‘House of the Dragon’s James Norton Confirms What Makes Ormund Hightower Such a Dangerous Villain

Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 4.

We’re at the halfway point of House of the Dragon Season 3, and already the HBO fantasy spin-off has made some decisive moves with its characters on the overall chessboard that is Westeros. Although Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has definitively claimed the Iron Throne, the strife she’s inherited in King’s Landing is only the half of it. With the knowledge that Ormund Hightower (James Norton) has deceived her — not only by sending her a fake Daeryon Targaryen but also by seizing the adjacent town of Tumbleton instead of retreating — it’s clear that Season 3 is setting up an inevitable clash between these armies, one that could have devastating consequences for the smallfolk caught in the middle.

Ahead of the premiere of Episode 4, “Tumbleton,” Collider had the opportunity to speak with Norton about playing House of the Dragon‘s newest villain and why he wanted to take “big swings” with Ormund’s most pivotal scenes. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actor breaks down that memorable bath moment, the intricacies of Ormund’s admittedly “toxic” relationship with Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), what his opinion of House Targaryen and their dragons reveals about his inner nature, and more.

COLLIDER: This episode is so fabulous for your character, starting with the very memorable scene in the bath. What sort of energy did you want to bring to that scene? So often, we associate nudity with vulnerability, and here it feels like he’s using it as a form of intimidation.

JAMES NORTON: Yes, he certainly is. What was lovely about this scene was it was an opportunity to see Ormund really enjoy being Ormund. A lot of the time, we see him very stressed, particularly later on in the series. As the stakes rise, he gets more and more stressed. Obviously, this is a man who lives at a high level of stress. You get a sense that he’s hyper-aware and hypersensitive to certain smells and sounds, and he has a lot of OCD, and so it was really lovely to see him delighting in his power and his playfulness.

What was really great in the scene, for me, was that I was able to give them versions of it where I basically said to the director [Claire Kilner], “Can I go quite camp with this?” And again, testament and credit to the creators of the show, they were like, “Yeah, just go. See how far you can go, and have it still exist within the world.” Getting out of that bath, I got campier and campier until I was literally cocking my head and going, “Is she a queen, or is she a bitch with a dragon?” It felt like I was going so ludicrously big, and then they went with it! They were brave in the edit, and they were like, “Let’s make this character delicious.” And as a result, he kind of feels into all different facets of the contradictory mess that he is, and I just think, “Good for them.”

Sometimes, as an actor, if you don’t trust the creators, you don’t give them the wide parameters of performance, and on this, I gave them very wide parameters. I gave them very subtle and nuanced and very big and panto, and generally, they went with the big swings, and I think the show and the character benefit as a result.

James Norton Nearly Fainted During Ormund’s Sword-Swinging Scene

“Your body just doesn’t know where the hell it’s at…”

Image via HBO

You brought up Ormund’s emotions, and it does call to mind the scene where he gets the raven from Harrenhal. As much as there has been this question hanging over the nature of Ormund and Daeron’s relationship, Daeron is the one who sees Ormund go still and immediately tells everybody else to get out of the line of fire. What did you want to convey not just through Ormund’s reaction, swinging a sword at that table over and over again, but also what Daeron’s response reveals about the history between these characters?

NORTON: It was actually quite a tough scene to shoot because what happens, usually, when you do those types of explosions, those types of physical moments, which are very important in the script, you usually do the scene up to the moment of explosion, and then the shot to shoot the explosion is a pick-up or a pop or a special, whatever you want to call it, so the camera’s set up in a certain way. So, after we shot the bulk of the scene, the meat of the dialogue, and they called action, I would just be smashing the table, and then I would go back to being calm, and then I would smash the table. Your body just doesn’t know where the hell it’s at because you’re going high adrenaline to nothing, to high adrenaline. By the end, I was nearly fainting. My head was spinning. I had a terrible headache. It was kind of weirdly taxing. I don’t know. I felt really drained by the end of it.

