A time jump coming in an upcoming episode of House of the Dragon is going to result in some young members of the cast being replaced by older actors to age them up in accordance with the storyline. The characters impacted — that’s Rhaenyra Targaryen, Allicent Hightower, Lena Velaryon, and Laenor Velaryon — were cast as recurring guests, rather than series regulars, so it isn’t exactly a surprise, but now that the show is real, and people are getting excited for it, the idea of some of the characters changing between episodes hits a little different.
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Milly Alcock, who plays Rhaenyra, will be replaced by Emma D’Arcy after the series’ fifth episode airs. Emily Carey’s Allicent will be replaced by Olivia Cooke. Leana (Nova Fouellis-Mose) and Laenor (Theo Tate) Velaryon will be replaced by Nanna Blondell and John MacMillan.
HBO gave House of the Dragon a straight-to-series order for 10 episodes, and after the first episode aired, renewal talk immediately kicked up. Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal serve as co-showrunners for the first season, although Miguel Sopochnik won’t return for season two. Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin co-created the new prequel series, one of several in development, with Condal, based on Martin’s book Fire & Blood. The show’s cast also includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, and Fabien Frankel.
According to HBO’s official House of the Dragon synopsis, “The prequel series finds the Targaryen dynasty at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires-real and imagined-crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins almost 193 years before the events of Game of Thrones, when King Viserys Targaryen breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm.”
The series is a rare bright spot for Warner Bros. Discovery right now. The company’s reputation is suffering as new management seems determined to sabotage HBO Max from within, removing content and frustrating both their subscribers and the talent whose work is being discarded. If the cancellation of the nearly-complete Batgirl movie is anything to go by, it seems most of these moves are meant to save small amounts of money, in order to offset the massive debt Discovery took on to acquire Warner Bros. from AT&T.
House of the Dragon premiered on HBO on August 21st and is now streaming on HBO Max’s ad-free tier.
