‘House of the Dragon’ star Clinton Liberty is loving your Seasmoke memes

Warning: This story contains spoilers from House of the Dragon season 2, episode 7.

House of the Dragon actor Clinton Liberty is a self-proclaimed meme head. He and his brother eat them up online together, so the fact that he is now one of the more popular memes coming out of season 2 of the Game of Thrones prequel is blowing his mind.

“They keep getting funnier and funnier,” Liberty tells Entertainment Weekly. “You think that eventually you’ll get used to them and run out of the jokes, but new ones keep popping up. I just think it’s so funny, but it’s a beautiful way for me to also connect with the fans of the show in a different kind of way. It’s been absolutely amazing.”

Episode 6, “Smallfolk,” ended with a big moment for his character, Addam of Hull. A shipwright for the Velaryon fleet, he and his brother, Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), were revealed to be the bastard sons of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) of the Driftmark throne. It’s perhaps this crucial detail that attracted the attention of Seasmoke, the dragon of Corlys’ legitimate heir Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan), whom everyone thinks is dead but is really living his best life in the Free Cities with his boyfriend.

The chase that ensued across the beach and through the trees as the dragon claimed Addam as his new rider quickly became the stuff of internet fodder. Meme-rs incorporated the “why are you running?” audio from the Nigerian movie Pretty Liars 1, a very popular audio on TikTok, over the footage. Also the fact that Seasmoke chose Addam, a Black man, instead of Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan), the fair-skinned knight of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard who got burned alive went put forth to the dragon, spawned countless other memes.

“The fact that it went crazy, it was such a surprise and such a shock, but in the best possible way,” Liberty remarks. “The most interesting thing is how widespread it goes. People are just as aware of the memes as they are of whatever’s going on in the show.”

It’s like he and the House of the Dragon fans have their own secret language, communicated through “why are you running?” Seasmoke memes. “No one does prepare you for it, and when you’re dipped in, it’s literally a whirlwind,” Liberty adds. “I’ve never experienced anything like this before in my life.”

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Aside from the memes, Liberty now gets to dive deeper into the character of Addam. Unlike his brother, who routinely shaves his head to hide his silver locs, a physical indicator of his Velaryon lineage, Addam has dark locs. He’s also not as adept of a sailor as Alyn, who saved Corlys’ life after an ambush. When Queen Rhaenyra Tagaryen (Emma D’Arcy) tracks down Addam and welcomes him into the fold as Seasmoke’s dragonrider in the more recent episode 7, he finally feels seen. Corlys finds him at Dragonstone and awkwardly commends him for a job well done.

“Addam always wanted more for his life,” Liberty explains. “He always wanted to do great things, but the reasoning behind him wanting to do great things is to have the opportunity to be able to have some kind of connection with his father. He always wanted to matter to Corlys. The only way he feels that he can be seen — as we know Corlys as the wealthiest man in Westeros — is maybe if I become wealthy, as well. The fact that he’s bonded with Seasmoke is another way for him to be seen by his father.”

Liberty worked with hair designer Rosalia Culora on Addam’s locs, which he very much sees as an homage to Corlys. “I knew he was going to have dreads,” he adds. “It’s slightly influenced by how Corlys does his hair. In a way, if Addam isn’t able to have a relationship to his father, maybe they can have this connection with the hair, even though he doesn’t have silver hair like Alyn does.”

The game, however, is now changing. Despite intense trial and error that led to many deaths, Rhaenyra found dragonriders to join her cause against the Greens. Hugh (Kieran Bew), the blacksmith of King’s Landing trying his best for his family, claimed Vermithor, a.k.a. the Bronze Furry, the dragon previously rode by the late King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and the second largest dragon in the world next to Vhagar. Meanwhile, Ulf (Tom Bennett), the drunkard from Flea Bottom who claims to be the bastard half-brother of Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), was able to claim Silverwing, the dragon previously rode by Jaehaerys’ wife, Queen Alyssane.

“It felt huge,” Liberty says of this moment for House of the Dragon. “Even when we were on set doing it, it felt like it was a turning point because there was a tension in the atmosphere because you knew what was about to happen. The fact that Addam is now serving Queen Rhaenyra, that’s a big statement within itself. He’s no longer the Addam that we’ve been used to. This is a different Addam because this event and this whole situation is going to demand different things from him that he’s never had to explore within himself.”

With one episode to go now before the season finale, Liberty has some advice for audiences: “Keep your eyes peeled, expect the unexpected, and expect everything.”

And expect more memes.