House of the Dragon Season 2 Adds Four New Cast Members

House of the Dragon Season 2 is adding four new actors to its cast: Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman), Simon Russell Beale (Thor: Love & Thunder), Freddie Fox (The Crown), and Abubakar Salim (Raised by Wolves). You can check out information about their respective characters below! 

Per Variety’s report:

• Gayle Rankin is playing “Alys Rivers, a healer and resident of Harrenhal. In author George R.R. Martin’s novel “Fire & Blood… Alys is a witch who has mystical visions and becomes a powerful figure within the Targaryen’s Green faction.”
• Simon Russell Beale is playing “Ser Simon Strong, the Castellan of Harrenhal and great-uncle to Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham).”

• Freddie Fox is playing “Ser Gwayne Hightower, the son of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), brother to Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke), and uncle to her children King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).”
• Abubakar Salim is playing “Alyn of Hull, a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign.”

As you can see, these four new characters are going to be filling in some important supporting roles in the saga of Hosue of the Dragon, as the infamous Targaryen civil war event “The Dance of the Dragons” begins. 

After what Ser Larys Strong did to his father Ser Lyonel Strong (Hand to the King) and brother Ser Harwin Strong (Rhaenyra Targaryen’s secret lover and baby-daddy), it’s a highly intriguing detail of this casting that Harrenhal will feature more prominently. Any Game of Thrones fans who have read a summary of the Dance of the Dragons knows that Harrenhal is indeed a key location in the skirmishes between The Blacks (Rhaenyra’s loyalists) and The Greens (Queen Alicent and King Aegon II’s faction). And Ser Simon is indeed a key figure in that story. Alys Rivers is also a key figure within the lore, who becomes attached to a larger fate during this time. 

Gwaybne Hightower will also bring a nice touch of intrigue to the story of House Hightower, which centered around Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and her father Otto (Rhys Ifans) in Season 1. No telling where Gwayne fits into that family dynamic, or what new tensions he will create. Otto’s treatment of his daughter was… less than wholesome, so this could get weird, fast. 

House of the Dragon Season 2 is already in production, with a targeted premiere date of Summer 2024. Season 2 will only be eight episodes, instead of ten.