House of the Dragon star explains why King Aegon isn't a "straightforward villain"

The second season of House of the Dragon is well underway, and I don't know about you, but my personal breakout character has been King Aegon II Targaryen, a callow young man who finds himself thrust into a position or power long before he's ready. Aegon wants to do a good job, but has pretty much nothing in the way of experience and a lot of unearned confidence. Not only has he been good for a laugh — I loved him appointing his three idiot drinking buddies to the Kingsguard — but he's given us a lot of pathos. His young son was killed in the season premiere, and watching him try and steer the fallout without a wheel or a map has been heartbreaking.

And in the most recent episode, Aegon flew into battle atop his dragon Sunfyre, once again going in half-cocked and getting a faceful of dragonfire for his trouble. The episode ended without confirming whether he lived or died, and I was concerned. I don't want to lose Aegon! He's too entertaining!

And of course, a lot of credit must go to actor Tom-Glynn Carney, who's brought a ton of dimension to the character after only playing him for a few short scenes in the first season. "I found it fascinating to delve deeper into Aegon this season because there's so much more to uncover about him," he told Vestal. "In the first season, we saw quite a two-dimensional view of Aegon—not due to Ty Tennant's portrayal, which I thought was fantastic, bringing a lot of vulnerability and teenage angst to the character. When I took over, the time frame was too short to really explore Aegon's complexities. This time, I've had an extended period to sit with the character and dig into his deeper layers."

"Playing a character experiencing profound grief is always a challenge. I'm lucky enough that I've never gone through anything like that myself, so I had to imagine it as vividly as possible. This season, Aegon is shown as more of an empath than a psychopath. It becomes clear that he has the capacity to love, feel, and grieve. There are so many comparisons between Aegon and Richard II. People are saying Aegon is cold, calculated, and evil, and while he's certainly done horrible things—I'm not justifying any of those—it's important to note that, rather than being a straightforward villain, he's a crumbling tragedy."

I think that's what I like about Aegon. He's definitely done horrible things — Dyana, the maid he sexually assaulted in the first season, is still around as a supporting character — but the show hasn't written him off as a black-hearted villain. He's a horrible person who still has dreams, desires and vulnerabilities. Being invested in his story means embracing ambiguity, which I think is very interesting.

King Aegon isn't a "straightforward villain" but a "crumbling tragedy"

This is in contrast to a character like Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) from Game of Thrones, another petulant king, but one who was, by and large, unambiguously loathsome. "Many people have approached me with kind words about my portrayal of Aegon," Glynn-Carney said. "It's a challenging task to humanize someone so seemingly poisonous. Fortunately, I haven't had negative encounters with fans who can't differentiate between the character and the actor."

"I think we're in a different phase in society now. When Jack Gleeson played Joffrey, there was less social media presence, making it harder for audiences to separate the actor from the character. Today I think we are a more technologically advanced community, with more behind-the-scenes and a better understanding of the distinction between actor and character. I think people have copped on. I hope that's the case, anyway."

Beyond House of the Dragon, Glynn-Carney is interested in making a biopic about dancer Gene Kelly, which I would definitely watch. And fans are already dream-casting him in an upcoming Hunger Games prequel all about the early life of Haymitch Abernathy, the grizzled, veteran tribute played by Woody Harrelson in the Hunger Games movie trilogy.

"No way, that’s the first I’ve heard of it!" Glynn-Carney said of that role. "But I'm incredibly flattered that people would like to see me on screen again. If all goes well, I'll fight for my life in the Hunger Games! [laugh]"

I'm not surprised people have gotten attached to Glynn-Carney and started to dream-cast him in things. Before he dances off to Panem, I intend to enjoy a lot more of him on House of the Dragon, which airs new episodes on HBO and Max on Sunday nights.

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