House of the Dragon‘s second season produced an unlikely partnership. Larys “The Clubfoot” Strong found a kindred spirit in Aegon Targaryen after his brother Aemond bathed the King in dragonflame. Larys then helped Aegon escape a second attempt on his life by his brother, Aemond. The two fled King’s Landing for parts unknown. What will that mean for both in season three? House of the Dragon stars Matthew Needham and Tom Glynn-Carney talked about that and a whole lot more during a virtual media roundtable Nerdist participated in recently.
The “most enticing thing to explore” about Larys and Aegon’s relationship and what this partnership taught each character.
Matthew Needham: For Larys it’s about being out of control. He’s used to machinations in court. And he’s used to controlling people in very not calm environments, but less hectic than this. Suddenly he’s in the wilderness with a crazed, rage-fueled person he has to try and shepherd to safety. It’s a real test. His patience is tested. He’s an endlessly patient person, but it’s really stretched breaking point this season.
Tom Glynn-Carney: I feel for Aegon. He’s at a point in his life where everything he had, and had been accustomed to, has crumbled away. He’s starting again almost with a new physicality and a new way of approaching life. That is obviously anxiety inducing. I don’t think Aegon deals very well with that and lashes out. [He’s] a ball of untamable energy, with a lot of rage like Matt said. And working out how to navigate each other and essentially get the thing that we both want, which we have common ground on at least.
What their characters’ dynamic would be if they were in a buddy-cop movie.
Needham: Sam and Frodo if they’re both amoral psychopaths? It’s a very twisted road trip, isn’t it? It’s these very dysfunctional people who can only actually learn to function with each other.
Glynn-Carney: Yeah. Can’t be with you, can’t be without.
Needham: But really they are. It’s so desperate. They are all that they have. There’s an antagonism to that at the beginning, but hopefully it becomes something later on. It sort of mellows into something different, let’s say that.
On whether they ever expected to be a part of season three considering both characters vanish from the written history at this point in the story and Game of Thrones’ itself sidelined Bran for an entire season.
Glynn-Carney: I didn’t think of it like that. I’ve always seen such potential in Larys and Aegon’s relationship and their journey together. It would’ve been a waste to not focus on that, even though they’re away doing their own thing. Also, it expands the world a bit more. It pushes people out of King’s Landing to other more recognizable places like Dragonstone and Harrenhal. We really do expand the world of it through our plotline this year.
Needham: Although it would be so funny to just turn up in episode four with tans.
Glynn-Carney: Beautiful tans. Ripped.
On whether or not they liked being off on their own side quest in season three.
Needham: I liked being off on our weird little rookery adventure. I had a lot of King’s Landing in the previous season, so it was nice to just get out and get feathery. It was good fun.
Glynn-Carney: It was nice to have some fresh air. We were stuck in those studios for a good couple of years. So it was nice to get out and see some daylight.
Needham: Although hour four inside that wagon—
Glynn-Carney: The wagon days were tough. Those ravens were vicious as well. Those days were tough.
What was it like for Glynn-Carney to play a physically vulnerable Aegon.
Glynn-Carney: Very, very satisfying to lean into. The whole thing I’ve been trying to carve out with Aegon is to bring to light his fragility, his vulnerability, and his childlike nature. Not just play the villain. So now, having the physicality that lends itself to that vulnerability and fragility, helps the cause. Definitely.
But also, when you see someone in a vulnerable state like that, they’re in survival mode. They’re desperate, and there’s a way of behaving that is inherently childlike. And needing Larys there with him really, this love/hate situation going on. I found it really nice to lean into that aspect of Aegon this time.
If protecting Aegon is an ego boost for Larys.
Needham: Probably on some level. He wants control. He wants influence rather than power, but I think it’s more immediately dangerous than that. There’s more at stake. It really is, it’s life or death every minute and he is [Aegon’s] only hope and chance of survival. It’s more about preservation than ego at the moment, but I’m sure there’s a quality of it there.
Whether Larys and Aegon see the humanity in each other or if this partnership is entirely a marriage of convenience for both.
Needham: Larys sees a lot of humanity and a lot of himself and his own pain he had as a child growing up in what Aegon is going through in the moment. He sees a lot of similarities in him. They’re both brothers who are overshadowed by their brother, don’t feel the love of their father. There’s a lot of similarities. It doesn’t mean it’s not convenient though, but I believe it’s sincere.
Glynn-Carney: I agree with Matt on that. It might start off as convenience and we later discover that, ”Oh, actually, no, it’s more than that.” There’s levels to it.
What it’s like as actors to play characters with this level of intimacy but who don’t always get along.
Needham: It’s really fun because you get to be on the receiving end of very explosive energy and you have to absorb it rather than giving it back in any sort of way. Which is a really lovely challenge to do. Larys grows to respect Aegon’s defiance and bravery and singleness. I just don’t think it’s a trait that [Larys] has in himself. He admires that.
Glynn-Carney: Aegon has a growing respect for Larys throughout the season. Ebbs and flows. It’s not just a gradual gradient, but there’s a real respect for Larys’ determination and his kind of stop-at-nothing attitude to achieving what we are set out to achieve.
Matt described Larys before with a beautiful analogy as a rat that would chew his own arm off to get out of his confined area. And there’s an aspect of that that Aegon sees and just has a complete respect for and wants to be able to have that access.
It fuels Aegon’s motivation and the momentum that they eventually achieve.
On the conversations they had before the season about the dynamic shift between the two.
Needham: We didn’t go into huge detail. We talked about who was carrying the crown as being symbolic of where [Aegon’s] trust was in Larys. And there were times when it was given back and forth, because I don’t think it’s a steady mistrust or trust.
Glynn-Carney: That’s a little Easter egg for people, to be able to spot and go, “Oh, that’s how [Aegon] feels about Larys at this moment on this day.” It was so circumstantial, depending on the scene and depending on what had just happened and whether a character had been able to gain trust in the other. It just changed so much. But that’s what makes that relationship so dynamic and unpredictable and volatile, as well.
How Aegon feels about his family this season.
Glynn-Carney: Not supported, put it that way. His mom has basically fed him to the lions. His brother has tried to kill him. And his sister is in her own world of existence and got her own things to think about and deal with and she’s not really present. So he’s a lone wolf this time, which is why the relationship with Larys is so vital for him. It’s such an anchor, a grounding force. Without him he would either spiral out of control or fade away into nothing and just be a corpse on a hill somewhere. So they really do rely on each other.
The family thing really doesn’t play, at least into my mind. The only thing that I had in my back of my mind as playing this season was the hatred and the vengeance towards Aemond and wanting to give him a taste of his own medicine at some point.