The Man Behind Aemond Targaryen Is Nothing Like His Character, Thank Goodness
House of the Dragon is full of actors at the top of their game. Without the perfect casting, it wouldn’t be half the show it is. And one of the best of a very strong crowd is Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen. (He’s not the first actor to play Aemond, mind—the character was played as a child by Leo Ashton, who was equally good in the role.)
Aemond is, to put it mildly, not someone you would want to hang out with in real life. He’s ruthless and sometimes downright sadistic. This is a man who barbecues his own brother with a dragon and leaves him languishing in agony.
Don’t worry, though—actor Ewan Mitchell is not like that. He’s a very thoughtful dude. And he’s offered his thoughts on Aemond many a time during House of the Dragon promo interviews, and they’re always spot-on.
“Aemond has a multitude of motivations,” Mitchell told Variety. “One of them is that he wants to be the war hero, and to be seen as this nigh-unkillable force, very similar to the Rogue Prince, the younger Daemon Targaryen. Especially because Aemond wields the largest singular power in Vhagar, with that power comes a great responsibility.” Ah, that sounds familiar! Is Mitchell a Spider-Man fan too?
We may never know, because Mitchell has wisely opted out of the fandom game, and you won’t find him on social media. In fact, he only speaks sparingly about his personal life. We know that he’s from Derby and has an older brother, and that’s about it in terms of his family. He’s not a nepo baby, that’s for sure. His expected life path as a kid from Derby, he said in an interview with The Face, was to “go into industry, get an apprenticeship”—but he always dreamed of acting, instead.
So he studied at the Central Junior Television Workshop, and honed his craft until he was able to find an agent. He nabbed roles in short films and TV shows until his big break came in the form of Osferth in The Last Kingdom. From there, the sky was the limit. (In House of the Dragon it’s literally the limit, seeing as how Aemond traverses the skies on the back of a giant dragon.)
You may have also seen Mitchell in World on Fire, Trigger Point, or the movie Saltburn. But it’s sure to be Aemond Targayren he’s most remembered for playing. Ewan Mitchell absolutely commands every scene he’s in and makes the show all the better for being there. Derby is hopefully very proud of him.
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