On “The Witcher” McTavish plays the antagonistic Sigismund Dijkstra, a spymaster who leads King Vizimir’s Redanian Intelligence and who, during Season 2, used the elf Dara to spy for him. McTavish’s character in “House of the Dragon” is quite different, Ser Harold Westerling definitely has the honor and scruples that Dijkstra lacks. Appearing as early as Episode 1, The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is one of the few characters who display integrity and fealty when things go down in Episode 9, “The Green Council.”
In an interview with the New York Post, McTavish spoke on the fact that he’s been dipping his feet into the fantasy genre for over a decade, and how, at one point, he worked on both aforementioned series on the same day. But being both modern fantasy TV shows is not the only thing that connects these two productions. According to his interview with Express.co.uk, McTavish also compared and commended the disposition of the professionals involved:
In his words: “One of the things that I think characterizes all of them is the humor of the people involved, which is terribly important because there’s always a danger with these kinds of shows that they can become a bit too reverent, precious.” He added, “But if you have a group of people working on them that actually have a sense of humor, that helps a lot because you have to make them real.”
Considering the dark, gritty nature of both series, despite being set in fantasy worlds, it’s a relief that both “The Witcher” and “House of the Dragon” crew can find some levity while bringing these epic, intense stories to life.
