The first season of House of the Dragon introduced fans to a lot of memorable characters played by fantastic actors: Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen was an instant favorite, Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenrya Targaryen became an internet sensation, and Paddy Considine stole the show with his layered portrayal of King Viserys I Targaryen.
But the series only brought out one of its secret weapons late in the game: The Last Kingdom veteran Ewan Mitchell as the grown-up Aemond Targaryen, the second son of King Viserys and his wife Alicent Hightower and quite possibly a crazy person.
Speaking to The Face, House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal recalled knowing he wanted to cast Mitchell as Aemond from his first audition. “[H]is presence – his walk, the way he took the room, the way he made eye contact with everybody,” he recalled. “It was actually quite off-putting because Ewan is a very committed actor. I don’t want to say he’s Method because I actually don’t know what his approach is. But he came into that room as Aemond! I just remember quietly saying to the casting director afterwards: ‘He’s fantastic, I have to have him… Is he always like that?’”
Ewan Mitchell was “off-putting” in his House of the Dragon audition for Aemond Targaryen
It does sorta sound like he’s always like that. Like Aemond, Mitchell comes off as an intense person: focused, serious, and dedicated. He watches a film a day so he can improve as an actor, something he’s wanted to do since childhood. And he has all kinds of ideas about how to play Aemond.
“For Aemond’s walk, there was something I found interesting about Eighties horror icons,” Mitchell told The Face. “No matter how slow they walk, they always catch up with Jamie Lee Curtis. There’s something in the physicality of [Elm Street’s] Freddy [Krueger], [Jamie Lee’s Halloween nemesis] Michael Myers, [the Creeper in] Jeepers Creepers.” Aemond pays tribute to those boogey-men of old by wearing “a big, long duster coat.”
"And Shakespeare, he said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. So what does that mean to only have one of them? How do you compensate? Is it through physicality? Aemond’s such a boiling pot of emotions anyway, that just because he’s smiling doesn’t mean he’s happy. He’s ready to go at any minute."
Unsurprisingly, Mitchell likes to wear black a lot of the time, which is also a sort of tribute to Aemond. “There’s just something about the power of representing [him],” Mitchell said. “There’s a Johnny Cash music video, [for] God’s Gonna Cut You Down, and someone says in that that wearing black stands for the poor and the downtrodden. And that’s what Aemond is.”
Mitchell does kind of sound like he has a bit of Aemond in him, even in his personal life. “My friends call me The Iceberg because I’m seen as cool and collected. I don’t show too much. I’m just floating along the seas.” Maybe this was the role he was born to play.
What’s next for House of the Dragon star Ewan Mitchell?
If you’ll remember, Aemond Targaryen ended the first season of House of the Dragon by killing his nephew Lucerys Velaryon, the one who took out his eye when they were kids. This sets off an all-out war between rival branches of the Targaryen dynasty. Sure, Aemond didn’t fully mean to do it, but the damage is definitely done.
As a dragon-riding Targaryen with big ambition, Aemon will play a key role in the wars to come. “Ewan has lots of work coming his way in series two,” Condal said.
House of the Dragon season 2 starts shooting later this year and will probably come out sometime in 2024. In preview, Mitchell said only this: “Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.”
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