House of the Dragon villain reveals why he’s never watched Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones was once the biggest TV show in the world — but one House of the Dragon star has never watched it, and he has a great reason.

Before David Benioff and D.B. Weiss nuked its place in the zeitgeist with a disastrously received final season, Game of Thrones was a television titan that reshaped pop culture in ways it’s easy to forget (“My sweet summer child” wasn’t a common phrase before the series).

In 2022, the prequel proved its predecessor’s infamous ending wasn’t enough to derail the entire franchise, renewing fans’ faith in the Machiavellian, dragon-filled world of Westeros.

With House of the Dragon Season 2 premiering this week, one actor has confessed to having never seen the original show: Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen.

HBO

“I haven’t seen the original Game of Thrones. I have a confession to make. I’ve never seen it and I didn’t want to watch it going into this role,” he told Comic Book.

“I didn’t want it to inform my decisions in any way, shape, or form, you know, whether it be consciously or subconsciously. I wanted to bring something fresh. Aemond is one of a kind, you know.”

For those who don’t know, Aemond is the vengeful, one-eyed prince that kicked off the Dance of the Dragons in the House of the Dragon Season 1 finale.

He pursued Lucerys from Storm’s End, tormenting him with Vhagar. But, as Viserys warned, the belief that dragons can be controlled by man is laughably naive, and it quickly goes very wrong.

In the same interview, Mitchell explained how he sought inspiration outside George R.R. Martin’s source material. He revealed how one slasher villain inspired his performance: Halloween’s Michael Myers.

“Just through his physicality, you know, no matter how slow he walks, he always catches up with Jamie Lee Curtis. You know, he doesn’t have to say much. He’s just super scary. The way he inhabits space was something that I used with Aemond for sure,” he said.

As well as House of the Dragon, you can find other new TV shows streaming in June, and check out our breakdown of the Targaryen kings and some particularly wild fan fiction.