The first season of House of the Dragon is over, and while I think most people expected it to be a success — it’s a prequel to Game of Thrones, after all, the most popular show in the history of HBO — few predicted that it would catch on quite like it did, with levels of fervor that approached those for the original series.
Star Matthew Needham, who plays the mysterious schemer Larys Strong, spoke to PEOPLE about the reception. “I sort of thought it would be okay, but I didn’t think you could capture lightning in a bottle like with the impact of the first series, which was so monumental,” he said. “So, it was just so lovely to see the people really embracing it.”
And of course, he’s been recognized in public. “[E]veryone who has come up to me has been really nice and positive,” he laughed “There was this one usher who took my ticket for an event and said, ‘You’ve been a very naughty boy.'”
Indeed, Larys has done some very naughty things, starting with immolating his father and brother alive in his own home. We don’t fully know what his motives were, but Needham thinks that’s part of the point. “I don’t think we’re meant to get the full picture of him just yet. He’s not fully in focus yet. He does some completely twisted and insane things, so there’s a lot to get your head around. I think he’s a very strange person.”
Matthew Needham doesn’t think Larys Strong is “sexually aroused by feet”
But somehow, despite murdering his own family, the Larys scene that disturbed people most was probably the one in Episode 9 where he gives Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) information in exchange for her showing him her feet…as he pleasures himself. I feel icky just thinking about it, and I’m not alone. “It surprised Olivia and myself how disturbing it was,” director Claire Kilner told Variety. “It’s disturbing to see a woman, Alicent, having to humiliate herself to get information and power in a story where men generally don’t have to debase themselves in that way to get information and power. Things happen to women, as we know. So it’s important to dig into it and not pretend it doesn’t exist. But I think every scene, you have to examine and work out what you’re trying to say.”
Needham gave his take on what was going through Larys’ mind during the scene: “I don’t think it’s a foot fetish like we understand it,” he said. “I don’t think he’s sexually aroused by feet. It’s more that he’s making her show her feet. You know, this man who’s had this club foot disability all his life is making this incredibly powerful person show him her feet. It’s such a power move. It’s a way of reasserting control, putting someone in a box. It’s a display of dominance, really making someone feel as ashamed of that part of her body as he does of his. It’s associating her feet with something traumatic, which is what he does.”
"I don’t think you could do a scene like that and not expect the internet to lose its mind, but that is the thing about this job: the oddest, most twisted things become normalized really quickly. Monday, I’m cutting out someone’s tongue and then on Tuesday, it’s the feet scene."
House of the Dragon won’t return for new episodes until 2024, but you can but the home video Blu-ray/DVD set for season 1 right now!
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