Tom Glynn-Carney is (probably) Aegon II Targaryen in House of the Dragon

As filming on House of the Dragon — HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series — continues in Spain, more and more details are becoming clear to us. We know of a lot of the actors in this show — as with Game of Thrones, the cast is huge — but some important roles have eluded us…

…until now. After looking in on the set, we’ve figured out that The Last Kingdom star Ewan Mitchell will play the role of Aemond Targaryen, and that Elliot and Luke Tittensor will play twin Kingsguard brothers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll. And now, set photos have revealed a new nugget: it looks like Tom Glynn-Carney will play the very important role of Aegon II Targaryen.

Who is Aegon II Targaryen?

House of the Dragon is set some 200 years before Game of Thrones and concerns itself mainly with a war called the Dance of the Dragons. On one side you have Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), the eldest child and only daughter of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) who has been assured that she will assume the Iron Throne after he dies. On the other side you have Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the second wife of King Viserys and Rhaenyra’s step-mother, although they’re not that far apart in age. These two get along well enough at first, but after Alicent bears the king three sons, she gets the idea that they should inherit the ahead of Rhaenyra, which drives them apart.

Alicent has three sons: Aegon, Aemond and Daeron the Daring, plus a daughter named Helaena. Like I said, we already know that Ewan Mitchell is playing second-born son Aemond. Because we see Mitchell together with Glynn-Carney on set, the assumption is that he’s playing Aegon or Daeron. Given that Daeron is the youngest, Aegon is the mostly likely choice for the 25-year-old Glynn-Carney.

This is big, because Aegon is a crucial role. Although Alicent (and others) may sometimes pull the strings, Aegon is the guy who directly opposes Rhaenyra for the Iron Throne after King Viserys dies; as Viserys’ eldest born son, the argument goes, his claim comes before a daughter’s, and he’s willing to fight for that.

And fight he does. Aegon has a long story in the Dance of the Dragons, proving wily and unpredictable on a couple of occasions. He’s a dragonrider like his siblings, although not as much of a warrior as his brother Aemond, say. In his youth, he’s callow and grumpy, and known to have fathered several bastards around King’s Landing. Because this is the Targaryen family we’re talking about, he’s married to his younger sister Helaena.

As for Tom Glynn-Carney, he’s appeared in movies like Dunkirk and Tolkien but has yet to have a big break. This could be it.

With Aegon cast, we finally have almost all of the main roles that will be important to the first season of the show accounted for. Now all that’s left to do is wait for House of the Dragon to premiere on HBO and HBO Max in 2022.

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