‘House of the Dragon’s Abubakar Salim Explains Alyn’s Most Shocking Season 3 Finale Act

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

House of the Dragon‘s story has been largely devoted to the brewing civil war within House Targaryen, but there’s another family of Valyrian noble blood that has been making their own moves behind the scenes. Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) may not have much he can leave his descendants after the brutal Battle of the Gullet, but he can offer the protection of his name. After his request for Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to legitimize his sons, Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Clinton Liberty) of Hull, is ultimately denied, Corlys steps down from his role as Hand, recommending Alyn in his place.

It’s a move that proves to be a bit of “culture shock” for the former sailor, as Salim tells Collider, but in the beginning, Alyn’s perspective does lead to some helpful change at King’s Landing — like the solution of cats to deal with the Red Keep’s pesky rat problem. Yet not even the actor himself could have expected where Alyn’s story was heading, culminating in the Season 3 finale, when Rhaenyra orders her Hand to kill the High Septon (Simon Chandler), an act that Salim refers to as “make-or-break” and hints could have major ramifications for Alyn’s position and his most important relationships, including Addam and Baela (Bethany Antonia).

COLLIDER: We’re going to get into the finale, but first, I wanted to ask what you enjoyed about filming the small council scenes this season. You have to keep such a straight face while there’s so much going on in those moments.

ABUBAKAR SALIM: Ridiculousness. The whole thing is hilarious, because that’s the first time I’ve ever been in those scenes. I’m so used to working on the dock and being outside, using my hands. Just sitting down and being in this room where all these heavyweights are going at each other, I feel a bit out of depth. The one thing I’d say that was a lot of fun was really just watching them all work. As an actor, you get a lot from watching so many people do their thing. I was just in awe most of the time. Trying to remember when to come in most of the time, which was pretty funny.

I know people are likely going to be buzzing about the High Septon scene. Before we talk about it from a character perspective, what was your reaction to reading it in the script?

SALIM: That’s a big move. It’s like killing the Pope. It’s kind of insane. It was really punchy. The fact that [Rhaenyra] uses Alyn, that was what really blew my mind. I remember talking with Ryan [Condal] about it and being like, “Sure, Rhaenyra might have her own ideas of what religion is and where she’s at, but I’m the common folk. You’re putting that in Alyn’s hands. You’re having him kill the priest.”

It was hard to actually figure out why Alyn would do it. There’s the moment, obviously, when Rhaenyra convinces him and says, “You’re of a higher power.” Rather than necessarily thinking, “Yeah, I am of a high power,” it’s more of a sense of, “No, this lady has gone loco, and she will kill me if I don’t do this.”

Abubakar Salim Discusses Alyn’s “Make-or-Break” Act in ‘House of the Dragon’s Season 3 Finale

“There is absolutely the feeling that this is all above his pay grade, way above his station.”

Image via HBO

In terms of Alyn’s overall dynamic with Rhaenyra, he takes his father’s place when Corlys decides to leave King’s Landing due to frustration and feeling like he’s been betrayed by Rhaenyra’s refusal to grant legitimacy to Addam and Alyn. Did you try to play any of the buildup to the High Septon scene as Alyn having doubts about Rhaenyra’s intentions, even if he’s not expressing them out loud?

SALIM: Absolutely. I think there’s a perspective that Alyn brings to this where he hasn’t come with a silver spoon, so there is a reality check here. There is absolutely the feeling that this is all above his pay grade, way above his station. For me, it was important to make sense of it. To jump from a sea boy to a councilman is massive. It’s like pulling a farmer out to be a politician. Sure, they’ll bring their own perspective and their own elements, and they might actually have more of a better understanding, to a degree, of what the people want. But it’s a culture shock because it’s a completely different language.

That’s something that I really wanted to try and capture and emulate: how it evolves and escalates quickly. That was quite difficult to wrap my head around, as an actor, but it’s at a time when everything is so tricky and on edge, so it makes sense for things to just happen.

Before that, Addam comes to Alyn and brings up Aegon’s reappearance and concerns about Rhaenyra’s state of mind. How much of Alyn is hearing him in that moment? It takes on a more ominous feeling in hindsight, knowing what happens with the Septon.

SALIM: Whereas Addam is very impulsive and just goes for it. Alyn’s just a bit more measured and patient. It makes me feel excited to see where it goes next season, because that’s such a big move. It’s such a huge move, and it’s a make-or-break for a lot of people, particularly for Alyn.

The conversation with Addam is an interesting one. It’s funny, though, because it is loaded with so many other elements and context that sometimes it’s hard for the brothers to even see through the weeds of one another. If the Baela element wasn’t actually a part of it all, there would’ve been a very different conversation, and it would’ve been a very measured one. Because there is just so much emotion going on, it’s made into a bigger thing.

