Actor Tom Glynn-Carney sits down with NME for a debrief on 'House Of The Dragon' season two – and looks to the future for his burned and broken character.
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00:00Hi, I'm Alex from NME and today I'm joined by one of the cast of House of the Dragon,
00:21King of the Andals, first of his name, it's Tom Glincarney. How you doing?
00:26Aegon's journey in season two was bumpy to say the least, but I really hate to say it,
00:32by the end I did feel sorry for him. Do you feel vindicated as an actor?
00:38I think it was sort of the challenge this season was to bring some humanity to him and
00:44show that he wasn't just a bad egg. He's a complex individual with way more to him
00:55than just being villainous and emotionally challenged.
01:01There was one line that tipped me over the edge into empathy, do you know which line that was?
01:06It could have been any of them really. The one that I felt he was the most at his final thread
01:15and exposed was the scene around the table with Alison.
01:18Oh really?
01:19Two ends of the table. I said, what would you have me do? Just tell me and I'll do it.
01:24I think I just maybe lack empathy because it was a lot later for me.
01:27Oh was it?
01:28It was the line, I probably think you had a lot of fun saying,
01:30my cock is destroyed, it burst in the flames like a sausage on a spit.
01:35Yeah, I thought that one I'd get a reaction. I remember reading that read-through,
01:38the first time I saw that that line existed and I was like,
01:41oh fucking hell lads, you've done me there.
01:45Another thing I liked about Aegon's journey in season two is that it kind of mirrors his dad's Viserys
01:51from season one in that they both start strongly, slowly lose their grip and by the end
01:57they're sort of crippled in bed on their last legs.
02:01Is that something that you talked about during production or realised?
02:04Not specifically, no. I mean it was obvious, it was apparent that there were parallels for sure.
02:09Yeah.
02:10You know, just they're in the same bed, you know, in the same room.
02:15Yeah.
02:16In the same kind of, yeah, sort of destroyed state where the body was almost eating itself.
02:24Because I watched a few interviews with Paddy from season one,
02:27he talks a lot about how the Iron Throne tends to sort of destroy who's ever sat on it.
02:33And so in the big feast scene from the first season, all of you are fighting over this thing,
02:39but look what it's done to Viserys.
02:41And that was sort of a really nice echo of what happened to Aegon in season two, wasn't it?
02:46Yeah.
02:47Yeah, there is, I mean in terms of both of their ways of the body sort of decaying are very different causes.
02:58But I guess with Viserys, he was a good king and people respected him and liked him and listened to him.
03:06And Aegon is not that at all.
03:08And I feel like because of that sort of benchmark that Viserys set,
03:13Aegon has felt like he's had to come up to that.
03:16And that's the only sort of example of a male leader that he's seen and seen people respond well to.
03:23Another big question that's come out of season two that fans are talking about online is episode four,
03:28obviously the big one.
03:30Do you think that Aemond was really meaning to try and kill his brother?
03:35Ooh, the million dollar question.
03:39Do I think?
03:40Look, I think Aemond has always had the potential to switch.
03:44I think Aegon's still in some element of denial that Aemond would do such a thing.
03:51But I think as time goes on, he's going to realize that, oh, actually no, he's stopping at nothing.
03:55Just seeing these actions unfold and seeing the pattern that's starting to emerge.
03:59Yeah, it's becoming apparent that he has that ability to go there.
04:05But as an audience member, I think, yeah, I'd like to sway into the idea that Aemond has done it on purpose.
04:11Oh, really? Because he has that conversation with his sister at the end in the finale, I think it is.
04:18And it comes across that Aemond is sort of trying to tell everyone that they need to move
04:23because he wants to keep the family on the throne,
04:26which makes you think that he still has this idea of the collective, that he wants them all to succeed,
04:31which then sort of goes against the idea that he's just out for himself.
04:35Well, I think he's starting to see the walls crumble around him.
04:38And then you start to sort of bring all your pieces together, don't you?
04:43Just to strengthen the fortress again.
04:46Yeah, I think he's calculated and switched on in a way that Aegon isn't quite at this point.
04:55I think we potentially have scope to see him focus in and become more channeled and driven and sort of tunnel vision.
