More Game of Thrones chatter this morning as we’re halfway through our interviews to mark the DVD and Blu-ray release of HBO’s epic series.

This morning we have a discussion with Alfie Allen, who is Theon Greyjoy in the series and one of the characters at the forefront of the action going into the next season. Here he talks about the camaraderie on set, reading the George R. R. Martin books and, of course, season two.

You can catch up on our previous interviews below,

On getting the part

I don’t think British actors get the chance to work on HBO’s shows, but it’s pretty insane and I didn’t think I had a chance but they kept calling me back and I thought they were obviously taking me seriously! There were seven auditions but I went up for other characters, and I’m not going to tell you which ones, but in America they work out which actors they like and then work out who’s right for the part.

On Arya Stark and Viserys Targaryen

With Maisie’s character she’s just a little girl and you think she’s going to be all right in the first series and she gets sent off and manages to handle it. It determines her as a person that was so interesting. Viserys is a horrible piece of work, and for me I like the darker elements and he’s a dark character. Something that Harry [Lloyd] really achieved well – he made you feel sorry for him even though he’s a complete wrong-un. You understood why he was like that.

On being close with his on-screen brothers

There is a family feeling on set, everyone was so lovely and got along. Me, Richard [Madden] and Kit [Harington] are obviously still working together but we’re close friends now. It’s sounds so cheesy, but it has changed my life.

On experiences with fans

No unpleasant experiences thankfully, and people have been really nice especially as my character is perhaps one of the least liked in the books. No dirty knickers though. Maybe next season…

On his sex scene

It’s great. I just enjoy it you know? You want to make sure that everyone is comfortable and you have to approach it with a sense of humour, you have to be jokey. When I was doing Equus I couldn’t do that. And I was on stage the whole time and it was a lot more natural as you didn’t have people holding radio booms… And I had been training for four or five months before that so I just wanted to see what I looked like on camera!

On Season Two, and specifically scenes with Melisandre (Carice Van Houten)

I don’t have any scenes with her sadly, but she’s great. We got to hang on a lot and she was very funny on set, telling stories…

On his character’s journey through the first season and beyond

It sets out the identity crisis which Theon has. He’s an honoruable Stark but he’s trying to prove to the Greyjoys that he’s one of them and he has these two moral paths which he’s trying to take and because he tries to take them both he ends up making the wrong decisions. He’s misguided really. Something that me and Kit [Harington] share is that we’re odd ones out, we don’t really belong. It’s almost like art imitating life. In the first series I was sort of a background character and that’s how he is in the Stark family, but in the second series I come to the fore. Maybe that’s what happens in his head, he gets this power and attention and he goes power crazy. That’s in the books so I’m not revealing too much.

On reading ahead…

It can be a help and a hindrance. I had read the books quite a while before we started filming the second series so I didn’t go back once we had started filming. You’ve got to make it your own really. One of my first questions when I got the part was ‘Should I read the books?’ and some chose to and others not to. I did because I was interested.