Dragon Diplomacy and Daddy Issues

Spoilers follow for House of the Dragon through episode “The Red Sowing,” which premiered on HBO on Sunday, July 28. 

Rhaenyra’s trusted advisers really show their elitist small-mindedness in “The Red Sowing.” Lord Celtigar spits out the word workers like a piece of bothersome gristle stuck in his teeth. Prince Jace calls mixed-blood descendants of Old Valyria “mongrels” with the singular hatred of someone burying his own self-loathing. Even the dragon-keepers walk out in protest. It’s a lot of nastiness from a group that is actively losing the war for the throne, and it’s all inspired by Addam of Hull pairing with Laenor’s lonely dragon Seasmoke. But Addam, actor Clinton Liberty says, is unbothered by their criticism. Proving his own worthiness, and connecting with his estranged father, Corlys, are more meaningful motivators than their negativity.

“I don’t think that matters to him at the moment, because he has this opportunity that he’s waited a lifetime for,” Liberty says in the Irish lilt he masks to play a shipwright in the employ of (and certainly not an heir to) House Velaryon. “The only person he’s trying to prove himself to is himself, because now he has the opportunity. What are you going to do with it?”

Addam’s bond with Seasmoke helps Rhaenyra realize that she can build an “army of bastards” to stand against Team Green, and her open call for smallfolk of Targaryen heritage leads to two other characters pairing with dragons: scorpion-maker Hugh and Vermithor, nicknamed the Bronze Fury, and pub regular Ulf and the more reclusive Silverwing. And by Rhaenyra’s side as she makes her hype speech to the dozens of dragon-riding candidates who eventually fail, are burned to death, or are eaten is a glowed-up Addam. He quits his job with the father who has denied him for years, steps out from the shadow of his older brother Alyn (Abubakar Salim), and is newly ensconced among Team Black. Through it all, Liberty imbues the character with a little bit of confusion, a lot of eagerness, and a clear desire for service from, as he laughingly puts it, “just a guy on a beach that happened to be chased by a dragon.”

This episode starts with a dragon face-off between Rhaenyra and Syrax and Addam and Seasmoke. Rhaenyra asks about Addam’s parentage, and you reply that your father was “no one of consequence.” Why do you think Addam makes that choice to keep Corlys’s secret?
When you are thrust into the world of dragons, all of a sudden you’re made aware of all the responsibilities that you actually have — and Addam is realizing that now. Addam is not really aware of what the politics are behind the war and the Blacks and the Greens. He’s aware that if he says the wrong thing, he could die; he could get lit up in flames immediately. He also realizes that if he says the wrong thing about his family or his people, they could also suffer the consequences of what he’s saying. Right now, he’s just trying to be as vague and general as possible. He’s trying to learn more about what’s going on and then he can freely, maybe down the line, talk about who his father is.

The sound design in that scene is so intense. It feels like the dragons are the noisiest they’ve been so far in the series, and Seasmoke is already so protective of Addam. Were the dragon noises playing on set while you were filming, or did you imagine them?
We’re filming on a beautiful beach in North Wales, and it was a very stormy day, so the winds were going crazy. The noise was so loud. But the winds and the storm played a character because they lended to me and Emma being in this really tense, engaging moment. Our beautiful stunt performers would have their big dragon heads, these blue dragon heads, behind each one of us, so Emma and I had a reference to see where the dragons were, their size and shape and scale. The storm was exactly what we needed for that scene.

You and Steve Toussaint have a really complex scene where he tells you at first, “How you’ve come up in the world,” which almost feels sarcastic. But then his “Well done” is very genuine, and you look very vulnerable in that moment. What emotions did you want to come through in that moment with Corlys?
Addam has never had an opportunity to really have a conversation with Corlys, so this is the first time he’s talking to his father one-on-one.

After all this time!
You know what I mean?! [Laughs.] After all this time. Because he’s always, always been ignored. It’s always been Alyn. He’s never had a conversation with his father, and now his first conversation with his father is Corlys saying, “I need to leave and go somewhere else.” [Laughs.] That’s one thing he’s always yearned for. But the thing he doesn’t expect is the validation, which is everything Addam is looking for. He’s never had that, and the fact that those two words were said from Corlys’s mouth means so much more to him than anyone complimenting him on having a dragon. At the core of Addam, he just wants a relationship with his dad. For me in that scene, it showed that all Addam’s life had led to this moment of being recognized as a dragon rider, being recognized by your father, and getting that validation from your parents. He was just relieved, joyful — but you also have to be, like, super-professional and not go crazy. It was a really vulnerable moment for him because he wasn’t expecting it at all.

