got to prove myself in some way.' But you know, being the way he is and not being an actual warrior with that sort of fearless courage that other people have, he had to numb himself, and so he got blind drunk and jumped on a dragon."

As for theories about how Aegon felt about Aemond's betrayal, "I think the moment of recognition was the fact that the fireball was coming at it. I don't think he had time to think that he's done this on purpose. If those thoughts are to come off, they will probably come later. As a viewer, I'm still unsure. I want people to make up their own minds," he said. For more, including if Glynn-Carney felt Aegon is a hero, the prosthetic process to get into the burned makeup and singed armor, parallels to Viserys' (Paddy Considine) predicament late in life, you can check out the complete interview. House of the Dragon airs on Sundays on HBO and streams on Max.

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