Well, I was going to bring up the Baela of it all, because that hadn’t happened the last time we spoke about the show. Baela and Alyn’s story goes in a very specific direction in Fire & Blood, and the breadcrumbs are dropped this season leading up to the moment when the kiss happens. How did you and Bethany [Antonia] want to approach both the kiss and the deeper emotions at play beneath it?

SALIM: There are so many points of view in this show. To have a buildup of something that important and that powerful, it needs time. The obstacle that we had was that there’s so little time for the amount of story content that needs to be said and shared. When I was talking to Bethany about it, I remember we were also trying to wrap our heads around it. We knew it was coming.

The truth is, because of the time we’re in — of war, pain, grief — you could do anything. I remember my own grief of losing my dad, and the actions and the things that I did were almost like it wasn’t me, in a weird way, but then it was at the same time. There is so much emotion and grief emanating in the space, in the world itself. Alyn thought he had lost his father. [Corlys] comes back and gives Alyn a name. He’s then put into this new position. His brother is flying a death machine. Baela’s lost her betrothed. She’s just losing people left, right, and center. It isn’t just Jace; it’s Corlys’ wife [Rhaena] as well. She even lost her own mother.

I think that’s where it comes from. There is an element of almost seeing a kindred spirit in that. The one thing that I have always said, even after losing my dad, is that when you meet someone else who’s lost someone that they hold dearly, you’re on a different wavelength. You have a different connection and resonance with them because there is an element of understanding, of a level you’ve entered that no one else is at unless they’ve experienced something akin to it.

It doesn’t have to be a parent. It can be a pet. It can be a loved one. It can be a job. But there is something deep that has no explanation, which is why an action like Alyn kissing Baela made sense. That’s where we approached it. It was an element of real deep connection. We’re not human now; we’re animals, and we are hurting, and there is only each other that we have here. Alyn can’t talk to his brother, really, because he’s doing his own thing. His father is just difficult to even connect with. No way is he going to try and open himself up to Rhaenyra. Who else have we got here?

Addam does put feelers out, at one point, to see if Baela is interested in him. Where do you think Alyn would stand on his brother potentially being his romantic rival?

SALIM: It’s such a crazy time. Anything can happen. That’s why it’s so boggling and weird, and kind of left field. There is just no time to process anything. I don’t think even Alyn sees him as a rival. We’re all drinking the weird Kool-Aid, and it’s really affecting us all. We’re in war, and people say stupid things in war, or in pain, or in desperation. It isn’t even about him seeing him as a rival. It’s almost like, “What? Where did that come from?”

Abubakar Salim Discusses Alyn’s Reaction to a Potential Succession Conflict in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 4

“The people, the sailors, would rather follow him than Joffrey.”

Image via HBO

In the finale, Alyn publicly declares himself as Corlys’ heir. I spoke about it with Steve [Toussaint], and he said Corlys would be proud, because it’s something he wanted anyway. He mentioned something I hadn’t even considered, though, which is that Rhaenyra’s son Joffrey might still be in line to claim Driftmark. Where do you think Alyn’s instinct to publicly assert himself as Lord of the Tides stems from, and how is he going to deal with a potential succession conflict heading into Season 4?

SALIM: Alyn’s approach is very much led by his father’s mentality in regards to… I don’t know if you can recall, but in Season 2, Corlys essentially tells Alyn that he’s too hard. He’s too cold. That people, they don’t see him as friendly. I think there is something really important learned there, which is it’s about the people. It’s about what the people believe and what the people think and what they feel. They are the ones who elect the leader, no one else. When Alyn comes out with it and says, “This is what it is,” he knows as well as his father, as well as the people, know that this makes sense. This is who he is.

His instinct or his impulse to take a stand and be like, “This is my right,” in a way, is because he’s seen enough now. He’s been through enough. His father has given him his name even when he has nothing. That’s a very different fuel than it was beforehand. In regards to the element of succession, we’re not talking about a throne here. We’re talking about nothing. There’s nothing there anymore. So, you can have Driftmark, but are you going to do anything about it?

I think there is an element of confidence that Alyn has where he knows what he can do. The people, the sailors, would rather follow him than Joffrey. Really, truly, there is no value in Driftmark apart from the name. I don’t think that someone like Rhaenyra, or these people who are used to material value, are used to the idea of dragons, are really going to care for it. If they really did, it’s silly because there’s nothing there. So, I think that’s where the confidence comes from for Alyn. There’s no contest. There is no contest.

All three seasons of House of the Dragon are now streaming on HBO Max.