7 actors who should play Aegon the Conqueror in new Game of Thrones prequel
By Daniel Roman
5. Timothée Chalamet should play Aegon the Conqueror
I’m going to be honest with you right up front: I don’t love the idea of Timothée Chalamet playing Aegon I Targaryen, but someone offered it up as an option during the most recent episode of our Take the Black podcast and now I can’t get it out of my head. This feels like such a cliché choice that I want to dismiss it outright. And yet…
Chalamet recently distinguished himself as the star of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies. He plays Paul Atreides, the last scion of a noble house whose family is assassinated. When last we saw Paul, he’s heading out into the desert to live amongst the native Freman people of Arrakis, but readers of Frank Herbert’s Dune books know that he eventually comes back as a mighty warlord who avenges the wrongs done to his house while simultaneously upending the status quo of the entire galaxy.
The similarities between Paul and Aegon are uncanny, to the point where there’s no doubt Chalamet could handle the part. At 27 years old, he’s actually the perfect age to play Aegon, and would fit that unconventional Targaryen look we talked about earlier with Jamie Campbell Bower.
Casting Chalamet sounds like an obvious Hollywood ploy to bring in a big name. But at the same time, the show could do a lot worse. Of all the actors we’ve discussed, Chalamet might actually be the best qualified.