House of the Dragon’s Ewan Mitchell & Gayle Rankin on Complicated Characters

Ewan Mitchell and Gayle Rankin had a lot to say about House of the Dragon this season. The Mary Sue’s Rachel Leishman had the opportunity to ask a couple of questions in a roundtable with the stars. In her conversation, we tried to get to the heart of these two morally squiggly characters.

Needless to say, people are feeling a lot of emotions about House of the Dragon this week. It’s not gone unnoticed by the folks making the show. But, buckle up because it sounds like we’re far from out of the woods!

House of the Dragon is a show where you better keep your eye on most of these characters at all times. Gayle Rankin becomes a perfect example this season. Alys Rivers is a literal witch, and as such, you might want to think about that whenever she does something.

Unpacking Alys Rivers

The Mary Sue asked her about the ways that Alys just kind of pops in and out of scenes. It’s a lot to think about. Rankin clearly has an affinity for the character. There’s a sense that Alys isn’t bound by the things some of the other characters have to deal with.

“It’s so much fun. I wish I was her, you know?,” Gayle smirked. “I think it adds a kind of, hopefully like a bit of an element of surrealist comedy in some ways. She’s so serious and kind of intense. But, she’s also so deeply wise. And, has lived this life a million times.”

“It’s like there’s fun in all of this for her,” she continued. “It’s a bit of a game, which it isn’t for so many of the characters. You know, this is not a game! And, I like how she can flip-flop between those two different kinds of vibes.”

We have to talk about House of the Dragon and Aemond

There are plenty of unhinged characters in House of the Dragon. Ewan Mitchell knows a lot about that. We had to ask about playing someone who feels like he’s completely in the right. The actor explained how Aemond has approached this chapter of this conflict.

“It’s exciting, challenging as an actor. I think I never like to judge the character,” Ewan admitted. “You know, I want to give him his day in court, so to speak.”

He continued, “Yeah I mean, every character is a hero of their own story. You know? And Aemond, he wholeheartedly believes that he is the hero of his story. He’s gonna win the war, and he’s gonna do it for the people that he loves. At what cost? At what cost to his humanity? And, you know how far he’s prepared to go. The extremes that he’s prepared to go, is another thing. But, I think Aemond has yet to find his breaking point.” 

 Those depths aren’t all the way exposed yet. There’s so much drama left to come for one of TV’s premiere franchises. Stay tuned for even more interviews from House of the Dragon.

(featured image: HBO)

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