Abubakar Salim in “House of the Dragon”
Max
(This story contains spoilers from The Dragon House season two, episode seven, “The Red Seed.”)
The last episode of The Dragon House It was a huge win for the black team, if only in the short term, as Queen Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) plan to recruit new dragon riders came to fruition. While several men and women were horribly killed by dragonfire, a few others emerged from the trials with new dragons at their disposal. What’s a few dozen casualties when three new fire-powered soldiers are officially on the board?
But not all characters with Valyrian blood have managed to catch a dragon, or even attempt to catch one. Notably absent from the dragon party: Alyn of Hull, the bastard son of the Sea Serpent, who emerges as a leader on the Black side of the sea in the war against the Greens. While his brother Addam (Clinton Liberty) was the first of the new riders (called Dragonseeds) to emerge, Alyn has expressed no interest in following in his footsteps, opting instead for a continued life of salt and sea.
Of course, you don’t need a dragon to have an impact on Westeros, and while it’s not entirely obvious yet, Alyn is going to have an impact on the Game Of Thrones prequel. Already an HBO favorite (at least for this writer) after playing the android father in the tragically canceled and criminally underrated HBO/Max sci-fi series Raised by WolvesActor Abubakar Salim has landed a central role in House of the Dragon, something that should keep him busy for the wars to come.
Below, Salim speaks to The Hollywood Reporter about the book-to-TV changes for Alyn, how he deals with his new relationship with his estranged father, and a particularly inventive idea that Salim (famously a fan of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons) has in mind for a Raised by Wolves resurrection.
What did you know about Alyn’s story when he arrived? The Dragon House? It has quite a long history.
I got a crazy story, man. Yeah. I read (George RR Martin Fire and Blood), and I was aware of the world. I even remember looking Game Of Thrones and I really fell in love with it, and then I read the books. When I heard about The Dragon HouseI was really interested, so I read the book. I remember going to the premiere of the first season and thinking this was really, really cool, and this was a world that would be great to dive into. So, I was aware of all of this. And then My The journey and where it leads? It made everything much more exciting for me.
There was a brief moment where I thought, “Geez, why is Alyn the only one not getting into the dragon claiming game?” But then I remembered where your story was going and had to imagine you weren’t too worried about it.
That’s the thing. There are a lot of changes between the book and the show. One of them is Alyn’s age. In the book, he’s 15. Alyn, at 15, would probably want to try to find a dragon… and we know how that goes, if you’ve read the book. But I think there’s a mentality here, because he’s older, where he’s got all this baggage and all these scars from life, and there’s a reality of where he’s at. The last thing he wants to do is join in some stupid dance with a family feud. He just wants to do his job, go home, eat some food, and that’s it. That’s what he wants to focus on: his family, providing for himself and, especially, his brother.
How will Alyn react when Addam comes home with a dragon?
I think he’s going to be furious. Again, it’s almost like he’s saying, “You didn’t listen to me!” In the first episode of this season, he says, “This is not a joke. This is a real war. People are dying.” Everyone is dying. Literally, we just saw Rhaenys, a dragon rider of great importance, die… »
Who was obviously very important in your story, in his own way.
Exactly. She knew how to ride a dragon, and now she’s gone. So, “Now you just ride a dragon? You just ride a nuclear missile? What’s wrong with you?” I think Alyn really has that “this sucks” mentality.Laughs)
Clinton Liberty as Addam in House of the Dragon.
Theo Whiteman/HBO
It’s really interesting, because Addam secures the dragon and Corlys gives him a little nod of acknowledgement. But then he comes to Alyn and offers to fly a dragon. Addam wants a relationship with his father and Alyn doesn’t want that at all.
I think there are so many similarities between Corlys and Alyn, though. I think they’re both very aware of it, too. And I think Alyn hates it. He can see it, he can feel it, he knows what Corlys knows, and that’s why their relationship is very difficult and strained. Addam still has that hopeful mentality, though, and is still in that phase. The older you get, the more realistic you become. There’s a sense of truth in the idea that, even if Corlys named Alyn as one of his sons or Addam as one of his sons, we never will. Really to be one of his sons. That’s the reality of where we play. Every time he could named us, he chooses NOWwhen there’s no one around. So Alyn, I don’t think he could accept Corlys as his father.
It feels like Corlys, with his wife gone, his kids gone, feels like he missed out on something with Alyn in particular… but for Alyn, don’t you think that’s ever going to come true?
It’s too late, man. Way too late. I think that’s why it’s interesting to play Alyn at an older age. He’s a really cemented psyche. He must have found love somewhere else, and he wants to give it and pour it out on his brother. Now that his brother is drawn into this, he has this feeling of being on edge. Alyn will always be on edge now.
Will this push him deeper into the war?
Oh, absolutely. There is an absolute reason why he is involved. He needs He has to step up. He has to make sure his brother is safe. Before all this started, he knew where his brother was, that he would always be home, but now he could be anywhere. He’s walking around with a queen. We know what happens to people who get too close to the queen. Everyone dies except them. So now Alyn’s goal is to make sure his brother is safe. If something were to happen to him, it would destroy Alyn. I think that’s the direction and the mentality I want to go with this. He’s my anchor.
From your conversations with your colleagues, do you feel like you’re missing out by not being a dragon rider, or do you feel like you’ve dodged a bullet the size of a dragon’s breath?
You know what really makes me cringe? When people found out I was in The Dragon Houseguess the first question they all ask? And then I have to say, “Look, it’s complicated.” At the same time, there’s a part of me that would have loved to ride a dragon, but I have my ship, man.
I’m a big boy Raised by Wolves fan. I loved Father. What can we do to get it back online? Anything?
I don’t know, man. I keep saying I could turn this into a video game. Let me do it! Let me do it!
It’s so good for many media. A comic, an anime…
An anime! Oh, man.
Board game ?
Absolutely. That would be great.
Could you run a Raised by Wolves A TTRPG? Is that something you could stream?
A one-shot, or a sequel? That could be really cool. I would get a lot of mechanics out of it. Blades in the Darkwhich is a really cool board game. I’m currently playing it with critical rolepretty amusing.
This whole team is here to do the dubbing work…
I know I know!
Would anyone come looking for you if you did that?
No, no one. As long as it’s with Scott Free and Aaron Guzikowski (the production company and showrunner), everything will be fine. We just need to find the right idea and find the financing.
Okay, well, I’ll keep all that in the article. Internet, do your thing.
Do it man, do it. I’ll push them. It’s done.
The Dragon House releases its season 2 finale Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max. Follow us with THRSeason Coverage and Interviews.