Here are some things that happened to King Aegon Targaryen in House Of The Dragon season two: 1. His grandfather belittled him in front of the whole court. 2. His mum repeatedly tried to manipulate him into doing her bidding. 3. His firstborn son was beheaded. 4. He was burned to a crisp by his scheming little brother’s much bigger dragon. 5. His penis “burst like a sausage on a spit”. No, it’s not been a good season for Aegon.
And yet there could be a way back for Westeros’ most-maligned monarch. As writers on the brutal fantasy drama dip their quills in ink once more, Aegon may yet rise in season three – like a phoenix from the ashes – to seek revenge on those who have wronged him. It seems unlikely right now – Aegon was last seen sneaking out of his own city like a coward – but it could possibly, maybe, still happen.
We caught up with actor Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays Aegon, to hear some of his predictions. Can he wrest back control of the Iron Throne?
He’ll need to up his game considerably
“I hope he can return,” says Glynn-Carney, “because I’m enjoying it as an actor.” However, Aegon will need to come up with a different strategy – and looking to his predecessor would be a good place to start.
“His father, Viserys, was a good king and people respected him, liked him and listened to him” Glynn-Carney says. “I feel like because of the benchmark that Viserys set, Aegon’s had to come up to that… but he was shot down. He wasn’t listened to. People saw him as a bit of a fool and a pawn on a chess table.” It should be noted that Viserys wasted away into oblivion at the end of season one, so being a “good king” clearly doesn’t protect you against everything.
Aemond is definitely out to kill him…
If you were in any doubt that Prince Aemond purposefully ordered his dragon Vhagar to torch Aegon at the end of episode four, lay that doubt aside here.
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“I think Aemond has always had the potential to switch,” says Glynn-Carney, “I think Aegon’s still in denial that Aemond would do such a thing. But I think, as time goes on, he’s going to realise: ‘Oh, actually, no, he’ll stop at nothing.’ Just by seeing his actions unfold and seeing the pattern that’s starting to emerge, it’ll become apparent [to him] that he has the ability to go there. As an audience member, I’d like to sway into the idea that he did it on purpose.”
…and that’s not about to change
In the finale episode for season two, Aemond approaches his sister (and Aegon’s wife – yuck) Helaena to try and encourage her to take up arms in his fight against their enemies. His choice of words suggests that he still has a hope for the family as a whole to succeed – not just himself. Glynn-Carney isn’t convinced.
“Well, I think he’s starting to see the walls crumble around him” he says, “and then you start trying to bring all your pieces together, don’t you? Just to strengthen the fortress… Aemond’s calculated and switched on in a way that Aegon isn’t at this point. I think we potentially have scope to see him focus in and become more channelled and driven but there’s a [way to go].”
It’s time to go toe-to-toe
So how would Glynn-Carney like Aegon’s story to pan out – should he come out swinging or is the best chance of survival to squirrel himself away in a faraway hidey-hole?
“Oh, going toe to toe,”he says, firmly. “I think fighting fire with fire is always fun from an acting perspective… I like to throw curveballs at Ewan Mitchell (who plays Aemond) and he does the same with me… It’s just little decisions now and again. If we’ve been doing a scene for a while, to then just throw something in which is a completely different flavour helps to reignite that flame because it can go out as time goes on. It just helps to pump some electricity back into it – a little bit of a ‘Fuck! Where did that come from, you know?’”
‘House Of The Dragon’ is available to buy on digital now