Even ‘House of the Dragon’s Matthew Needham Doesn’t Know Larys’ End Goal

The Big Picture

• Lord Larys Strong is firmly Team Green and a prominent manipulator at court.
• There are redeemable qualities in Larys despite his dark deeds.
• Larys’ end goal remains unclear- he adapts to changing circumstances to further his own agenda.

With House of the Dragon‘s return comes more scheming, more political plots, and more dragon fire. The Game of Thrones prequel series bumps up the intensity in their sophomore season but plunges the realm into a civil war among the family members of House Targaryen. Those who support Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) call themselves the Greens, while those who support his older half-sister Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) call themselves the Blacks. While much of the war is fought by proxy through other houses and conducted in the Small Council chambers of Rhaenyra and Aegon II, inevitably, as dragonriders, the Targaryens will take to the skies and drag the realm into a bloody war that would go on to be known as the Dance of the Dragons.

In the court at King’s Landing, where Aegon II rules from the Iron Throne, there is an influential figure lurking in the shadows. We first met Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) in Season 1 as the younger son of Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) and brother to Ser Harwin “Breakbones” Strong (Ryan Corr). While his father was the Hand of the King and his brother became Princess Rhaenyra’s lover (and the father to her three children), Larys cultivated a close alliance with Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke). His hunger for ambition was relentless, and it eventually led to him killing both his father and his brother in a fire at their home in Harrenhal. Larys seemingly knows everything and hears everything, and it’s only a matter of time in Season 2 before he begins to manipulate the new king.

We spoke with Matthew Needham about Larys, his loyalties, and his role as Lord Confessor at the court. We asked Needham if he felt Larys was a redeemable character and if he thinks Larys regrets his actions against his family. He discussed the dark magic of Harrenhal and what Daemon (Matt Smith) might be up against this season, and he talked about the uncertainty of Larys’ ultimate end goal. Watch the video interview with Needham above or read the full transcript of the interview below.

Lord Larys Strong’s Position in Team Green Is Firmly Held

COLLIDER: Matthew, I have so many questions about this season. Honestly, this is one of my favorite shows, so I have just a thousand thoughts. Larys is always lurking in the shadows in court and in the show, pulling at little threads. How likely do you think it is that he could switch sides if the opportunity ever arose for him?

MATTHEW NEEDHAM: Oh, I don’t know. In my head, he’s staunchly Team Green at the moment because he’s one of the OG members. I think he was sort of Team Green before there was even a team, you know? That’s the team that I think he thinks the realm would accept. So, I don’t know. I think he’s sticking to his guns at the moment.

What is his position in court at this time? When we see him in the beginning of the season, it’s not very clear what his role is, but he’s kind of manipulating every person that he comes across.

NEEDHAM: [Laughs] Yeah, general manipulator. He’s got a prominent place because of his relationship with Alicent. He’s quite a familiar face in court. He’s familiar to the king. He’s a sort of peripheral character to them, but he is a, I suppose, a friendly face. He’s the Lord Confessor, so he spends a lot of time doing atrocious things in the dark. But don’t we all?

Well, somebody has to do that job.

Is Larys Redeemable After All His Crimes?

In this show, there are so many characters who kind of toe the line between morality. They’re a little bit morally gray, but I would say Larys is probably a little further past that. Maybe dark, dark gray.

NEEDHAM: Why? Why would you possibly think that?

Well, my question is actually: do you think there’s anything redeemable about this character? Do you think there are any opportunities where he could have had a turn where he wouldn’t have walked down this path?

NEEDHAM: Yeah, definitely. I think there are redeemable qualities in everyone. Definitely. I think if a million different things had changed, he’d be a very different person. But I don’t think he’s a monster. I think he’s very human. I think he’s full of feeling. I think he thinks what he’s doing, he has his own sort of code. So, no, I think he’s very redeemable.

Needham Discusses Larys’ Unique Relationship With Harrenhal

Speaking of one of his more irredeemable acts last season, in Season 1, we saw one of the big things that he did is he directly contributed to the death of his father and his brother.

NEEDHAM: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Are we going to see him experience any consequences to those actions?

NEEDHAM: I think it’s always there for him, that stuff. I think his family was a huge thing for him. I think Harrenhal has a lot of baggage for him, and I think his past and his relationship with his family have a lot of baggage for him that he hasn’t even started to unpick yet.

Do you think there are any regrets for his actions?

NEEDHAM: I think he’s sort of too busy at the minute. I think he acted, and he’s sticking with it.

With this season, we’re gonna see Daemon at Harrenhal, which is the seat of his family. What are Larys’ feelings about that? Of course, we see Daemon with Simon Strong.

NEEDHAM: Yeah, my uncle.

Can you give us some insight into Larys’ feelings about that, and about potentially losing Harrenhal to the Blacks?

NEEDHAM: I don’t think Larys has particularly warm, fluffy feelings about Harrenhal. I don’t think he was having many postcard moments there. I think he knows the power that it has. I think he knows that there’s a dark magic that lives there that plays tricks on people, so I think he kind of knows what Daemon’s in for.

Needham Discusses Being Able To Dig More Into Larys in Season 2

As one of the actors who was in all of Season 1 and experiencing the younger cast and the older cast, what do you think was the biggest difference or transition period from going from Season 1 and that fluidity into Season 2, where we’re very much more stable in where we are in the timeline?

NEEDHAM: They had so much ground to cover in Season 1, and I thought they did it brilliantly, but inevitably in 10-year time gaps, there’s going to be little things that don’t get as much attention or as much time. So, it’s really nice to spend a bit more time with Larys and actually see him playing the game in real-time.

What do you think Larys’ ideal version of the conclusion of the war is? Do you think it’s seeing Aegon on the throne? I don’t think he’s somebody who sees himself on the throne.

NEEDHAM: No.

What do you think is his end goal, so to speak?

NEEDHAM: I don’t know. At the moment, I don’t think he cares who the noose is as long as he’s the rope. But that’s just sort of at the beginning. The board is constantly changing, so he’s keeping an eye on it.

Who Would Needham Pick To Play on Team Black?

So a final question: if you could play another character on the other team, do you have one that you would pick?

NEEDHAM: I mean, Jace looks like he comes from a good stock. So maybe Jace. Yeah, I’ll say that.

Okay, yeah. Some nepotism there.

NEEDHAM: I don’t know what you’re implying.

House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 on Max.

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