Tom Bennett plays Ulf White in “House of the Dragon.”
(This story contains spoilers from The Dragon House season 2 episode 7.)
It is not often in the Game Of Thrones universe when a popular character takes center stage and has a heroic moment at the end of the episode. But that’s what happened in Sunday night’s episode of HBO’s The Dragon Housewhen Ulf White, tavern dweller and Targaryen bastard hopeful, won the dragon lottery by bonding with Silverwing.
Interestingly, British actor Tom Bennett’s career path was not entirely different from that of his character. Bennett worked as an actor for 20 years in productions such as Phone shop, Love friendship And Rocket Man. But to be thrown into Dragon It was undoubtedly his biggest role yet – and it wasn’t the first time he auditioned for the franchise.
Below, Bennett talks about stepping into the spotlight in episode seven, his character’s journey this season, and how the franchise is taking a unique turn on class consciousness by giving the residents of Flea Bottom their own story arcs.
Have you seen your episode yet? Because you do some really cool stuff.
No. I saw a very quick cut of episode seven, but Silverwing was only 70% done. So I didn’t see it as it will be, but I got the idea. Loni Peristere (american horror story) is doing it, so you know it’s going to be huge and explosive, and people are going to die.
So what was it like coming into this huge HBO series as an actor? You have these kind of quiet scenes in a tavern, and then suddenly you’re at the center of the drama with this big action sequence with a dragon.
I feel like a 10 year old boy The Dragon HouseIt’s like a dream come true. I’ve been an actor for 20 years, but I’ve never acted at this level. And yes, he’s introduced as a supporting character. He hangs around, he moves the plot along a little bit, but you don’t really know who he is. Even in the tavern scene where I have a three-page monologue about my Targaryen blood, you don’t know if he’s lying, if it’s true. It’s all left very vague. And then it turns out I have Targaryen blood.
Many of the actors who appear in these series have already auditioned for other roles in this franchise. Have you ever applied for any other role before this one?
I only had one. I had one Game Of Thrones Audition, maybe (season) 3? I auditioned to play a funny guard, who pisses and then gets eaten by a werewolf. It was a good scene, but it was only one scene, and now I’m piloting a dragon. It’s a good thing I didn’t get it, because maybe now I wouldn’t be Ulf.
So obviously his whole life he’s been told this story that his mother was the sister of Viserys and Daemon, but he doesn’t know for sure if it’s true, which must have been fun for you to play in those early scenes because he presents it as true without really knowing if he’s lying.
Yeah, for a free pint of mead, that’s true. The temperature change happens when they say, “Okay, show me it’s true.” You could get killed by a dragon. Now, I’m not sure about that.
So Ulf arrives at Dragonstone and finds himself surrounded by all these other potential Targaryens who have probably been told similar things in their lives. What is he thinking?
He thinks, “A lot of these people look more Targaryen than I do.” There’s a lot of people with white hair. My name is Ulf White but they’re more like salt and pepper grey. And panic sets in. There comes a point where you’ve spread this lie for a free pint of Guinness and now you have to show up and there’s a big fucking dragon there. There’s a real possibility that we’re all going to die and 98% of us are going to die horribly.
All they got was a nice speech from the Queen and then they were roasted alive.
“We met the Queen and she spoke to us.” I fell off the parapet, I’m just happy to be alive. It’s absolute chaos.
So what’s going through his mind when he faces Silverwing?
So I run into the caves and stumble into a lake of dragon shit and piss.
Oh, so that’s what it was.
And then I put my foot in a dragon egg. I know what’s going on. The mummy is clearly there. She saw that. She doesn’t like the look in my eyes. And it’s “game over, man,” in the words of (Bill Paxton in) Aliens. I think I’m going to be burned alive and eaten. And I get pushed around a bit. But we realize that Silverwing doesn’t want to kill me. For some reason, she likes me – whether it’s my scent or my Targaryen blood – and she plays with me like a cat would play with a mouse. Eventually, she accepts me as her rider.
I liked your laugh at the end, it was refreshing. The series isn’t really known for its humor.
I don’t think he could believe it, and that seemed like the natural reaction. You think you’re going to die and you feel a huge sense of relief, and that’s what I decided and Loni liked it. Because, let’s be honest, he’s one of the only characters on the show who smiles, let alone laughs. Every time I’m on set, I try to use that. Ulf stands out like a sore thumb for a lot of reasons. One of them is that I’m one of the only characters who’s just having fun.
So Ulf went from totally powerless to pretty powerful, how does that change a person?
This is huge. Ulf is the bottom of the barrel, he is a poor guy, an underdog. He is the working class man under the thumb of the ruling classes and has lived with that his whole life. Suddenly he finds himself sitting on a nuclear warhead. The power shift is huge. Let’s see what he does with that.
It’s interesting in general this season, just in the context of the whole franchise, to see these popular characters quickly elevated to positions of power. It’s a unique vibe compared to what we’ve seen before in Westeros.
The first season was about the ruling classes, and we spent all our time in castles and on the throne and in council chambers. I think it’s really cool that this season we get to see the people of Flea Bottom. Because Flea Bottom has always been there and played a big role in Thrones And Dragon Story. We’re finally going to get to meet some real Flea Bottomers. I think this can only be positive for the rest of the season.