Why Aegon Targaryen II In House Of The Dragon Episode 6 Might Look Familiar
Warning: Spoilers for "House of the Dragon" Season 1, Episode 6.
"House of the Dragon," a prequel series to HBO's high fantasy epic, "Game of Thrones," is in the midst of its first season. So far, viewers have witnessed King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) replace his dead wife with the young Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) — a pairing that her father, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), pushed for from the shadows. King Viserys also controversially names his heir to be his daughter, Rhaenerya Targaryen (Milly Alcock) — and sticks to that ruling even when Alicent bears him a son.
In episode six, "The Princess and the Queen," viewers are treated to a time jump. Alicent and Rhaenyra are now grown up (played now by Olivia Cooke and Emma D'arcy, respectively), although, weirdly, Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel), Rhaenyra's spurned lover with anger management issues, looks almost exactly the same. A critical factor in this time jump is that both the princess and the Queen have birthed several children, all potential heirs to the Iron Throne. Of these, the oldest is Prince Aegon Targaryen II and he's ... not great. He gleefully torments his younger brother and nephews and, worse still, pleasures himself out the window of his tower bedroom.
For those who didn't immediately turn off their TV when he mounted that unsuspecting sill, the troublesome prince might seem a little familiar. Let's take a brief look at the credits of Ty Tennant, who happens to be the stepson of David Tennant, best known as the Tenth Doctor in "Doctor Who."
Ty Tennant is a passionate student in Tolkien
In 2019, Fox Searchlight Pictures released "Tolkien," a British-American biographical drama about the formative years that shaped John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (yes, that's what the J. R. R. stands for) into the man who would ultimately create "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," some of the most culturally transformative pieces of literature to ever exist.
In "Tolkien," Tennant portrays Christopher Wiseman in his youth, before the role is taken over by Tom Glynn-Carney for Wiseman's later years. Wiseman is one of three boys to be close friends with Tolkien (first played by Harry Gilby, then by Nicholas Hoult). He dreams of a career as a composer, much to his father's chagrin. He also functions as the unofficial head of their little friend group, if only by merit of talking the most. Later, Wiseman is the only of Tolkien's friends to also survive the tragedies of World War II. He's permanently traumatized, but he survives.
Leading up to the film's release, Tolkien's estate released a statement disavowing the biographical drama, as no one involved with the picture sought out the estate's guidance in creating a historically accurate narrative.
Ty Tennant is a lucky survivor in War of the Worlds
Also in 2019, Fox Network Groups released "War of the Worlds," a modern adaptation of the 1898 novel by H. G. Wells. Now, "The World of the Worlds" has been adapted and remade so many times that one could potentially populate an entire, fully stocked streaming site with variations of this single story. That aside, it is still possible for someone to have no idea what Well's work is about. The story, in all its versions, follows the human response to an alien invasion that ultimately fails because the extraterrestrials have no immunity to Earth's pathogens. It's almost funny ... except that every iteration of the alien assault causes immeasurable, catastrophic loss of human life before the common cold can unilaterally cripple the invaders.
In this take on "War of the Worlds," Ty Tennant portrays Tom Gresham, a young survivor of the initial attack. First and foremost, he's just a kid struggling to make it through a post-invasion world. The series, which as of this writing is ongoing, takes great strides to show how the older figures attempt to give him and his sister, Emily (Daisy Edgar-Jones) some semblance of normalcy. They even celebrate Tom's birthday with presents and everything. It's bookended by more death and aliens and robots and sadness, but it's the thought that counts, really.
Ty Tennant is a ghost detective in Doom Patrol
Again in 2019, in partnership with Warner Bros., DC released "Doom Patrol," an American superhero television series based on the comics of the same name. In broad strokes, the Doom Patrol is a group of super-powered individuals who received their abilities through tragedy and were subsequently shunned by society for their newly acquired otherness. Together, they create a found family that sometimes also fights crime. In short, it's standard superhero stuff. The characters include Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser) aka Robotman, and Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer) aka Negative Man.
Introduced in the third season in 2021, Ty Tennant portrays Edwin Paine, or rather ... what's left of him. Paine is, in fact, very, very dead, and has been since 1916. He's the leader of the Dead Boy Detectives (no, seriously) and assists the Doom Patrol when they are literally kidnapped into the afterlife. He's both smarmy and demanding, immature and ominous, and looks a little bit too much like Draco Malfoy for us to trust him. As of this writing, "Doom Patrol" is an ongoing series, but Tennant has yet to appear beyond his introductory episode.