It is funny to me that no one has picked up on the relationship. Part of me is like, Rhaenyra, how are you not recognizing what’s happening?
It’s funny, because when we were designing the character of Addam, I made it my choice that I wanted him to have long hair like Corlys. I wanted him to follow in his father’s footsteps. If he can’t have a relationship with Corlys, he could at least have something that’s close to his father, because no one knows that he’s his son. I worked with Rosalia Culora and Kashiya Hinds, who are amazing hair designers, and we all designed his hair together. That was almost Addam paying homage to his dad. The similarity is there, but the relationship isn’t — until now.

I will say that I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see Addam ride Seasmoke, and I’m wondering if you filmed any dragon-riding scenes.
I didn’t get to film any dragon-riding scenes, but I did do the CGI scan for potential CGI versions of that. For me, the most exciting thing was being on that beach in North Wales and being able to run away from a dragon, being able to see a dragon head. Being that close to a dragon is as good as it can get, other than riding a dragon. That was an amazing day.

You talked about the stunt performers subbing in for the dragons during the beach scene. Was the scene where Seasmoke chases you down in “Smallfolk” filmed in the same way?
There were some shots where I would have a drone that would be above me, and it would give me an eyeline of where Seasmoke would be, and there were some more close and more intimate shots where it would just be the head. You have these two beautiful, wonderful stunt performers, and they would kind of don the head of the dragon, and the head would be moving toward me, so I would have that as a reference point. Once you have the head of the dragon, you can imagine what the rest of the body is going to look like. And then there were some shots where there was just nothing there. It was just full imagination, like you were when you were a kid fighting off dragons — at least I was.

There is still a lingering question about what happened to Laenor, who is Addam and Alyn’s half-brother. I’m wondering if there was any intel given to you to prepare you for why Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke chooses Addam as his rider.
That is a great question, and it’s the greatest question for none other than Ryan Condal. [Laughs.] Ryan is your guy for that. For me personally, Addam doesn’t really know what the lore is. He’s just a guy on a beach that just happened to be chased by a dragon. I was concerned with looking at the situation through Addam’s eyes. I was worried about trying not to die or get eaten by a dragon. And once you bonded with the dragon, still trying to just stay alive.

Rhaenyra realizes through Addam bonding with Seasmoke that she can have an “army of bastards” on her side, but there’s significant pushback on that from her Small Council. Was it useful to think about how Addam would react to these people and their dislike?
I’ll tell you something so funny because you asked that specific question. On the day of them filming that scene where they’re talking about Addam, I was actually there doing a behind-the-scenes thing. I was fully clothed as Addam, but I was free, so I was wandering around and I wandered into the scene. I realized, halfway through, they were talking about this guy, and I was like, Oh my God! I literally was a spectator. I, Clinton, was full of excitement and joy that they were talking about Addam for the whole scene. But for me as Addam, I think Addam is trying to prove to himself more than anything. They could say all these things about him, but I don’t think that matters to him at the moment, because he has this opportunity that he’s waited a lifetime for. The only person he’s trying to prove himself to is himself, because now he has the opportunity. What are you going to do with it? Are you gonna be the person you always thought you would have loved to have been? Or are you going to crumble under all the pressure?

It’s really emphasized in this episode that to be a dragon rider is to reach another level of success. It puts you closer to nobility than smallfolk, and when we see Addam after he’s joined Team Black, his costume is way more in line with Rhaenyra’s: It’s black, it’s very fitted, it has a cape. Tell me about that glow-up look.
We just have the best people who are making these costumes, a whole team of people. I remember going into the fitting and walking away thinking, I’ve never had a costume fit me more like a glove in my life. It was so tailored to me, and that lends to the character, because you’re forced to walk upright, you’re forced to feel important, because there’s actually a weight to the costume. It really helped me get into that new phase, because now there is weight on his shoulders and he does have to prove himself.