James Norton Talks Joining ‘House of the Dragon,’ Beatles Biopic

James Norton has seen the memes.

“I’ve never been memed so much,” says Norton, whose recent turn as Ormund Hightower in “House of the Dragon” has spawned a collection of fan reactions across social media.

“I did enjoy the one around the hair coloring thing: Ormund being the best colorist in Westeros,” says Norton, adding that he otherwise tries to distance himself from social media. “Everyone kept telling me, particularly in the cast, about how wide-reaching this show was, and I am getting glimpses of it.

“You have to be a little bit careful, because when you start to tap into the scale and how big this show is, I don’t think it’s very healthy to be completely aware of it,” he says. “It starts to affect the way you walk around in the world.”

The British actor was in New York for a very quick round of press for “House of the Dragon” ahead of its Season Three finale on Aug. 9. Norton missed some of the early-season publicity, but for good reason: he was on-set shooting Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-film Beatles biopic.

Between starring in the highly anticipated film project and joining a beloved fantasy franchise, Norton is busier than ever, and a quick perusal of his IMDb page further highlights his demand. 

“It looks way busier than I am,” he says from a hotel lounge in SoHo, showing no sign of jet lag. “I’ve got a production company — every time we announce a project that we’re in development on, someone from IMDb picks it up.”

Norton started his production company Rabbit Track Pictures in 2019, motivated by a desire to be more involved with the entire creative process of bringing a project to life. So far they’ve completed two TV shows and a movie, and are getting ready to make another film.

“We love putting interesting people in high-stakes positions and creating great character-driven stories out of that,” he says of the sort of projects that appeal to the company. “Our taste has generally drawn us towards character-driven, knotty family-type drama.”

“House of the Dragon” offers all of that in spades. Norton was cast in the show’s third season while producing and starring in “King & Conqueror,” which costarred “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. 

“Coming in, being a kind of catalyst for chaos in the new show — that was cool, but what really sealed it for me in that first chat was the ambition [Ormund] clearly had,” says Norton of the appeal of his “House of the Dragon” character, who serves as an antagonist for Rhaenyra and also “a new engine in the series.” 

The actor describes Ormund as “delicious,” “eccentric,” and “really multifaceted and weird,” the sort of character that continuously offers a new layer to explore deeper. “There’s always another facet to his trauma, his family, his sexuality, his appetite,” says Norton. “Whatever it might be, he’s an enigma, and it just keeps on getting weirder and weirder.”

And, although Ormund has been described as the show’s new villain, Norton isn’t sure his character is so easy to categorize. “I don’t think the show really deals with villains and heroes,” he says. “That’s why all the fans are like, ‘I’m Team Green,’ ‘I’m Team Black.’ There are still people flip-flopping around, and their allegiances are constantly being challenged.”

“Ormund has some very heinous ways he is enacting his North Star narrative, but really what he wants, he believes in,” Norton adds. “He believes that the Hightowers should be on the throne and that the Targaryens are a savage race, and he believes he’s doing it for the good of the kingdom and his family.”

Norton has been watching the third season in real time along with fans — and now considers himself one of them, although not as steeped in the world’s expansive lore. “I’ve never been part of something which has such a global, vast but also committed [fanbase],” he says.

Norton didn’t set out for public recognition; he just wanted to act, and fame has been a byproduct of his success, with breakout roles in “Happy Valley” and “Grantchester.” But starring in “House of the Dragon” has brought a new level of recognition.  

“It always comes in waves, these types of experiences,” he says. “When a show pops, there’s a period of time when people are on social media or whatever and you’re in the public consciousness, and then it disappears.”

Unless you’re The Beatles. 

“Going deep into their music and spending a year just immersed in it,  you do have a real appreciation for how special and how worthy they are of their status as the world’s biggest, best-ever band,” says Norton, who’s still in the middle of filming for Mendes’ biopic project, set for release next year. The four films are told from each respective band member’s perspective, and Norton stars as the group’s manager Brian Epstein. 

Moving further back in history, Norton stars in the Netflix biographical series “House of Guinness” as Sean Rafferty, the Guinness family’s “fixer.” The show is reported to start filming its second season at the beginning of 2027, although the news hasn’t officially been confirmed by Netflix.

 “Everyone’s hoping that it’s all gonna be going, and it should be announced properly, officially, soon,” Norton says, adding that he hasn’t seen any scripts and has no information beyond the speculation, but is also excited to find out what happens next in the story. “It’s a really fun world. I love that character so much,” he says. “Rafferty can be violent and callous and ruthless, and at the same time big-hearted romantic. That sort of has it all.”

Before getting back to work, though, Norton has another setting in mind: a holiday with his family. 

“Tomorrow I go straight from the airport to meet my mum and dad,” he says. “It is lovely actually going from rushing over to New York to do ‘[Late Night With] Seth Meyers’ for 24 hours, and then getting in the back of my mum’s car and dad’s car and being like a child again.”