Tom Glynn-Carney on why King Aegon isn't a villain: "I see him more as a tragedy"

We're now two episodes deep into the second season of House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. For my money, the most compelling character to emerge from this stretch is Aegon Targaryen, the newly crowned king of Westeros, a young layabout who has no idea what to do with power and who is getting a traumatic crash course.

In the first episode, "A Son for a Son," Aegon had most of the funny moments, whether it was drinking with his buddies while lounging on the Iron Throne or sighing in dramatic frustration as his grandfather told him that no, they couldn't just attack and kill all their enemies with the snap of a finger. “He’s very loose and very free. I want to lean into that. That [comedy] happens just organically, I think," actor Tom Glynn-Carney told The New York Post. "The way he’s written and the way he’s perceived by other people, I do find him quite funny. My focus is just to bring some authenticity to what could otherwise be quite a distant world that’s hard to access. I work off impulse a lot, and instinct, rather than planning things meticulously.”

At the end of the premiere, Aegon's young son Jaehaerys is brutally murdered by a pair of assassins sent by his uncle and enemy Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). Things flip, and in the second episode, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," Aegon is at his wit's end as he lashes out, trying to gain some measure of control over the situation and himself. “He’s branded as a villain often, and I see him more as a tragedy," Glynn-Carney said. "He’s heartbreaking. He’s broken in so many ways… I like to try and find those little cracks of vulnerability where we see the boyish-ness to him, and the fragility of him.”

I completely agree with that take, and like how the show is making Aegon compelling without letting him off the hook for his stupid, depraved behavior. I felt sympathy for Aegon during several points in this newest episode, but he's still unhinged, as when he brains the man known as Blood (Sam Wilson), one of the assassins who killed his son, before a thorough interrogation could be conducted. You can understand Aegon's anger, but also why his grandfather and advisor Otto Hightower would be frustrated.

“That was quite intense,” Glynn-Carney said of that scene. “He was very much in the zone; I was in the zone. And it was a bit of a set piece. We had to get the timing right. We had a lot of stunt coordinators there, and we rehearsed what the distances would be… It was one of the more violent scenes that we see from Aegon this season. Sam was amazing. I don’t know how he didn’t pass out with the sort of gurgling he was making… It was quite horrifying, actually!”

Why King Aegon Targaryen is like Shakespeare's Richard II

I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Glynn-Carney does next on House of the Dragon. One thing we can look forward to: Aegon riding on his dragon Sunfyre. Glynn-Carney talked a bit to Men's Health about what that process is like: It's this big metal plate on hydraulic legs. It tips you around, and they swap out the saddles depending on which dragon is meant to be ridden. We've got wind machines and screens that show very limited but helpful visuals for eyeline and direction."

Glynn-Carney did extensive prep for the role; he's one of the cast members who actually read George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the book on which the show is based. He also binged Game of Thrones beforehand. "I knew [Aegon] was an integral role, but [when I was cast] it hadn't sunk in quite how pivotal he is," he said. "I read the book to have an idea of how George R.R. Martin had worded it and put it all together, and it reads as if it was a history from two separate accounts. I loved it, but I didn't let that particularly influence my choices for Aegon. I bring as much of myself in as I can. That's what I know and can make it relatable. I found it hard making comparisons with other performances."

That said, Glynn-Carney does compare Aegon to another famous character: Richard II, from the Shakespeare play of the same name. Richard II is a king who makes a series of mistakes that result in his eventual overthrow and death, so that probably doesn't bode well for Aegon. "And funnily enough, Richard II is one of the characters I have always wanted to play. So I'm doing it with a white wig on."

If Tom Glynn-Carney keeps working at this level with this big a spotlight on him, I can see him breaking out of House of the Dragon a big star. A trained musical theater performer, he's already envisioning his future dream project: "If I get to dance in a film, there's one in particular I've got in mind, and I'm gonna put it out there—a Gene Kelly biopic."

King Aegon dances? I'd watch that. In the meantime, new episodes of House of the Dragon drop Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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