‘House of the Dragon’ Cast Reveal Whether They Are Backing Team Green or Team Black IRL
Just like their TV counterparts, the cast of House of the Dragon are taking sides in the fight between Team Black and Team Green.
Season 1 of the Game of Thrones spinoff ended with the fictional land of Westeros in conflict over who is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne — King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) or Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy). The Greens represent Aegon, taking on the colors of House Hightower’s flag, while the Blacks back Rhaenyra and are represented by the typical Targaryen colors.
As a refresher, the late King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) previously declared Rhaenyra as his heir before welcoming Aegon and two other children with Rhaenyra’s former BFF, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). On Viserys’ deathbed, Alicent believes he told her that Aegon should be his heir, though viewers know Viserys’ mention of Aegon’s name was actually a reference to King Aegon the Conqueror’s Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, which he previously shared with Rhaenyra.
Though Aegon II concluded season 1 with a crown on his head, Glynn-Carney, 29, isn’t necessarily rooting for his character in the new season.
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“Well, I’m a feminist, so I’d quite like to see a woman in power, so I think the Blacks,” the actor exclusively told Us Weekly at the House of the Dragon season 2 New York City premiere at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday, June 3. “However, that’s not the film that we’re playing right now. We’re playing against Black.”
Unlike Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell is sticking with his character Prince Aemond Targaryen’s Team Green allegiance. “Speaking from my point of view? No, I don’t want to say,” he teased before telling Us, “I’m Team Green through and through.”
It was Mitchell’s character that furthered the conflict between the two sides, as he and his dragon, Vhagar, accidentally killed Rhaenyra’s son Prince Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) in the season 1 finale. “He’s faced with a choice after killing Lucerys,” Mitchell, 27, teased. “He can either return home and admit it was a moment of weakness — that it was unintentional and he didn't mean to kill Lucerys and be at the mercy of Rhaenyra — or he can go home and own it and claim the kill, so to speak, and become the most wanted man in the realm.”
Also repping Team Green on and off the small screen is Phia Saban, who plays Aegon’s wife and sister, Queen Helaena Targaryen. “I am so brainwashed, spending all my time with Team Green,” the actress, 25, explained to Us. “I don’t think I can actually see a world outside of it. … It’s hard because I do take on the show through the lens of my character and that’s my paradigm. So, from Helaena's perspective, she’s so inside of it. So, I find it quite hard to align with the pro-Blacks propaganda I’m hearing.”
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Harry Collett, who plays Rhaenyra’s eldest son, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, told Us that while he does “feel bad for [the] Green[s] sometimes,” he and his character are rooting for his onscreen mother. “I genuinely would love to know what Team Green people think when they say, ‘Oh, I think the Greens deserve the throne,’” he joked.
Lord Corlys Velaryon actor Steve Toussaint also agrees with his character’s support of Team Black. “I think Rhaenyra does have the stronger claim because in whatever anyone has said, the king said to her, ‘You are my heir,’” he told Us. “And then, of course, all the lords came and bent the knee to her. So that’s the law. So, even if I was just watching it and not involved in any way at all, I would still be like, ‘Well, no. That’s right.’”
Other Team Black supporters on the NYC red carpet included Bethany Antonia (Lady Baela Targaryen) and Jamie Kenna (Ser Alfred Broome).
“This has all happened because of a miscommunication or a confused argument. But people had pledged loyalties already way back when and it was always supposed to be her as the rightful heir to the throne, I think we just got a bit lost in our way and now here we are Greens, Blacks, Greens, Blacks,” Antonia stated, while Kenna noted, “It’s [Rhaenyra’s] right. She’s been given the throne. That’s what happened.”
House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO and Max Sunday, June 16, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Andrew Nodel
