The real Daeron Targaryen speaks: “House of the Dragon” star unpacks the ‘inherent conflict of power’ with Ormund

Nick RomanoMon, July 13, 2026 at 2:00 AM UTC

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James Norton as Ormund Hightower, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Daeron Targaryen on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBOKey Points -

The real Daeron Targaryen actor on House of the Dragon opens up about the role.

The star unpacks the Daeron/Ormund relationship and “this inherent conflict of power.”

He shares how he learned of his The Legend of Zelda casting on his first day on House of the Dragon.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from House of the Dragon season 3, episode 4.

Who is Daeron Targaryen on House of the Dragon? The actor playing Alicent Hightower’s youngest son, who remained off screen for two seasons, can finally show his face.

“It’s been funny these past months anticipating the surprise with the character within the story. And, yeah, it’s exciting to be able to talk about it,” Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, the series newcomer, tells Entertainment Weekly.

Ainsworth was first seen in the season 3 premiere in the background of Lord Ormund Hightower’s (James Norton) army camp, but the writers behind House of the Dragon decided to have some fun with the character reveal.

Charlie Gordon was introduced in the third episode as a poor merchant boy whom Ormund dressed up as Daeron in order to keep the real prince out of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) hands. The true Daeron now graduates to a speaking role with the release of episode 4, as the scheming head of House Hightower now plots to put the young royal on the Iron Throne.

Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Daeron Targaryen on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO

Ainsworth came onto the Hollywood scene as a child actor on Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), after which he played Pinocchio in Disney’s live-action/CG-animated hybrid film (2022). Apart from the Game of Thrones prequel, he’ll soon be seen as beloved Nintendo character Link in the live-action Legend of Zelda movie (2027), which he shot in New Zealand.

Ainsworth had just finished his first day filming on House of the Dragon when he found out he landed the Link role. “We’d been outside and it was all quite dusty,” the 17-year-old remembers. “We were doing the scene from episode 1. We were all trying to focus, but the dust was blowing in our eyes and there were horses everywhere. So the excitement of that and then coming home to hear the [Zelda] news, that was a wild day.”

It’s remarkable to see how fast Ainsworth’s star continues to rise, especially when he talks about having to prepare for his driver’s license test back home in the U.K. around the time that his big House of the Dragon episode premieres. He finds some similarities between his experience joining this cast and the Daeron of the show.

“He almost feels like he has been put into this battle and has to choose a side in the middle of it,” the actor says. “So to join such a huge show that I admire, and I admire the performers and the creatives behind it, has been amazing.”

Alicent first sent Daeron to ward at Oldtown, the seat of House Hightower, under the previous lord, Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri). While her other sons were destined to be Targaryens, she wanted Daeron to be raised as a Hightower. Upon Hobert’s death, his successor, Ormund, took over as the boy’s father figure.

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Ormund Hightower (James Norton), Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO

Ainsworth recalls conversations with Norton and showrunner Ryan Condal about this Daeron/Ormund relationship. “He’s between Hightower and between Targaryen, and that has been to his benefit, to some degree,” he explains. “He’s been away from the sour politics and those family dynamics which have clearly damaged his siblings, but he’s also been under the wing of such an uncontrollable, chaotic figure.”

The small scenes of episode 4 are telling. When Ormund receives unfortunate news from Harrenhal, Daeron quietly warns the young cupbearer to flee the room, knowing violence is about to erupt.

“He certainly witnessed that — and worse — before,” Ainsworth says of that moment. “I think there have been times where he’s learned to deal with and understand when something’s going to explode because of those traumatic experiences in his past. So being around a figure like Ormond, in one sense, is to his detriment, but also has made him hyper aware of his surroundings, for better or for worse.”

And still, Ormund is the most consistent father figure in Daeron’s life, which makes it more complicated. The teen prince wants to please him. The last sequence of the episode is the most layered in that regard. It begins with a moment between Daeron and his dragon, Tessarion, known as “the Blue Queen,” who’s chained up inside Tumbleton’s Sept. It’s a rare, private moment to show who Daeron truly is.

“He has a gentleness and a vulnerability at the top of that scene,” Ainsworth says. Production brought in a puppeteer holding a giant blue sculpt of Tessarion’s head to film those scenes. When Ainsworth touched it, the sculpt would move, he recalls.

Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and his dragon Tessarion on ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO

To Daeron, Tessarion is “the one person who has been with him this whole time, who has lived a similar life,” Ainsworth continues. “There is this inherent conflict of power, as well, within Ormond’s relationship. I act as his squire and I’m a Hightower and I dress in the Hightower colors, but I’m also a Targaryen and I have this dragon behind me.”

When Ormund compels Daeron to execute the Tumbleton merchant, he chastises the prince for his mercy, calling it something his late father, Viserys (Paddy Considine), might say. It’s as if he’s trying to purge the Targaryen side out of Daeron.

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“I have to be a Hightower around Ormond. He wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ainsworth elaborates. “The conflict, especially this season, is the fact that Targaryen element is actually useful and Ormond can see that. That’s why at the end of this episode, he styles me in the way that he does. There’s this conflict of ‘I cannot be a Targaryen’ and he has this hatred towards the Targaryens, but now I need to [be one], because it will put me in a certain position and put Ormond in a certain position. From this point onwards, that growing tension and stakes will be explored between the characters and at Tumbleton in general.”

House of the Dragon season 3 continues to premiere new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.

on Entertainment Weekly

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