We now know that Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon will start work on its initial season on 5 April. And ahead of the cast reporting to London, Los Angeles, and Spain, there is a new batch of additions. Rhys Ifans, Sonoya Mizuno, Steve Toussaint and Eve Best are all aboard.
Set 300 years before the events seen in the original show, House Of The Dragon will follow the chaotic fortunes of House Targaryen, including King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith).
Ifans will play Otto Hightower. The Hand of the King, Ser Otto loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king’s brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.
Toussaint’s Lord of House Velaryon comes from a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. As “The Sea Snake,” the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros, Lord Corlys built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world.
Best is cast as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon. A dragonrider and wife to Lord Corlys Velaryon, “The Queen Who Never Was” was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council because the realm favored her cousin, Viserys, simply for being male.
Mizuno plays Mysaria, who came to Westeros with nothing and has been sold more times than she can recall. She could have wilted… but instead she rose to become the most trusted — and most unlikely — ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.
With Thrones alumnus Ryan Condal adapting novelist George RR Martin's Fire & Blood book alongside Martin himself, the show has Miguel Sapochnik (also involved in GOT) producing and working as lead director. The series should be on screens in 2022.