7 actors who should play Aegon the Conqueror in new Game of Thrones prequel

6. Charlie Huunam should play Aegon the Conqueror

From the youngest actor in the lot, we head next to the oldest. Charlie Hunnam got his big break on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, where he played Jax Teller, the heir to the show’s titular biker gang. Since then, Hunnam has gone on to appear in movies like Pacific Rim and Shantaram, but to many fans he’ll always be the upstart biker who struggled to get his family business out from under the thumb of his ruthless stepfather Clay (Ron Perlman).

That role is the one that best qualifies Hunnam to play someone like Aegon. Jax is an idealist who dreams of a better future for his loved ones, not unlike how Aegon dreams of a different path for the Seven Kingdoms. However, Jax is also prone to violence and scandals, which is true of pretty much every noble living in Westeros. Hunnam has the look of an Aegon Targaryen; put him in some armor and a white wig and he’ll be good to go.

There’s one sticking point, however: age. As of this writing Hunnam is 42 — not old by any means, but perhaps too old to convincingly portray Aegon during his mid-twenties. If HBO was making this show 10 years ago, Hunnam would have been the obvious choice for the part.

But hey, there are no shortage of ways to work around that. Perhaps they could age Aegon up slightly, or use costuming and makeup to make Hunnam appear younger for the early part of the series? Either way, the most important thing is charisma and acting skill, and Hunnam has those things in spades.