Abubakar Salim knows where his House of the Dragon character is going, and he's ready

Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) is one of several new characters introduced in the most recent season of House of the Dragon. A sailor in the employ of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), he's stern and quiet, possibly because he has a lot on his mind. Not only is he Lord Corlys' first mate, he's also his illegitimate son whom Corlys basically had nothing to do with while he was growing up. So that's a sore spot.

After living without for so long, Alyn internalizes a lot of what he's feeling, letting his younger brother Addam be the outwardly emotional and hopeful one in the family. "I think there is no yearning for the great idea of being within Corlys’s station or whatever," Salim told Decider. "I think that there was a real fire there when he was younger, that he wanted and yearned for. Then repeatedly to have to see his brother go through this same thing, I think is where the reality of it all died as a whole."

"It’s funny, I keep thinking about: Is he Team Black or is he Team Green? And I think the character that I feel like I’m playing in the show is simply just Team Addam. It’s all he cares about. He cares about his brother, cares about his brother’s safety. So wherever his brother is, he’ll do everything he can to help that. "

Addam (Clinton Liberty) is one of a few new dragonriders working for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), so he has risen mightily in the world in a very short amount of time. There's no way that doesn't affect the family dynamic. "[T]he idea that he’s now got a dragon, it’s just like, 'Wait, what?' It’s like, you know, if he was maybe President tomorrow. You know what I mean? That doesn’t compute. So I think for me and for Alyn, really, it’s a feeling of anxiety. A bit of fear and I think, again, it’s just that the stakes are so much higher now."

Differences between Alyn in Fire & Blood vs House of the Dragon

When he landed the role of Alyn, Salim dedicated himself to finding out everything he could about him, which is a bit of an issue since the TV version of Alyn is pretty different from the one in Fire & Blood. "It was like for me, it was important to read the book," the actor said. "It was important to scour over Reddit, you know, to see what people’s thoughts are as well. I wanted to touch base with as much knowledge as I could, because then whatever the decisions I do make, I feel like they’re coming from me, myself and I."

For instance, in the book, Alyn is a teenager, where on the show he's a grown man with lots of baggage. "But I think for me — and when I was talking to [showrunner Ryan Condal] about this as well — the age actually wasn’t as important as it should be in the sense of what really mattered, which was the relationships between the family," Salim said. "The relationship I have with Addam, the relationship I have with Corlys, that was the bread and butter, the key of of wrangling this. What adds an interesting take, obviously, is living with that for many many years. You know, growing up, you’re getting older, the kind of the scars that develop… So that was why it was really fascinating and really interesting to kind of dive into it at the age that I am at with this character. Then looking at Addam, the age that he is. You know, he’s very much the younger brother. There’s so much more depth to be mined from someone who’s been on the earth a lot longer than someone who’s 15."

In the book, Alyn eventually becomes something of a swashbuckling character known as Alyn Oakenfist, although it's hard to see the severe character from House of the Dragon letting loose like that. But if it does happen, Salim is ready:

"I know where he’s going. I really wanted to set up myself that challenge of, okay, you’ve got this character who, when we meet in the books, is much younger, much more kind of all over the shop and crazy, but then gets thrown this responsibility and has to then deal with that. Whereas now with the show, he’s older, he’s had to live with the harsh realities of life. How do we get from that character to the infamous character that we all know? That’s exciting. So that’s something that I really want to kind of dive into. "

In the more immediate term, we have to wonder if Alyn, who has naturally blonde Velaryon locks, will ever let them fly free; we see that he shaves them so other sailors won't know he's the boss' secret son. "I don’t know yet and it’s funny. It’s a question that I keep asking myself. I mean, as Abu, I think I love the idea of rocking some cool dreads, but like, as the character? Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know. I guess it just depends on where his head is at the time of that acceptance and where the writers place Alyn and Addam in that moment because I feel like he’s done it for so long."

Alyn of Hull will show up one more time in the House of the Dragon season 2 finale, which airs this Sunday on HBO and Max. After that we'll have to wait a while to pick up with him.

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