House of the Dragon actor Tom Glynn-Carney talks about Aegon’s future

Tom Glynn Carney in “Pete’s Dragon”.

Ollie Upton/HBO

Note: The following contains minor spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5.

King Aegon II Targaryen has survived, but he doesn’t look like he’s in the best of shape. The insecure and rash tyrant paid a heavy price for sending Sunfire into battle at Rockrest during last week’s episode of The Last Jedi. Dragon HouseWhile actor Tom Glenn Carney didn’t have much dialogue in tonight’s fifth episode of Season 2 (in fact, he only said one word, a cry to his mother), Glenn Carney thankfully had plenty of thoughts as he lay under his prosthetics. Below, the 29-year-old English actor answers some of our burning (burning?) questions.

What was your reaction when you first learned about this horrific turn of events?

I knew this was coming. I just wasn’t aware of it when it was coming. But my immediate reaction was how it was put together by our amazing writers with such amazing, theatrical, exciting, terrifying, unexpected craftsmanship that I was so happy to be on the receiving end of it.

First, looking at Episode 4, while it seemed very clear to the viewer, I wonder what you think was going through Egon’s mind when he boarded Sunfire and rushed into battle?

He was a little bit trapped by all the things that had built up over time with being king where his worst fears and insecurities were coming out and becoming real. He felt weak, he was seen as weak and kind of useless – with what Alicent (Olivia Cooke) had said to him (“Don’t do anything”) in his room, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He just gave up: “I have no choice, I have to prove myself somehow.” But you know, being that, not a true warrior with the kind of valiant courage that other people have, he had to drug himself, so he got blind drunk and jumped on a dragon.

How do you think he felt about Emond (Ewan Mitchell)?) Betrayal? It seemed so obvious? I wondered if Egon was really surprised…

I think the moment of recognition was when the fireball attacked him. I don’t think he had time to think that he did this on purpose. If those thoughts were to come to his mind, they would probably come later. As a viewer, I’m still not sure. I want people to make up their own minds.

There is an argument that could be made that since the battle, though disastrous, was ultimately won, was it Aegon who saved the day? Or was Aegon the hero?

You have to take them where you can get them. Yes, he is a hero.

What is the prosthetic process for you in the future?

Very long and detailed. I got to know my amazing hair and makeup team really well. I also got to know myself really well.

how do you mean?

The amount of time I spent in that chair with those people in my own thoughts…but yeah, [the prosthetics] It really affects my performance and gives me direction. It teaches me how to move now. How to breathe and how to talk. I have a piece inside my mouth that she asked me to use to distort my speech. So all of this is great because it makes me feel like we’ve made a transformation. Egon must have changed after this. We’re going to find a difference in him and let that continue. [impact] His decisions and his new outlook on life.

You mentioned that you changed the way he moved. In a previous interview you mentioned how Egon moved differently than you. What was that difference?

It’s a little more curved. It’s a little narrower. I feel like it’s a little weaker and more evasive.

Is it any wonder that it would be fun to play him as he is now? Because it would be more theatrical, in a way..

Yeah! It’s like we’ve gone from Richard II to Richard III, if that makes sense to you. It’s like a higher level – although on paper, it’s obviously a lower level. I think what he loses physically, he gains emotionally and mentally. I try to see it that way.

There’s clearly a parallel here to how Viserys (Paddy Considine) dealt with) It was finally, weak and stupid. Did this information inform your process at all?

I mean, it’s risky, isn’t it? Having a crown on your head. Something bad is going to happen to you at some point. Isn’t not wearing the crown yet? There’s definitely a risk to Viserys. Compared to his last days in bed. His life was not good at all. It was only weeks and months before his father found himself in the same position and on the same bed.

Suppose his fate wasn’t literally written. What would you want in the ideal case for your Aegon’s fate?

I want it to be like this, in an ideal world, so that there is a chance to prove himself and make the decisions that he King Abdulaziz has taken on a difficult task, and no one else thinks he knows better than him. He has made his way as king. Then he will see if he will fail to achieve his goals as much as people think. I would like to give him the space and time necessary to solve the problem. It is a dangerous request because he could go horribly wrong. I think people underestimate him.

I found it interesting that no one sat by his bedside, held his hand, or tried to comfort him in any way. – At least not in this episode.. It looks very harsh.

It’s so sad. Egon is a boy in a man’s body and all he ever wanted was to be shown love and to feel seen or not judged. All these things that he did in the past that earned him a reputation, I think he felt that any attention was good attention. Unfortunately, he’s made a name for himself now and people kind of want to keep their distance and view him as a poisoned chalice. At the end of the day, he’s a product of his history. He didn’t have the emotional intelligence to be able to deal with that in a healthy way and move on from it. At the time, therapy wasn’t a real thing, was it? He was left to his own devices.

Finally, there’s a moment earlier in the season when Aegon hears petitions from commoners in the throne room for the first time. And Aegon’s instinct was to be like, “Well, let’s give them what they want.” Even though that’s not practical. I thought that was interesting. People often compare Aegon to Joffrey, but that was probably the most contradictory moment from Joffrey, whose instinct would have been, at best, to say, “Why are you asking me this? Go away.” What part of Aegon was that?

Whether he is trying to do good things for the sake of doing good things or because he wants to be Visible Doing good things is a little bit different. He obviously wants to try to be different. I like to think that if he had a different upbringing than Rhaenyra[Emma D’Arcy]had, he might have been different. She was always the one with the framed school picture on the fridge. Aegon and Aemond were still in the drawer. We’re still working on getting him out of his funk. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get him out of his funk entirely. But I think that’s the point. I don’t think he’s gotten himself out of his funk either.