‘House Of The Dragon’ Adds Rhys Ifans, Sonoya Mizuno And More
by Erik Amaya
The cast of the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon continues to become as expansive as Westeros itself.
Deadline reports actors Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best and Sonoya Mizuno have joined a cast which already includes Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith, and Emma D’Arcy. Set 300 years prior to the events of GoT, House of the Dragon concerns itself with a potential civil war within House Targaryen. At the center — of the first season at least — is King Viserys Targaryen (Considine), a kind but aging monarch who would like to hand the Iron Throne to his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (D’Arcy). But as tradition demands, a male Targaryen heir, Viserys’s brother Daemon (Smith), is in line to inherit rule of the Seven Kingdoms. The tension will eventually lead to a conflict known centuries years later as “the Dance of Dragons.”
Toussaint will play Lord Corlys Velaryon, a mariner from a Valyrian-descended house. Also known as the Sea Snake, he will become Hand to Queen Rhaenyra when the Dance of the Dragons begins. Best plays Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, a dragonrider and Corlys’s wife. Nicknamed “The Queen Who Never Was,” she lost her chance to sit the Iron Throne because of that damnable tradition about male heirs. Ifans joins as Ser Otto Hightower, Viserys’s Hand as the story beings. Mizuno will play Mysaria, a foreigner and former slave who becomes one of Daemon’s most trusted allies.
And if this is starting to feel more like Game of Thrones, that’s no coincidence. As alluded to in A Song of Ice and Fire, and given more clarity in Fire and Blood, the Dance of Dragons was one of the most brutal and painful fights for the Throne since the Targaryens invaded Westeros. Also, as the name implies, it is a fight among dragonriders who can deliver more devastation than Danaerys did when she finally arrived in King’s Landing. But the political upheavals, rival Hands, and the plotting of other houses suggests the Dance will also be another session of the Game of Thrones.
Although, if you haven’t guessed by our tone, we’re still invested in Westerosi history for some reason.
Co-created by Ice and Fire novelist George R.R. Martin and Colony creator Ryan Condal, the series is expected to go into production soon and represents the first of several GoT spinoffs slated for HBO and its streaming platform in the years to come. It is expected to debut sometime next year.