05:05But yeah, there's a calculated coldness to Aemond that is fucking terrifying.
05:14What's Aegon's path forward then?
05:16Do you think, can he ever return to the throne and what does he need to do?
05:20What does he need to change to make that happen?
05:22I don't know because I'm enjoying it as an actor.
05:25I don't know. It's not up to me.
05:28I wish I could sit in the writer's room and hear what those amazing minds are conjuring up.
05:35As an actor, would you like to see him sort of move towards being maybe a better person
05:41or kind of the other way and being just as evil as Aemond?
05:45What's more fun to play?
05:47Go to toe, I think, with fighting fire with fire is always fun from an acting perspective.
05:54Getting to outweird someone is fun.
05:58I find that if you're walking down the street and you've got somebody who sort of comes in your face
06:04and for some reason that happens to me a lot.
06:08I sort of attract people who do that.
06:13I remember when I was younger, when I was at drama school,
06:16that used to happen a lot where I lived around Brick Lane.
06:19And one day I just decided that I was just going to outweird the person who did it next.
06:24And yeah, it worked. So I think that kind of thing.
06:27Does that happen with you and Ewan on set? Have you ever tried to do that?
06:32I think it happens naturally just because we both like to...
06:37I like to throw curveballs at him and he does the same with me.
06:41Can you give me an example of something you do?
06:43Oh, it's just little choices. It's just little decisions now and again.
06:45If we've been doing a scene for a while, to then just throw something in,
06:49which is a completely different flavour, just to spark, just to reignite that flame.
06:54Because it can go out or it can sort of diminish as time goes on.
06:58Just to pump some electricity back into it.
07:01Just a little bit of a, whoa, where did that come from?
07:05We will prevail and bring forth peace.
07:08But you must accept that the path to victory now is one of violence.
07:14Good.
07:16To war then.
07:20We ask this to everyone that we interview, but what is your go-to album at the moment?
07:24What have you got on repeat?
07:26I've found myself listening to a lot of, not necessarily an album in particular,
07:31but a lot of 70s rock and roll.
07:34I've been listening to a lot of Bee Gees in the morning.
07:37Really?
07:38Yeah.
07:39Which is rogue for me.
07:42Now that could, surely someone's got a biopic in the works for that.
07:46Well, yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
07:48Condition ready.
07:49I know, right? Got the hair for it.
07:53Okay, so I've been listening to a lot of, I love Alt-J.
07:56Yeah.
07:57And I find myself locking into them on sort of, in sporadic phases.
08:03So I'll go a long time without listening to them and then I'll lock in again.
08:07Bon Iver, obsessed.
08:09His lyrics are transcendent.
08:14I also saw his live gig where, did you see it with the lasers and the mirrors?
08:19I didn't know. Where was that? Where did you see it?
08:21God, I saw that in Wembley, I think.
08:23Yeah.
08:24I'm a big Hosea fan.
08:26Oh, yeah.
08:27Again, I think his lyrics are stunning.
08:30And the voice on the fella.
08:31Yeah.
08:32What the hell? How is that humanly possible?
08:35He's the kind of artist I can imagine doing one of the credit songs for House of the Dragon.
08:38Right.
08:39Yeah.
08:40Maybe even a cameo.
08:41Rousing and sort of.
08:42Because he's got the hair, hasn't he?
08:43Yeah, he could be in it. He could be in it.
08:45If he does want to be in it, just let me know.
08:49Yeah, saw him play live in Newport the other week at the Folk Festival over in Rhode Island.
08:57Jesus, yeah, just loads.
08:59But it's all a bit of a hodgepodge of different genres.
09:02There's not really an album at the moment.
09:04Are you a playlist guy for your roles?
09:07Yeah, yeah, definitely.
09:09What was on Egon's playlist?
09:11A lot of angsty sort of stiff little fingers and a lot of punk rock.
09:21A lot of kind of Yoko, John Lennon, Yoko Ono scream outs.
09:28I'd love to imagine sort of in an alternate universe where they had that technology,
09:33Egon to sort of, the camera to come into the room and he's just sort of like screaming along to Yoko.
09:38Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah.
