House of the Dragon star on why they're refusing to watch or read Game of Thrones
Prince Aemond Targaryen himself Ewan Mitchell was conscious of being performatively swayed by author George RR Martin's original Fire & Blood book.
House of the Dragon's Ewan Mitchell has revealed why he didn't read author George RR Martin's Fire & Blood book or watch Game of Thrones in preparation for his role as the menacing Prince Aemond Targaryen.
In Season 2 of the Thrones prequel, Aemond 'One-Eye' betrayed his king brother on the battlefield with dragonfire and subsequently took over all of his responsibilities as the stand-in monarch of the seven kingdoms.
Mitchell, who also played Osferth in The Last Kingdom and Michael Gavey in last year's sensational Saltburn, recently told The Times that he's avoided all previous Westeros-based media in order to dodge its influence.
"I didn't want it to influence me whether it be subconsciously or consciously... I'll get around to watching it," he said, before weighing in on his alter-ego's eyepatch.
Apparently, Mitchell will often keep on the patch between takes "because over the course of a couple of hours you develop a headache" and so he harnesses the pain to create the visual illusion of a "volcano that's boiling underneath the surface".
The actor went on to share: "I sometimes forget to blink. I need to just chill out a little bit. That's the message that Aemond wants to give off: that he has you in his sights and you won't be able to escape him."
Meanwhile, the Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon is out there to watch right now, but fans of the fantasy thriller were left slightly deflated by the events that unfolded and left particular furious about the two-year wait for Season 3.
Due to the show's ambitious scale and huge production costs, fans had already waited two years after season one wrapped up in 2022.
House of the Dragon airs on HBO in the US and NOW/SKY in the UK.