House of the Dragon Season 2 opened with Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) gleefully sitting atop the Iron Throne and ended with the burned and maimed royal absconding from King’s Landing in secret with the help of Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). This wild reversal of fortunes was grim at times to watch, but always electrifying thanks to the talents of Tom Glynn-Carney. Over the course of House of the Dragon Season 2’s full run on HBO, Glynn-Carney imbued the ne’er-do-well Targaryen with humor, softness, and despair fans did not expect to find in Aegon II. Instead of being a version of Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) with a dragon, Aegon proved to be far more of a mess than a monster.

In House of the Dragon Season 2, Aegon II’s son and heir is brutally murdered, his mother Alicent (Olivia Cooke) consistently berates and undermines him, and his own brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) stealthily takes over war planning duties before nearly killing him with dragonfire during the Battle of Rook’s Rest.

After Rook’s Rest, Aegon is bedridden and badly burned. He miraculously has survived, only to learn he will never, ever be whole again. Besides his burn scars, his leg was shattered, and — as we learn in the Season 2 finale — his genitals essentially exploded. Never mind the grief of losing his beloved golden dragon, Sunfyre, in the melee.

The only person Aegon can trust is Larys Strong. “The Clubfoot” sets out to help Aegon in his convalescence, crescendoing with a drastic plan to flee King’s Landing before a vindictive Aemond can kill his elder brother. What Aegon and Larys don’t know when they’re skipping town is that Alicent has brokered a deal with Rhaenyra to hand over the capitol. Part of that truce? Rhaenyra can kill Aegon.

Decider caught up with Tom Glynn-Carney this week while he was chilling with his dog, Ziggy, on a much-deserved vacation. The House of the Dragon star shared what Sunfyre has in common with the aforementioned Ziggy, why Aegon accedes to Larys’s plans, and what fans should expect from the transformed character in Season 3 and beyond…

DECIDER: I think the most wholesome Aegon moment ever was when Sunfyre greeted him before Rook’s Rest. Kind of like a dog nuzzling its owner. How would you describe the bond between Aegon and his dragon and what it means to him?

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY: I think you’ve just done it very well. I think it is like a dog and his owner. It was interesting. My dad was talking to me about how that scene was very touching and stuff. And I was just like, “You know what? You know what I felt when we did it on that day? When the amazing puppeteers came over with the big, blue dragon head that would later be CGI-ed into Sunfyre. The way they were moving and breathing with this big piece of set was just like, it just reminded me of my dog, Ziggy.” So, yeah, I fully leant into that and imagined it was him nuzzling me in the chest. And he’s sat with me right now, and that’s how it felt on the day. So, yeah, I’m glad that came across.

Sunfyre is considered dead now in the story, but in the books, at least, a huge turning point for your character down the road is when he’s reunited with Sunfyre. Are you hopeful that will indeed play out in the show? And what do you think a reunion like that could mean to Aegon?

Oh, we’ll see. Well, I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I mean, that’s not up to me either, is it? But, yeah, that would be lovely. It would be lovely. I think it’s important for a dragonrider to have a dragon with them and have a companion in that sense. Yeah, there’s just that sort of extra connection, that sort of deeper connection that you have with your dragon, in the same way that you have with your dog, than with all human beings. Your dog knows so much more about you than most humans do. [Laughs] So, yeah, I think it’s the same thing.

When I spoke to Matthew Needham before the season began, he had mentioned that he had always felt that Larys and Aegon were connected from the beginning because Larys is introduced in the show at little Aegon’s name day. Now I’m curious. Because right now Larys is kind of Aegon’s only friend, what do you think is bonding these characters from Aegon’s perspective?

Yeah, I think there’s definitely common ground with Aegon and Larys. There’s now this shared experience of being, you know, physically impaired. This is something that Larys has had to live with his entire life, but it is very new to Aegon. So any advice or any talks or anything like that that Larys has to give Aegon, Aegon is listening to him. For the first time in a long time, he’s listening to somebody and trusting them. Aegon feels like Larys has Aegon’s best interests at heart. Yes, there may be some personal gains eventually, but for now Larys seems legitimate and like he will actually help Aegon help in his pursuit to survive and thrive.

I was talking to somebody before about it, and I’m saying, out of all the bad options that are sort of laid in front Aegon at the moment, this seems to be the least damaging and most likely to help them survive a little bit longer.

You mentioned Aegon’s physical impairment. Over the weeks, we’ve seen just various stages of makeup on Aegon, as he’s been immediately in the aftermath, and now he’s been improving. What was it like to deal with all the prosthetics? How did it change from week to week? And did you have a favorite or least favorite look?

I mean, for a start, it was an experience I’ve never had before. Being clad in all that prosthetic, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of patience from the artists themselves and a lot of skill. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you know, I get the easy job.I just have to sit there and have it put on me in bed. People are getting up at ridiculous hours of the morning and preparing everything even before I arrive. Then once I’m sat in the chair, they spend six to seven hours applying it. At which time, I get to fall asleep or read a book or listen to a podcast. I get the easy side of things, but, yeah, it’s definitely an experience I’ve not had before.

