House of the Dragon newcomer Clinton Liberty "lost my mind" when he got cast as Addam of Hull

The second season of House of the Dragon has introduced several new characters, including Driftmark-born seafaring professionals Alyn and Addam of Hull, played by Abubakar Salim and Clinton Liberty respectively. Liberty is the younger of the two actors, and he was over the moon when he landed the gig. “I lost my mind,” he told The Guardian. “Lost. My. Mind. It was a bit of a dark time, I’d been to so many big auditions, getting down to the final rounds. It’s right there, you can feel it, taste it, smell it, then it slips away. So when I got the call, I just started running. I couldn’t contain the energy. It was nighttime on some random street, and I know there must have been people watching me and thinking, who’s this crazy dude on the phone, freaking out? You know, a lot of actors are very cool, very chill. That’s not who I am.”

We haven't spent a ton of time with Addam yet, but you can feel that enthusiasm even in his few brief scenes. Salim, who has starred in major shows like HBO's Raised by Wolves, was a bit more even-keeled about the job. “It was a moment of enjoyment,” he said, “then a second moment of OK, now I’ve got to take on this beast of a role.”

"I may not have seen it all, but I’ve seen enough to be like: ‘OK, here’s another cool set.’ I wasn’t necessarily jaded, but it’s like you’re eating chocolate for the 100th time. You know you’re going to enjoy it. With Clinton, it was like this was the first time he’d ever had chocolate. He was in absolute awe. That excitement was really infectious."

The dynamic between the actors seems to match the one between the onscreen brothers. Alyn of Hull saved his lord (and possibly more) Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) from a watery grave, but has downplayed that accomplishment so far this season, possibly because he doesn't want certain facts about his origins to come to light. Addam, on the other hand, is eager for adventure. Hopefully we see more of that dynamic as the season goes into its home stretch.

Both Salim and Liberty were fans of George R.R. Martin's world before joining House of the Dragon. “The world George R.R. Martin has conjured is very much my vibe,” Salim said. “I grew up on Lord of the Rings and Discworld, I’ve got all the Dune books. These stories that transport you into these epic spaces but still deal with very human politics, that’s my jam. They put everyone on a level playing field.”

Typically, Liberty was a lot more effusive about his fandom. “I’d have been happy to play a tree on House of the Dragon,” he said. “I worked with Conleth Hill [who played Varys on Game of Thrones] on Holding, and the whole time we were filming I was asking him about it. What’s Kit Harington like? What’s the world like? I was such a fan. And I’d do these affirmations. I used to wake up every morning and say: ‘One day I’m going to play a lead character in an HBO show. I’m going to be a character like Jon Snow.’ I said it every day for two years. I was just talking to the wind, really. Then lo and behold …”

"The scale was so massive. I mean, they built a full-size ship. And a whole village. For the first few days, I just had to give myself permission to nerd out. It was everything I wanted to do, as a kid who dreamed of being an actor."

If Addam has half of Liberty's energy, he's going to be a lot of fun to watch onscreen.

"You can suspend your disbelief with dragons, but when it comes to a Black guy with white dreads you can’t handle it?”

Finally, Salim touched on the persistent problem of racism in fan communities; in addition to acting, he also develops video games like Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, where he's encountered a lot of bigotry. House of the Dragon decided early on to include Black people in its cast. Happily, there hasn't been a huge amount of pushback on that, although it's always bubbling under the surface.

“It's been said before, but there’s this idea that you can suspend your disbelief with dragons, but when it comes to a Black guy with white dreads you can’t handle it?” Salim asked. “You know, football was rife with racism, and it still is, but now you’ll get your season pass banned, you’ll get kicked out because it’s no longer tolerated. I think we need more of that for artists and creatives.”

But there's definitiely been more bad than good on House of the Dragon, in part because hangin around Clinton Liberty reminds Salim why he enjoyed acting in the first place. “You know, it’s very easy to get bogged down with any kind of work, to find elements to have a whine about," he said. "Ugh, I’ve got to rock up at 5am. Ugh, I need to eat this chicken and broccoli. But I’ll always keep close to my heart the memory of seeing Clinton on set for the first time, seeing his enjoyment and just being like: ‘Yeah, this is actually pretty cool.’ I’ll always thank him for that.”

New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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