House of the Dragon’s Ewan Mitchell Is Channeling Tony Soprano and Robert De Niro

Vanity Fair: Can you talk to us a little bit about how Aemond justifies his actions?

Ewan Mitchell: Aemond never really felt unconditional love growing up. He was the spare son, although he felt like he should have been treated as the first. It’s the duty of the spare son to fight the war and to do the necessary evil, so to speak. He was neglected a lot as a child. He was bullied relentlessly by his nephews, his brother acting as ringleader. So Aemond very much wanted to find his place in the world. The thing is, if a child isn’t embraced by the village, they’ll burn it down to feel its warmth. And so Aemond, with this newfound power that he has with Vhagar, he will now seek validation and, ultimately, attention through other means—through war.

Do you feel that Aemond made a wise decision kicking Alicent off the council?

Yeah, it was tactical. I’ve always kind of played with different motivations for him, one of them being that he wants his mom. He feels like he has to become the war hero and finish this war up, so then he finally has time to spend with his mum. Every time that I played a scene with Olivia Cooke, I always visualized Aemond and Alicent sitting on a Dornish beach, just sipping on piña coladas. Far from war. He can finally have that time with his mum that he’s always craved, that he never really had.

He kind of had to harden himself into this weapon and manufacture himself into something lethal so he’s never seen as weak again. It’s a little bit like Michael Mann’s Heat. There’s a quote in it that Robert De Niro says: “Never get attached to someone you’re not prepared to walk out on in 30 seconds flat when you feel the heat around the corner.” That’s the code that his character lives by.

Aemond has a similar kind of code that helps him. That’s why he’s so easily able to walk out on the madam: Love is weakness in his world. Alicent challenges that code—she is, in fact, his kryptonite. With the people that you love most and the ones you want the most, you often have to push them out of the way to get what you want. It’s similar to the kid in the playground who bullies his crush. He just doesn’t want his mum at work. He wants to do the job at hand, and his mum can’t get in his way.