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House of the Dragon's James Norton didn't have much of George R.R. Martin's text to build his character out of. Fortunately, he did understand the smell thing

Norton, who plays warrior-lord Ormund Hightower in HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, found commonality in his character not over high ideal, but everyday pet peeves

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Thu Aug 13 2026

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We always talk about how hard it must be to step into a role that fans love in another medium... but what about a role that the fans barely know? That's the challenge that House of the Dragon's James Norton faced after being cast as the very intense Ormund Hightower. While Ormund does appear in Fire & Blood, the George R.R. Martin novel that inspired this Game of Thrones prequel, his presence is vanishing and his characterization is slim, meaning Norton had to come up with a way to build out the character.

Luckily, the answer was right under his nose.

Norton recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in a post-season-3 character review alongside Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Daeron Targaryen) and Freddie Fox (Gwayne Hightower). Both of Norton's costars were able to talk a bit more about what they found in the canon laid out by George R.R. Martin, but Norton, part of his job was filling in gaps.

"There are significant differences between me and Ormond," the actor said, "But there are also some kind of crossovers in the Venn diagram, which is always the way, I guess, whenever you play anyone. You have to find the reference points within your own life to really find true empathy and affection for the character."

Without much to go off to find that 'crossover,' Norton said that connection to the current head of House Hightower was in the script. Namely, the problem Ormund has with bad smells.

"One of the first things which I identified with was the smell thing," he told the outlet, "When I read it in the script, it was a really playful and kind of eccentric, but it was also important because it speaks to a kind of control: a Type A thing, what happens if he loses control and the sort of overly zealous, overly sensitive intolerance to smells and germs. I have a couple of those, but one thing I really identify is I have this terrible propensity for chewing."

"I have a real thing [with] mastication and hearing people chewing gum," Norton concluded. "It really brings out this demon in me. I’ve read about it. It’s actually a thing. I’m not alone! Other people understand and empathize. So when I saw the moment in the script about Ormund’s intolerance for bad smells, I was like, 'I get it. I get it.'"

It's a pretty brilliant way to connect with a character, but even still, I think loud gum chewers bug just about everyone. I'm just saying, if someone was smacking their gum on the subway seat next to mind, well...

I wouldn't mind getting a dragon involved.

House of the Dragon season 3 is streaming in full now on HBO Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 may have wrapped on HBO Max, but with House of the Dragon season 3 coming just around the corner, it's always a great time to read up on all things Game of Thrones. Fortunately, Popverse has everything you need to journey through the George R.R. Martin-created Westeros, including:

Plus much more coming as it gets announced!

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.