[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the House of the Dragon season three finale.]
House of the Dragon took some big swings away from the book in season three — for example, the entirety of Tumbleton, the besieged town at the heart of the storyline this year.
Author George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, the in-universe history tome from which HOTD draws its inspiration, depicts not one but two massive battles at Tumbleton, both of which contain meaningful differences from the encounter shown on screen in the season three finale that released Sunday.
Daeron Targaryen, one of the most anticipated characters in the show’s franchise (played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, set to star as Link in the upcoming Legend of Zelda movie), rides his dragon and makes a daring move — in the book. Instead, here on the show, Freddie Fox’s Gwayne Hightower stops him from making said move, which is a bit of a bummer. It never could have happened in the book at this point, because Gwayne isn’t at Tumbleton in Martin’s work; indeed, show creator Ryan Condal has given Gwayne a much longer lease on life altogether.
The list goes on; suffice it to say, there’s a wide gulf between Book Tumbleton and Show Tumbleton. And while not all among the book-first faithful will agree with me on this, allow me as a card-carrying member to meekly put it out there: Tumbleton was the best story of season three, by far. The reason? Three names: the aforementioned Benjamin and Freddie, with a final dash of James Norton.
I’m sorry, were you getting bored of the Tagaryen family politics? Look no further for a wake up call than these three actors representing House Hightower, powerful and imposing in their own right, but just as catty and petty as the Lannisters at the end of the day. The in-fighting, the arrogance, the unexpected levity of Ormund’s plight… it’s akin to that unassailable Tyrion quality that made early Game of Thrones so fun, and had been missing for much of HOTD.
Sadly, we won’t get a repeat on the Tumbleton vibe in season four, based on the finale’s events: Ormund, the peacocking villain at the heart of this tale, is dead, felled by a lethal combination of scents, stab wounds and dragon-fire. Daeron appears to be missing in action, perhaps to allow his real-life performer some time to trade in Westeros for Hyrule. It’s only Gwayne — the most heroic of the trio, and a contender for the most likable character on House of the Dragon — who is decidedly still in the mix. Whatever lies ahead for him, and whatever lies ahead for his nephew Daeron, it will all occur without Norton huffing and puffing his way through the scenery as Ormund.
As season three fades away into memory, let’s take one last look at the heroes of Tumbleton. Below, The Hollywood Reporter presents snippets of three separate conversations with Norton, Ainsworth and Fox about their work in season three, now that it’s come to an end.
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JAMES NORTON (Ormund Hightower)
James Norton.
HBO
Ormund is in the book, but he’s very thinly written compared to your take. What was your initial reference point for the character?
NORTON Luckily there are significant differences between me and Ormond, but there are also some kind of crossovers in the Venn diagram, which is always the way, I guess, whenever you play anyone. You have to find the reference points within your own life to really find true empathy and affection for the character.
What’s one of the crossovers?
One of the first things which I identified with was the smell thing. When I read it in the script, it was a really playful and kind of eccentric, but it was also important because it speaks to a kind of control: a Type A thing, what happens if he loses control and the sort of overly zealous, overly sensitive intolerance to smells and germs. I have a couple of those, but one thing I really identify is I have this terrible propensity for chewing. I have a real thing [with] mastication and hearing people chewing gum. It really brings out this demon in me. I’ve read about it. It’s actually a thing. I’m not alone! Other people understand and empathize. So when I saw the moment in the script about Ormund’s intolerance for bad smells, I was like, “I get it. I get it.”
The first time we see you in your suit of armor … it’s a vibe.
Well, thank you very much. I can’t take any credit for the armor or the way I look. We’re very lucky on this show. We have movement coaches, the unbelievable costume department, the armor, the sword. I know everyone says it, but this show is really second to none. By the time you put on that suit of armor, you feel fucking amazing. You feel so powerful.
Ormund’s a pretty scary guy when he’s feeling powerful. What’s underneath that?
He’s a fanatic. He is extreme in his views on the superiority of the Hightower line. He’s willing to tell Daeron to his face that his Targaryen blood is tainted and that he has savagery in his blood. That’s kind of extreme! And it’s sinister as well. It’s dark. But it was also really wonderful to ground him because the creators of the show were willing to go big with Ormund. In my initial chat with Ryan and the writers, I could tell these guys wanted to be bold with this character. Because he’s a blank canvas in the books, there’s not that much to go on; they could have gone really small and minimal and nuanced. And there is nuance. There’s real complexity in him. But there’s also contradiction, which makes him a really wonderful character to play. He’s playful, there’s camp elements to him, and he’s grounded in this real fascistic attitude toward the Targaryen reign. He’s delicious.