In terms of the more important part of that scene and what it tells us about those characters, it was fun for me because it allowed us to show what is below Ormund and all the control, and what happens if that control is undermined, and the danger. Up until that point, we get a sense of there being this kind of fury bubbling underneath; we don’t actually see it manifest. Then, to allow it to be manifested was really important. Also, it just contextualizes the fear and the way people respond to him, particularly Daeron.

There’s also a sinister part of it, which is: how many times has that rage been directed at Daeron? I mean, Daeron is a young boy. He’s been brought up by this man. He’s as close to a father figure as Daeron has. There is a real pain and tragedy in that moment because he’s looking at that young servant and saying, “Get out, because otherwise you’re going to get hurt.” And, implicit in that act is, “Because I’ve been hurt before, as well. So just get out.” And a real selflessness. He doesn’t leave himself. He stays, and he watches, and he observes, partly, I think, probably to protect Ormund against himself and other people. So, there’s a stoicism and a courageousness in Daeron in that moment, but also an acknowledgment that he’s had to suffer this man.

It really goes to the heart of how toxic that relationship is, because despite there being this kind of abusive element, there is love there. I think, almost, Daeron stays because it’s like he might be a menace to himself, and a bit like a parent who needs caring by their child. Daeron stays, I think, partly out of — you’d have to ask Ben [Evan Ainsworth], but I think partly out of affection and love. It’s almost like Stockholm syndrome. He’s under duress. He’s almost imprisoned by Ormund, but also sort of loves him. That, for me, was the most exciting and most interesting part of this journey, excavating that relationship, because it’s really complicated.

James Norton Reveals the Truth at the Heart of Ormund’s Hatred of Dragons

“He sees them as beasts — not just the dragons, but the dragon riders themselves.”

Image via HBO

Ormund is among the characters on the show who have a clear distaste for dragons, and does not hesitate to make those feelings known — but when Tessarion steps to him a little bit, he physically recoils. What did you want to convey about his attitude towards dragons juxtaposed with that reaction?

NORTON: We did one version where I literally fell to the ground as I recoiled from the dragon. In Episode 3, the High Septon describes the dragons as this “impure force.” It’s when Rhaenyra’s asking to be ordained, and the response she gets is that the dragons are a sort of impurity — “They just destroy. They don’t create.” I think Ormund, for all his theatricality and the fun, playful side to him, there is this very sinister side where he’s almost fascistic in his commitment to the Hightower cause and their claim to the throne. The way he talks about Daeron and his Targaryen lineage, being like, “Your blood is tainted,” he really sees them as savages, and he thinks the world should be rid of them. It’s really dark when you go down that. Almost like ethnic cleansing, in a weird way. He’s so binary in his approach and his view of how the two families are so different, and one being superior to the other.

I guess his attitude to dragons is kind of tied up in that. He sees them as beasts — not just the dragons, but the dragon riders themselves. Savages. Beasts. They do not deserve to be on that throne. It goes to the root of him and the darker side of him. It was an opportunity for me, alongside the relationship with Daeron and that particular part of his character, to root him and anger him alongside the more playful, delicious stuff.

Templeton, obviously, is a name that book fans will immediately hear and think about what’s coming. Can you tease any big battle scenes later this season?

NORTON: We’ve obviously already experienced an incredible battle, and there has been no secret about this series being very muscular and delivering what I think fans are excited by. Now, we’re at Episode 4. Ormund is so proud and so committed to the cause. The moment when he pretends to promise fealty to Rhaenyra, when Daemon forces him to bend the knee, you kind of know that that’s all bullshit, and you know that he hasn’t been back to Oldtown.

All I’ll say is, as you know, the setup is pretty spicy. He’s using human shields intentionally. He’s using women and children to protect him and the Hightower army in Templeton. So, we are set up for something. I don’t know what. [Laughs] It’s a very exciting series, is all I can say.

New episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.