If you have been watching House of the Dragon, you’ll know that things have started off with a real bang! We recently brought you our coverage of the roundtable discussion with Team Black (those who support Rhaenyra). Now it’s time to hear from the other side! We got a chance to sit down with the Team Green supporters, including Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Fabien Frankel (Criston Cole), Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon Targaryen II), and Matthew Needham (Larys Strong).
The second episode of the series’ acclaimed third season debuted this past Sunday. And as fans have seen, things have absolutely escalated in the Dance of Dragons! The Battle of the Gullet concluded with massive casualties. Following that, major steps were made for Team Black to take the throne, in which further major casualties resulted. As with our conversation with the members of Team Black, this was something we absolutely had to get to the bottom of with the members of Team Green.
**MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: Much of the conversation that took place with us and our other press counterparts involves questions about the first two episodes of Season 3. So if you haven’t seen these episodes yet, and do not want to be spoiled, please watch them first then come back to read our interviews.**
Olivia Cooke and Fabien Frankel
On the other side of the coin from Rhaenyra is Alicent Hightower. Season 2 ended with her, terrified of her son Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) ascending to the throne, surrendering to Rhaenyra and making a deal with her to take the Iron Throne in exchange for the safe escape of her and her daughter Helaena Targaryen from King’s Landing. While it was always a suspicious notion, we found out in the past two episodes that she was telling the truth. A desperate move that spawns from the exhaustion and sorrow resulting from the dire consequences of war. This was something she and Criston Cole had in common, and we had to ask both Cooke and Frankel about it.
NOC: I think it’s interesting because we’re seeing these characters at kind of a crossroads. They’ve been supporting their side for several months and years now. Now they’re starting to see the consequences of war. And both of them are kind of starting in a place this season where they’re both sort of despondent. Can you talk about kind of that mindset of just having these regrets in their involvements in the war, and do you think that that’s something that is probably going to remain true for them for the duration of this story?
FRANKEL: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know how you don’t forget. The mistakes that they’ve made and the choices that they’ve made will exist forever within them. And also that those consequences will exist forever. So, I don’t think you ever forget that stuff. Whether they are able to redefine themselves is yet to be seen, but there’s two more seasons of this show: this one and the fourth. And we’ll see if over the course of those two seasons whether they are able to redefine themselves or not. But you know, I think they will live with those decisions and the consequences of those decisions for the rest of their lives.
COOKE: I agree.
NOC: Olivia, I feel like Alicent has started off the season really being the most sympathetic and complex character that we’re seeing. She is put in this very precarious situation where anything that she does could get her killed, but also you’re showing this position of strength that’s just kind of amazing and really try and navigate things as bravely as possible. What’s it like to kind of veer as an actress between that sense of fear and that sense of strength from scene to scene?
COOKE: God, I don’t know if I think about it that intensely. I think I just try to be quite instinctual with what is happening in the scene with my cast and with the directors. I try not to be too set on what I’m going to do, and just try to be open to how the scene unfolds. And there is a certain level of adrenaline that Alicent is leading with and being propelled by. But apart from that, I’m just trying to react in real time to all the hurdles and minds that are being dropped in Alicent’s wake.
Tom Glynn-Carney and Matthew Needham
So far this season, Aegon and Larys have been on the run from the terrifying machinations of Aegon’s brother Aemond. After Aemond burned the hell out of his brother during The Battle of Rook’s Rest in Season 2, and took the throne from his bed-ridden brother, Aegon knew he wasn’t safe. And Larys, plotting his own specific strategies, took the disgraced king, as they ran away together.
There was some humor to be found in the mismatched duo’s road trip, and we had the opportunity to ask both actors about that.
NOC: For a show that’s obviously as serious and heavy as House of the Dragon could be, I do think that there’s a bit of comedy and irony in the pairing of Larys and Aegon, because you’ve got one character that’s so driven by intellect and strategy and planning, and another that’s so emotionally driven and impulsive. Did you guys find opportunities to play up the comedy in those differences, and potentially also just the frustration in each other’s characters, because you’re so different?
NEEDHAM: That’s an interesting mix, isn’t it? It’s head and heart both, and combined it’s quite a good mix. But our thing was just to play it as real as possible. I think not to play it for comedy or anything, because I actually think it’s really emotional what’s happening. It’s really scary what’s happening. So I think we just tried to play it as straight as possible.
GLYNN-CARNEY: And what you’ve said there about the frustration – I think that’s the bit that people are picking up on as being the comedy. Because it’s inherently funny to see two people not have a plan and be panicking about their future and how much danger they’re in and how high the stakes are. And to see people at rock bottom and play the truth of that rather than play it for the comedy, it’s always going to be funnier and more impactful if you steer away from kind of playing for laughs.
NOC: You’re both stuck in between the threat of Aemond and Rhaenyra. Which to you both is the scarier and bigger threat for Aegon and Larys?
NEEDHAM: For Larys, it’s Rhaenyra. Aemond is a kind of an unwelcome distraction for Larys. He wants Aegon’s mind to be on Rhaenyra. That’s the carrot, and Aeamond’s kind of the stick.
GLYNN-CARNEY: The end goal is Rhaenyra, but on the way to her, he’ll have to deal with Aemond as well. Aegon definitely is distracted by the fact that Aemond is at large, and dangerous. For Aegon, so yeah, the threat [of Aemond] is real, for sure.
As the Dance of Dragons nears its conclusion, every participant of Team Green is rallying up for the beginning of the end. Epic battles, tragic deaths, and daring dragon flights are just the start of it. With an ensemble cast of multi-talented performers playing iconic characters, the war between the Targaryens and Hightowers could not be more compelling.
See how it all plays out on Season 3 of House of the Dragon. The first two episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max!
Phenomenal performance …