BENJAMIN EVAN AINSWORTH (Daeron Targaryen)
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth.
HBO
How often do fans ask you about Daeron’s lack of silver hair?
AINSWORTH I remember at the screen test they had wigs for the actors who were auditioning for Daeron, and I remember them not being silver. I thought that was very, very interesting. I kind of like that there’s these theories and ideas with fans online, even about dying Daeron’s hair and things like that. And I think the discourse that it’s caused has been really interesting and cool to see actually.
You’re getting your first taste of major franchise discourse with House of the Dragon. Expect it to continue!
Well, it’s a show I watched as an audience member before I ever even auditioned for it. I was a big fan of Game of Thrones. Now, to be a Targaryen? It’s like, hold on. What just happened? Did that really happen for me? I really love it. I love how much he looks like Alicent. He even picks at his fingers like Alicent.
Did you work with Olivia Cooke on that, small things like picking at fingers?
I never really had a conversation with her about it. It was more just from studying her performance, and a couple of things which I just thought felt right for Daeron and the situation that he’s been around in Oldtown and now Tumbleton, inspired by her brilliant work across the seasons.
His mother aside, Daeron’s relationship with his family is fraught, particularly with Ormund. How did you build that dynamic out with James?
I remember early conversations with James Norton, Ryan Condal, the writers, directors, and just talking through their relationship. And I think for both of us, it was important that despite how twisted and manipulative and controlling the relationship may be, there’s a layer of love which underpins it all, which holds it together. From my perspective, I was sent to ward away from family from a really young age and haven’t seen my mother in years. Daeron longs for an acceptance to be seen, to be loved by a parental figure. It’s a shame that his parental figure is Ormond Hightower!
FREDDIE FOX (Gwayne Hightower)
Freddie Fox.
HBO
You’ve played a lot of villains in your career, like Spider on Slow Horses. Here, Gwayne is not only a hero, he just might be the most likable character on the show. How much of a change-up does this feel like?
FOX Wow, what an honor that is, especially when I’m used to journalists telling me that I play such horrible people. (Laughs.) But that’s why we do this, right? It’s to put on all the different masks, all the different costumes and all the different personalities that we can. That’s the job, that’s the fun of it, and that’s why I got into it in the first place. So I’m very delighted that you feel that I’ve been vindicated.
There’s a palpable level of care between you as the performer and your character, which then translates into a palpable level of care between Gwayne and the people around him. What underpins that sensitivity for you?
When I auditioned for the part, the scenes that I was reading and the essence of Gwayne that I was getting was a slightly entitled boy who’d been away from King’s Landing and his father a long time and was trying to project himself as [a powerful man]. Certainly with Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), who he had a real disregard for in so many ways, that was only heightened when he found out about the relationship with his sister. But then what Ryan and the writing team have done, and I’m very grateful to them for it, is they have since found this soft underbelly of a guy who presented as one thing to survive in this new world… a bit like a new kid at school, if you like.
Once he comes into the sort of contact with the real politic of warfare, certainly dragon warfare, there’s this instant humanizing moment where he realizes that he needs to caretake not only Criston, but the responsibility for his men becomes all consuming. Seeing the wasted potential of these young men, Criston being one of them, just breaks his heart and galvanizes his need to protect Daeron, and make sure he’s a good person who may one day grow up to rule the realm.
One of my favorite scenes in the finale and the season is the hostage negotiation between Gwayne, using the Sea Snake (Steve Toussaint) as a bargaining chip with Daemon (Matt Smith). Gwayne walks in with the best pitch possible, but the moment we see Daemon, we all know it’s never going to work.
It was incredible to play, and appropriately daunting. For Gwayne, he is so daunted by the situation, but knows he has to do something. Me, I’ve known Matt for many years, but when you come into the boxing ring, and this was a bit like a boxing ring because we were surrounded by people in this courtyard… when he comes into the scene, you are aware that you are in the presence of a star. There’s something that happens with certain actors, very rare, where you just go, “Oh, Christ.” An electricity arrives that you just have to be excited to be around and bear witness to. I went home after that and was saying to anyone that would listen that I’d just had one of the most amazing acting days of my life.
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House of the Dragon season three is now streaming on HBO Max; read THR‘s finale coverage.
