Evan Mitchell leads with his chin in ‘House of the Dragon’

Like most of the population, Evan Mitchell enjoys anonymity. So during a recent trip to New York, he was surprised by what the hotel concierge asked when he arrived: “You haven’t packed your eye patch?”

Mitchell doesn’t usually wear a vision pocket, but in “House of the Dragon” he plays the one-eyed, dragon-riding warrior Aemond Targaryen. The actor continues to meet strangers making connections in the community.

He said, “I don’t think people will recognize me, but they do.” “I think it’s because of my strong chin.”

It was a day in May, and 27-year-old Mitchell was drinking a Coke at a resort bar. He wore a light Alexander McQueen suit and was preparing to await the premiere of the second season of “House of the Dragon,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel, based on two factions vying for the Iron Throne .

When Mitchell made his debut throughout most of Season 1, Aemond, the willful second son who became greedy for his brother’s throne, briefly became one of the show’s most ruthless and scary characters. Vygor, the world’s greatest, meanest dragon, and possessing the most chiseled chin in Westeros, Aemond displayed the cool motion of a hunter preparing to pounce.

“When I dress up like Emond and look at myself in the mirror, it scares me a little bit too,” Mitchell said.

The surprise finale of the first season, in which Aemond’s dragon killed Aemond’s rival and relative Luceris Velaryon, hinted to audiences that the One-Eyed Prince would play a central role in the looming civil war. In the latest episode of Season 2, a horrific accident between three dragons establishes Aemond as the unused standard-bearer for his alliance – known as the Vegeta – and possibly as the unused king of the world.

The result is that Mitchell, who had never watched or particularly cared for “Game of Thrones” before joining the prequels, now reveals himself as one of the hottest faces of the franchise. To help promote this unused season, they have embarked on their first major press tour and are adjusting to its demands.

When he is not in person, Michel is soft-spoken and flashes a childish smile from time to time, even though he retains Emond’s depth of seriousness and calmness. He’s also very private: He stays away from social media and has been reluctant to share much with the community throughout the day. He said, “Once you lose the mystery, you can’t really get it back.”

Still, he knows Amond has a major role to play in Season 2, including the highlight along the way: “There’s a point where you’ve got to go, it’s time to pull back the curtain.”

Like Emond, Michel is also the second son. He grew up in Derby, a commercial city in the middle of England, and his parents expected him to follow his brother’s footsteps and work at Rolls-Royce (a company of the aerospace and commercial era, no longer a car manufacturer) .

Influenced by films such as “Citizen Kane” and “Taxi Driver”, Mitchell already knew he wanted to be an actor. When he was 13, his school teacher asked each of his students what they wanted to do when they grew up. Wanted to be an engineer; Another was hoping to work as an electrician.

“Then it came to me, and I said, ‘I’m going to be an actor,’ and everyone laughed at me,” Mitchell said.

Their population could not manage to pay tuition for the drama faculty, so Michelle attended two years of vocational school, where she learned design and technology beyond working part-time in a café and customer service at a local football club. Studied. Midway through the programme, at the age of 17, she was accepted into the Nottingham TV Workshop, a drama team which trains young people in acting. (Alumnus Bella Ramsey joins Felicity Jones and Samantha Morton.)

During the workshop, Mitchell got a leading role in the 2015 film Cut titled “Fire”, which is about a young man who leaks fire from his hands. As soon as the cut was missed, Mitchell downloaded it on several CDs, took Trainor to London and wandered into the offices of every agent he could find, handing them a book each. The only person who gets called back is Michelle.

Mitchell said, “No matter what, I wanted to make sure I would stay in this business.”

He was cast in the ITV period drama “The Halcyon” and Netflix’s “The Last Kingdom,” and appeared as one of Oxford’s best scholars in the hit film “Saltburn.” However, starring as Aemond in “House of the Dragon” has in many ways been his biggest professional turning point.

“Since finding her, I feel like I’m now able to move my career forward,” he said.

Mitchell was rewatching the old Hollywood adventure film “The Vikings” (1958) and thinking about how he wanted to play the morally dull persona game involving a single performed by Kirk Douglas, when he received an e-mail. Received a mail in which he was invited to make a post. Taped audition for Emond. When he finally auditioned in person, he made a lasting impression on “House of the Dragon” showrunner Ryan Condal.

“When Evan came into the room, his presence was just what I can describe as unsettling at best,” Condal said. “The way he played it was quite scary and it was completely different from everyone else. And then he thanked us very politely and left the room.”

Condal remembers asking casting director Kate Rhodes James, “Is he always like this?” She replied, “Oh no, he’s a very intense Northern boy.”

To settle his position, Mitchell did not defend “Game of Thrones.” Instead, he learned parts of George RR Martin’s collection “Fire and Blood”, which influenced the performance, and studied the performances of Michael Fassbender in “Prometheus” and Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia”, Everyone enjoyed a person who uses power for his personal purposes.

In his first hour of curiosity, Mitchell consulted with Condal and decided that he would avoid interacting with Matt Smith, who plays Aemond, threatening uncle and rival, Daemon, to increase the tension between the two. Is. character. Mitchell grew up admiring Smith’s efficiency in “Doctor Who”. However, Mitchell curiously avoids any eye contact with her, and keeps his distance until climactic scenes, such as at the end of the primary season when Aemond and Daemon face off.

Mitchell noted, “There’s this kind of addictive quality when you’re in the shoes of a character.” “When you lose yourself for a moment, it’s almost like a dream.”

When he’s not performing, Mitchell lives in his populous home in Derby and spends hours with his three dogs, named Eva, Bella and Bonnie.

Although taking a leading position in a global conflict and assisting in an intense press tour are unaccustomed duties to Mitchell, he is confident that they are demanding circumstances he can understand. He said finding tips on how to top and maintain this good fortune is a bit like taming and wielding Wager.

“Now that I’m on it,” he said, “I just have to stay on the dragon.”