Did you say it was six to seven hours?

Yeah, sometimes. That’s my least favorite part of it, the amount of time spent in the chair. But also, it does get quicker as the healing process improves. For example, like the initial burns where the armor was being peeled out and you could see, you know, torso, arm, face, neck, all that…That was six to seven hours. Really raw burns. But as that starts to heal, we shaved a couple of hours off it.

Yeah, one detail that took me by surprise in the finale was to reveal that Aegon lost a key part of his manhood in the fire. So at what point did you know that that was an element to his injuries? And how drastically does that change how he sees himself?

[Chuckles] Yeah, yeah. What a shame.

Yeah, his poor penis. I was like, “Oh no!”

Understatement of the year! I first realized that was a part of his injuries in the read-through week. [Both laugh.] Around the table with everybody. So that was interesting.

Actually, you know what? Who knows what he thinks? I haven’t had that much time to think about it. I don’t think he’s had that much time to think about it in great detail. I don’t think a lot of his injuries have really sunk in yet because he’s been laying in his bed. I think they’ll really start — particularly once he starts moving around and using his body again and being physically more engaged in his body — that’s when he’ll start to realize what damage has been done. Yeah, I think that will all become clear as Season 3 unfolds.

But, yeah, I don’t think he’ll be spending much more time in Flea Bottom.

I was just speaking with Ewan, and he mentioned offhandedly the ambiguity of the scene in which Aemond presses the king’s ball from the Small Council into Aegon’s chest. He said it was very ambiguous on his end. Did it feel ambiguous on your end?Does Aegon conceive it as a threat, or does he see it as potentially handing the kingship back?

I think, as Aegon, I just saw that as Aemond playing little sort of status games with him and trying to be threatening, but really just sort of…I’ve taken a personal dislike to Aemond. [Chuckles] Yeah, I think he’s a little weasel that needs punishing now.

When I spoke to you before the show came out, you mentioned the Philip Larkin poem, “This Be the Verse” informing Aegon’s relationship with his parents. There is this heart wrenching moment when Aegon is first coming to after Rook’s Rest. He only says, “Mummy,” after Alicent leaves his side. Can Alicent still reach him? Do you think that relationship is completely ruined? And what does Aegon need from his mother after Rook’s Rest?

I don’t think they really ever had a relationship to ruin, to be honest. There’s always been fractures in it. There’s always been a severe case of approaching things from totally different angles. Neither of them really have the tools or the know-how to give the other what they need.

As a follow up, he leaves King’s Landing before Rhaenyra arrives in this version of the story. So he has no idea that Alicent has basically bartered his life over. Do you think he will discover that his death was part of Alicent’s betrayal? And do you think that would further just put them at odds?

Yeah, of course. I think the writers are clever enough to pick up on those little details and to use those as ammunition. I mean, I hope so. That’d be great, wouldn’t it? But then again, I’m not a writer, and those guys are absolutely phenomenal. So I will leave them to do that, and I’ll do my job.

You’re not a writer, but do you have any hopes for where Aegon might be next season? Do you want to have a buddy road trip moment with Larys? Do you want to go to Essos? Is there any area in Westeros or Essos that you really want to explore with Matthew Needham next year?

Do you know what? Me and Matthew spend the majority of our time, if not all of our time on Season 2, in the studios at Leavesden. So I think we’re both just grateful for any opportunity we get to be on location, have some fresh air and see some new places. These beautiful landscapes that literally every other actor got to experience on Season 2, but we didn’t. So, yeah, anywhere that takes us away from the studio would be fantastic.

You’ve talked a lot about how Rook’s Rest gives Aegon so many physical ailments, but it also seems to change something in him. Do you think there’s anything to a “phoenix rising from the ashes” metaphor there, where Aegon is sort of getting a new chance to assert himself as a different kind of leader, ruler or man?

Absolutely, Meghan. I think you’re absolutely right, for sure. The phoenix rising from the ashes is a great image, and I think that’s spot on. He becomes colder. He becomes more driven. He becomes less attentive to how people receive him. I think he’s in business mode now. There’s been too many people taking advantage of him and whoconsider him useless or ineffective. So, yeah, he’s now going to I think he’s now going to buckle down. That’s perceive him, anyway.

And is his ultimate goal just the Iron Throne? Or does he also want to enact revenge on those he feels have harmed him or not taking him seriously?

Yeah, I think he wants to inflict pain now at that point, and I don’t know if it will make him feel any better, to be perfectly honest. I don’t think revenge ever fully does give you that peace. He’s a man with nothing to lose. In the sense that, of course, he has the throne to lose, but it’s not really his throne to lose. It’s much greater than him. You know, it’s his family name. It’s his pride. It’s his manhood. It is everything. Somebody has come and killed his child and then he’s been attacked by his own brother. You know, there’s nowhere to turn that’s safe.

So, yeah, he feels very much like a one man band — with the added assistance of good Lord Larys Strong. [chuckles]

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.