09:40If he was doing their warm ups, it'd be, yeah, in his element.
09:44But then again, like lots of Eminem.
09:48Just things that pump you up.
09:50But also I feel like in season two we see Egon like this.
09:54So I've tried to tailor my playlist so that those moments,
09:58if I was in my trailer before going onto set,
10:00I'd have to sort of lock into that kind of more melancholic, calm,
10:05not calm, but sort of a quieter, slower rhythm.
10:08So like ambient massage music?
10:10A lot of Rachmaninoff kind of, yeah, really sort of floaty, fluid music
10:15that kind of set a sort of a tranquility within you,
10:18which I could then find different flavours to him.
10:23A darker side with a different energy,
10:25because you can get the darkness through the fucking, come on, all that.
10:29And that's the sort of the smashing up scenes.
10:32But then the bits where he's sat there crying, looking at the fire,
10:35there needs to be a different tone set, yeah.
10:38I've got some behind the scenes photos that you posted on your Instagram
10:42that I am desperate to get more context to,
10:45and kind of maybe there's some good stories behind them.
10:48But the first one I've got, which is a bit clear,
10:50but I want to ask you more about it,
10:52is you getting changed into your cripple or burned face.
11:00Yeah, so that's the bald cap I'm having torn off,
11:05and that's basically like a swimming cap that they put on,
11:08and they glue it to my hairline.
11:11Not one you can wear for the Olympics or anything like that?
11:14You probably could, you know, you probably could.
11:16But it's watertight, this one.
11:19How long does it take in the morning?
11:21For that whole look?
11:22Yeah.
11:23Well, that's just the neck and face,
11:25so that's probably four and a half, pushing five.
11:29Hours?
11:30Hours.
11:31Bloody hell.
11:32But then when it's the full arm, the torso, that's closer to seven and a half.
11:38Every time you had to do it?
11:40Yeah, man.
11:41How many weeks in a row is that?
11:44The full burn was in total probably about two weeks of every day,
11:50but that's spread out, that's not consecutive days,
11:53and this was probably this sort of neck up,
11:57more of a healed version, this one.
12:01Again, probably about two and a half weeks.
12:03Were you warned by Paddy Constantine about those prosthetics
12:06and how long they took?
12:08Yeah, because that was the first time pads had to do it as well,
12:12and Paddy loves that sort of stuff.
12:14Oh, really?
12:15Yeah, he's big into his Halloween and his fancy dress
12:19and the sort of horror side of things he's big into,
12:24so he loved it.
12:27Do you know what? The wig's probably the most tricky.
12:29Oh, really?
12:30The hardest thing about that was when the initial phase where the eye was shut
12:35and there was a prosthetic piece over my eye.
12:38My eyesight out of this eye is quite poor anyway,
12:40so I was just kind of walking around, bumping into things.
12:45So Hannah, my amazing hair and makeup artist,
12:48she was like my guide dog, dragging me around the place.
12:54But yeah, that was the hardest thing.
12:55And then they took the prosthetic off and then glued the eye shut,
12:59glued my actual eyelids shut,
13:01and that was weird because you just couldn't open it.
13:03Definitely one of the internet's favourite pictures of you from behind the scenes,
13:06but that one there.
13:09Yeah, that's me trying to work out how to do an Instagram post, I think.
13:14I saw a really funny tweet that basically said,
13:17I like to think this is Egon texting Eamon saying,
13:20still alive, bitch.
13:22Yeah, likely, Snapchatting him.
13:25Yeah, felt cute, delete later.
13:28Yeah, I think Liv took this at the monitor
13:34because she thought it was funny that I was there.
13:38I don't know what I was doing, replying to an email of some sort.
13:41Because there's big turnarounds in these setups.
13:44They burn the incense and then the incense runs out,
13:46so they have to reset the incense and all that sort of stuff.
13:49So yeah, there's big chunks of time in between
13:52and just lying there like a little slimy slug,
13:54I thought I'd better do some work.
13:57But yeah, there's lots of potential outcomes of that.
14:02Well, thanks so much for chatting to me today, Thomas.
14:04Pleasure, mate.
14:06Hold to your courage!
14:08For the one true king, Egon!
14:36you