The actor has been playing one of the series’ most vicious characters, Aemond Targaryen, since 2022
Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage; Ollie Upton/HBO
NEED TO KNOW
- House of the Dragon star Ewan Mitchell plays one of the show’s most vicious characters, Aemond Targaryen
- The actor tells PEOPLE how fans interact with him in public, given the nature of the role he plays in the hit series
- New episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max
Ewan Mitchell is used to the stares.
The 29-year-old actor has been playing Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon since 2022, and the vicious character’s reputation speaks for itself when it comes to how fans see Mitchell — even off-screen.
“I’ve had people move out of the way for me,” he tells PEOPLE of the fan response.
Once, he recalls, he “had to get from one [side of the] airport to another a couple of years back.” At the time, season 2 was airing, and “I think it was episode 4, just as that episode had dropped.”
“I remember stressing, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to get from this side of the airport to the other side in less than five minutes.’ And I had so little resistance,” he says. “Because people would stop and stare as I was running past them.”
@people #EwanMitchell says his portrayal of #AemondTargaryen on ‘House of the Dragon’ has left some people a little intimidated when they meet him in real life. #HOTD
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“When in doubt, when I’ve got to get somewhere fast, [I’ll put Aemond’s wig on],” he quips.
Aemond in season 3, which premiered June 22, has been no less frightening than previous installments.
The first episode saw him plant a kiss on his mom, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), in a charged moment. “It kind of makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit,” Mitchell says of the “shocking” scene. “It’s quite a difficult pill to swallow, isn’t it? Kissing your mom on the lips, especially in that way.”
“Aemond, growing up, he never felt like he was loved enough by his mom and his family around him, and a kid needs that unconditional love to develop a balanced view of themselves,” Mitchell says. “Because he never had that, he’s got a very skewed perception and a very strange way of showing love.”
“I think what you see in that scene in episode 1 is that skewed love,” he adds.
Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO
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Cooke, 32, tells PEOPLE of the kiss: “I think it was quite odd for both of us.”
“There has been this Oedipal undercurrent — unbeknownst to Alicent. And I think it’s shocking,” she says. The kiss is also “really dangerous, because he’s a very dangerous person.”
“She knows that one wrong facial expression, one perceived rejection, will cost her her life. So she’s trying to tread very, very carefully,” Cooke adds. “But I do think she’s sort of stupefied in that moment.”
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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