House Of The Dragon: Irish actor Clinton Liberty on starring in the fantasy series
Clinton Liberty plays Addam of Hull in House Of The Dragon. Picture: Richard A Brooks / AFP via Getty Images
Clinton Liberty has very fond memories of working in West Cork — both for the experience itself and the impact it had on his career. Not only did filming TV drama make him fall in love with the region — it also directly led to him landing a role in one of the biggest TV shows in the world.
Working among a high-profile cast in the adaptation of Graham Norton’s bestseller caused him to be seen by producers for the prolific prequel. For an actor who was a huge fan of , it was a major breakthrough.
“Without [ director] Kathy Burke, I wouldn't have had that turning point through to be seen by producers,” says Liberty, adding West Cork was one of his favourite places to work.
“The people of West Cork are the nicest people I've ever met in my life. I'd be doing a local shop, and I'd be carrying the bags back to the accommodation, and some random person would stop and go: ‘Do you want a lift?’" he says, employing a perfect Leeside lilt. "It was so lovely, the food was great.”
Getting to work with Conleth Hill, Brenda Fricker and Siobhán McSweeney was a bonus, says the actor. “I’m this young guy from Laytown in Co Meath, working among all these veterans. I just soaked up as much knowledge and sponged as much knowledge as I possibly could. It was a great experience, and one I will never forget.”
marked a big step-up for the 28-year-old, and now he returns to our screens as Addam of Hull in season three of the HBO Max series. Based on George RR Martin’s the series, set 200 years before the events of returns to Westeros and tells the story of House Targaryen.
“ season three is taking place on the precipice of war,” says Liberty. “We’re going into war with the different factions around the world of Westeros. My character is a newly recruited dragon rider for the faction that is Team Black against Team Green and the other supporting factions for Team Green. You find my character in the midst of war, trying to navigate his way through.”
While there is some green-screen work involved in bringing the story to life, the sets are large in scale and scope, says the actor. “A lot of it is very practical, so when you come on set, if you're seeing live action ships, the ships are actually there. If you're seeing different castles, mortars and arrows and swords, they're all there.
"The world gives everything practically for you to work with, and it allows you to engage your imagination. I'm just like a kid in a candy store, every single day I go on set.”
As a younger man, Liberty — like many viewers — became hooked on which was filmed on location up the road from his Co Meath home, in Northern Ireland. He couldn’t have anticipated he would one day visit Westeros, but as he graduated from the Lir Academy at Trinity College, landed a role in Lenny Abrahamson’s acclaimed adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, and came to Co Cork to film he started to take stock of his own career potentials.
Meeting the veteran Conleth Hill on the West Cork set helped fire his curiosity. “I started to wonder and hope maybe this dream might not be as far away from me as I thought it would. Conleth gave me so much insight into the world of and into the scale, and when I got the job, I contacted him, and he gave me more advice.”
It sounds like there might have been a bit of manifesting going on. “100%,” he laughs. “I’ll tell you now. I remember I was doing press for a couple of years ago, and I have this on tape, so people won't say I'm making this up. I was doing a radio show interview, the host asked me: what do you think will be next for you? I said I think the next job is going to be me playing a knight in a medieval show, I just feel like that's what's coming for me. That was before and then here we are. Manifestation definitely is working for me.”
Born in Nigeria to Nigerian parents, Liberty moved to Laytown in Co Meath with his family at the age of six. He embraced his new home country, which he says never discouraged his passion for the arts as a child. “I've spent more of my life in Ireland than I have anywhere else in the world, that's all I've known for the majority of my life. But it doesn't mean that the Nigerian aspect of me is lost on me, it's still very rich.”
Attending Coláiste na hInse in Leytown as a boy, he started participating in school musicals, and still remembers how his growing interest was supported in his community. “I’m so grateful to Ireland, and everybody in Ireland, that's always been by my side,” says Liberty, adding his English teacher David Hopkins was a particular inspiration.
“I would say: ‘One day I would like to go to drama school, and I was never discouraged, my principals never discouraged me, nobody ever discouraged me.”
There were three women, in particular, Liberty says, that helped him achieve the success that’s now coming his way. “The first woman, first and foremost, is my mother, Rosemary Aimiyekagbon. She has been my rock since day one. I remember going on to I was still in secondary school, I was 16, 17, and I didn't have enough money to get the bus fare to go on set, and my mum would take me, and she was there with me on my first day ever on any set — without her I would not be here at all.”
Cork woman Louise Kiely, who has become one of the film and TV industry’s most successful casting agents, also saw Liberty’s potential. “My mum is my biological mother, but Louise Kiely would be like my artistic mother, because without her love and support, and constantly pushing me from day one, there's no chance I would have even been seen by anybody.
"The most pivotal turning point for me was when Louise cast me in , but that wouldn't have been possible without Kathy Burke, who was a director who picked me out of a plethora of different people trying to get onto that job, and told me that she thought I was the right person for the job.”
- is now available to stream on HBO Max. The eight-episode season will air new episodes weekly, leading up to the season finale on August 10
