It's no secret that House of the Dragon was delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, but that didn't have any negative effects on the HBO series at all. In fact, Ewan Mitchell says that watching the Game of Thrones prequel was a comforting experience for fans who had to stay inside for over a year.
Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon, recently spoke to The Face where he addressed the show's success and attributed it to fans' eagerness to be taken away into a familiar universe after the COVID-19 lockdown.
"[House of the Dragon] was filmed over a long period of time, when the whole world fell, basically," Mitchell said. "The last two-and-a-half years have been so disruptive to so many people’s lives. We’ve been plunged into the unknown."
He continued, "I think it’s brilliant that we were able to give the audience back a world that they do know: the world of Westeros. You know nothing ends in diplomacy. You can count on a Targaryen being a Targaryen, on a Baratheon being a Baratheon. I really think that familiarity gives the audience something to grasp onto and rely on in uncertain times."
Interestingly, Ewan Mitchell also admitted that he welcomes all interactions with fans, whether they say something positive or negative about his character Aemond Targaryen.
"It’s been endearing to have people come up to you, be it positively or negatively," he said. "To know that you’ve elicited a reaction through your performance as a collective, to have made that impression, is brilliant."
It certainly sounds like Ewan Mitchell has it all figured out. House of the Dragon was certainly different from its predecessor but it had enough familiarity with Game of Thrones to be a huge success. In addition to that, fans were immediately hooked on the story of the Targaryens who came before Daenerys Targaryen.
House of the Dragon Season 2 has not yet been given an official release date.
Related: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Release Date Teased by Amazon Prime Head
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