HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has added four new actors to its cast, according to Deadline: Eve Best (Fate: The Winx Saga), Rhys Ifans (Berlin Station, The Amazing Spiderman), Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs), and Steve Toussaint (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Small Ax).
The actors round out the cast of the new series after a first round of casting announcements back in December.
Based in part on author George R.R. Martin’s quasi-history Fire & Blood, the series is set roughly 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, likely chronicling the Targaryen civil war, a conflict between members of the Targaryen royal family.
In October, we learned that Paddy Considine (The Outsider) joined the series to play King Viserys I, who was designated the successor of Jaehaerys Targaryen at the Great Council at Harrenhal, and was described as a “warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy. But good men do not necessarily make for great kings.” Best will play Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, a dragonrider and cousin to Viserys, who was also in contention to ascend to the throne, but who was “passed over” because she’s not a man.
Ifans is set to play Otto Hightower, the hand of King Viserys I. Olivia Cook will play his daughter, Alicent Hightower, described as “beautiful and clever,” and familiar with the royal court, despite not being a member of the royal families. (She’ll eventually marry King Viserys). Mizuno will play Mysaria, a slave who arrives in Westeros and becomes a confidant of Prince Daemon Targaryen (who’ll be played by Matt Smith), the heir to the throne. Toussaint will star as Lord Corlys Velaryon, the lord of his House, a rival to that of House Targaryen, and who’s known as “The Sea Snake”—named as such for building the largest navy that the world has seen.
If the series is indeed about the Dance of Dragon, it’ll take place after Viserys dies, and with an ensuing power struggle over the succession to the throne, with everyone struggling to hold onto what power they have.
The series is expected to debut in 2022 on HBO. It’s one of a handful of projects the network had in the works prior to the end of Game of Thrones. While it’s the next chapter in its Westeros franchise, it doesn’t appear to be the last one: Word broke last month that HBO is working on a Dunk & Egg adaptation, as well as an animated series set in the fantasy world.
