Matt Smith (The Crown), Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One), and Emma D’Arcy (Truth Seekers) are joining Paddy Considine (The Third Day) in HBO’s House of the Dragon. The prequel to Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood and is set 300 years before the events that unfurled in the award-winning GoT series.
George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal are co-creators on the series, and Condal is also serving as showrunner along with Miguel Sapochnik. Martin, Condal, Sapochnik, Vince Gerardis, Sara Lee Hess and Ron Schmidt are executive producing.
Sapochnik directed six episodes of Game of Thrones including the pivotal “Battle of the Bastards” (season six episode nine) which earned him an Emmy and a DGA Award. He also picked up Emmy and DGA nominations for directing “The Long Night” (season eight episode three).
Season one has Clare Kilner (The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, The Wedding Date), Geeta V. Patel (Meet the Patels, The Witcher), and Greg Yaitanes (Banshee, House) confirmed as directors.
The Story and Cast, Courtesy of HBO:
The series will tell the story of House Targaryen (a.k.a. the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and take place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
- Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen. Viserys was chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy, but as we’ve learned from Game of Thrones, good men do not necessarily make for great kings.
- Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. She’s the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.
- Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. The king’s first-born child. She is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything… but she was not born a man.
- Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen. The younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne, Daemon is a peerless warrior and a dragonrider who possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…
