Tom Glynn Carney - ContentMode

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Tom Glynn Carney

In HBO Series

House of the Dragon

Tom Glynn-Carney doesn’t desire a seat on fame’s throne. Like the Iron Throne, it lures many in with its power, yet is often a cutting place to sit. In our interview with Glynn-Carney he tells us, “They [performance in music and plays] feed on the same fear of being seen. They also both require me to wear a character.” Only actors can hide under a beaming spotlight. When he is no longer wearing a character, he stays off the public platform, especially the one that social media creates, teeming with overexposed unreliable narrators. In a May Instagram post, Glynn-Carney returned to the platform with a message writing, “simplicity in life is something I need,” as he craves a hushed stillness in a world that is often chaotic. As Prince Aegon Targaryen in HBO’s House of the Dragon, however, he is surrounded by anything but stillness. Prince Aegon is the chaos in the series as he is King Viserys’ first-born son, and therefore is viewed by many as the rightful heir to the throne in Targaryen tradition, despite the King appointing his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, as his rightful heir. In our interview with him, Glynn-Carney talks about Aegon’s many haters, his separation from social media, and his music. Read below for the full interview!

Coat, Shirt, Pants & Tie : Dunhill Boots : Saint Laurent F22

Coat : Dunhill

I want to start with something you said in another interview, that when you were young, you were a people watcher. I would think that that would help when you started acting. Do you find yourself now being especially in tune with people’s behavior and mannerisms?

I think as actors we need a hypersensitivity to those things, yes. Watching and listening a lot when I was a kid has helped, potentially, I don’t know. I think I’m a good judge of character. I like to take parts of people and sew them together to create a new one.

Coat, Scarf, Pants, Sunglasses & Boots : Saint Laurent F22

You recently closed your role as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. I really like the very beginning of the play, which is “The scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The interior is therefore rather dim and poetic.” Do you feel like people in general are unreliable narrators?

A lot of the time, we omit [based on] what we believe other people want to see. It doesn’t resemble the truth. Because the truth is exposing. We colour our lives, for the onlookers, in vibrant, exciting colours, thick sweeping strokes, full of texture and life, when in reality, what we see, in truth, is a duller, less eye-catching variation, in two-dimensional form.

Social media is a great example of human beings narrating their own ‘perfect’ lives. Flawless, seamless and completely content. The permanent smile. It’s not news to anyone that this is often a lie. So yes, I think the vast majority are unreliable narrators.

Sweater, Pants, Belt, Bracelet & Boots: Saint Laurent F22

Shirt & Pants : Saint Laurent F22

Along with being on stage for plays, you also have experience performing on stage for concerts as Lead Vocalist with Sleep Walking Animals. I’m genuinely such a fan of your music, it has such a warm feeling to it with really vivid storytelling. Plays and concerts are both ways of telling a story to a live audience, do the feelings between the two differ for you?

Thank you, that’s very kind. The two are wildly different and yet strangely alike. They feed on the same fear of being seen. They also both require me to wear a character. There’s nothing like live performance. It’s electric and dangerous and unique to each time it happens.

Coat & Pants : Dunhill

Coat, Shirt, Pants & Tie : Dunhill

Before getting into your character on House of The Dragon, if you could pick one of your songs to be on the soundtrack, which song would you choose?

Probably ‘Drone Interlude’ for its darker tones and clashing harmonies. It’s one of the more filmic tracks we have.

Sweater, Pants, Belt, Bracelet : Saint Laurent F22

Shirt , Belt & Pants : Saint Laurent F22

Prince Aegon is often compared to Joffrey Baratheon, but there seems to be a difference in terms of what motivates their actions since Aegon has expressed in the past that he doesn’t want to sit on the throne. What do you think motivates his actions, if not power?

He’s a complex character. A huge black hole of contradictions. The more I talk about him the less I seem to know him.

Coat & Pants : Dunhill

Coat, Scarf, Pants, Sunglasses: Saint Laurent F22

I know you left social media for a bit to “turn the volume down.” There’s so much noise now surrounding House of The Dragon, even as far as people declaring team black or team green and getting into debates using the history that George R.R. Martin created. Have you been in tune with the fan conversations?

I stay away from it. I’m really glad the show is having such a great effect on people and that so many are tuning in each week. I’ve been told Aegon has already whipped up a healthy number of haters. It only gets worse from here.

Sweater, Pants, Belt, Bracelet : Saint Laurent F22

Shirt , Belt, Pants & Boots : Saint Laurent F22

Olivia Cooke has been quoted calling Alicent’s kids “f—ing weird,” any rebuttal?

Nope.

Speaking of Olivia Cooke, there is an interesting dynamic on the show between the two of you as she plays your mother in the show, Alicent Hightower, but she’s only 1 year older than you in reality. What was it like playing that dynamic?

Liv is a great actor. It’s a pleasure sharing the set with her and having the chance to go toe to toe in some pretty intense scenes. She’s such a generous, sensitive actor with an ability to turn her hand to anything at the drop of a hat. I believe everything she does.