“Born to be a Lannister, forced to be a Targaryen”: House of the Dragon Fans are Convinced 1 Actor Could Have Played the Perfect Joffrey in Game of Thrones in Tall Claim

The mythology of Game of Thrones was enduring enough to have survived the fall of House Benioff & Weiss with their ghastly Season 8 scripture. As such, stepping into House of the Dragon with the prequel generation of Targaryens and Velaryons has felt easier compared to the experience that left everyone with a sour taste in their mouth.

However, with the lore established and the storylines fleshed out, the intimacy that the audience has developed with the world of Westeros makes almost every viewer an expert in the inner workings of the Houses that rule the world. With the Iron Throne at the center of it all, it seems as though one singular character was born to be a Lannister, yet fate unjustly assigned him to the House of the Dragon.

“Born to be a Lannister, forced to be a Targaryen”

With factions within House Targaryen vying for the Iron Throne and war breaking out between the Greens and the Blacks, HBO’s House of the Dragon witnesses a period that worships the might of dragons more than the influence of gold. Unlike Game of Thrones, the Continent of the prequel era is one where power takes precedence over wealth.

Taking place a century after the Targaryen conquest and nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the silver-haired dragons who rule the Continent are as feared and revered as the actual beasts that lord over the skies, casting shadows as wide as an entire city. Among them, Tom Glynn-Carney‘s Aegon Targaryen faces a fate more dire than that of Kit Harington‘s Aegon Targaryen.

Both born with a fate to rule the world and without the pre-requisite ambition to do so, Glynn-Carney’s character is more suited to embody the principles of House Lannister than House of the Dragon. Cunning, shrewd, and cruel when he needs to be, the prequel-era Aegon was born to be a Lannister, yet forced to be a Targaryen.

House of the Dragon: Evolution of Aegon Targaryen

After a pretty feckless arc in House of the Dragon Season 1, Aegon Targaryen launches himself into the role of King with a zealous enthusiasm that reflects nothing close to the pacific reign of Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys I. The sixth Targaryen to sit on the Iron Throne, Aegon comes into his own after an initial distaste toward ruling the Seven Kingdoms that he portrayed at the start.

In an interview with TV Line, Tom Glynn-Carney reveals the insidious cruelty that makes him such a dangerous man with a crown on his head. Perceived as a psychopath by most among the audience, the actor claims:

He’s way more three-dimensional than that. I think he’s complex. Yes, he’s troubled and makes horrendous decisions and has a darker mind, of course. But he’s an empath as well, he feels things deeply, and I think there lies one of many reasons why he behaves in such extreme ways.

He’s deeply, deeply insecure. He’s very vulnerable. He’s very fragile. And he attempts to cover that with this guise of cold, I’ll-finish-you-if-I-need-to attitude. And now, you put a crown on his head, there’s nothing stopping him really, which is scary.

In a nutshell, Glynn-Carney’s Aegon is a stone’s throw away from becoming Joffrey Lannister. With a draconian approach towards ruling the Seven Kingdoms, the heir born in the House of the Dragon was more suited to replace Tommen Baratheon after the death of Joffrey in Game of Thrones.

House of the Dragon is available to stream on Max.