An assassination attempt aimed at Prince Daeron Targaryen has pushed his loyalties into open question, according to Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who plays the young royal on HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Speaking after Sunday’s sixth episode of Season 3, Ainsworth described a turning point for his character, who has spent the season as a pawn in his uncle Ormund Hightower’s bid to install him as a rival king to Rhaenyra.
In the episode, Rhaenyra sends Baratheon soldiers disguised as loyalists to Tumbleton to kill Daeron, a plot foiled only because his cousin Gwayne Hightower recognizes the ruse before Ormund does. Ainsworth said the near-miss marks the moment real doubt takes hold in his character. “That’s, I think, where the doubts really start to kick in,” he said, noting that the episode also shifts the balance of power between Daeron and Ormund now that the young Targaryen has become too valuable to discard.
Alone with Gwayne afterward, Daeron admits for the first time that he has been following Ormund’s orders purely to survive, not out of any belief in his uncle’s cause, and that he holds little hope of ever sitting the Iron Throne. Ainsworth called the scene a release after five episodes spent watching Daeron carefully manage his captor’s temper.
He also pointed to a quieter moment in which Daeron presses Gwayne for details about his estranged mother, Alicent, who sent him away to Oldtown as a boy, calling it evidence of the isolation that has defined Daeron’s upbringing.
Ainsworth, whose credits include “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” described his bond with Ormund, played by James Norton, as genuine despite its cruelty, pointing to an earlier scene in which Ormund forces Daeron to burn a civilian alive with his dragon Tessarion as proof of how far that manipulation extends. Showrunner Ryan Condal gave Ainsworth one of the propaganda coins bearing Daeron’s likeness that circulated among the show’s cast of characters starting in episode five, a keepsake the actor called “super cool.”
With two episodes remaining in the season, Ainsworth teased further confrontations in Tumbleton before Daeron’s arc reaches its conclusion.
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