House of the Dragon Casts Three Big Players in the Dance of the Dragons

House of the Dragon just fielded three new knights in the Targaryen civil war known as the “dance of the dragons.” Tom Cullen will play Ser Luthor Largent, Joplin Sibtain will play “Bold” Jon Roxton,” and Barry Sloane will play Ser Adrian Redfort, according to a report by Variety on Wednesday. All three are characters from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, and all three have parts to play in the battles between Rhaenyra’s “Black council” and the “Green council” loyal to Aegon II. House of the Dragon Season 3 is filming now, and is expected to premiere sometime in 2026 on HBO and Max. These actors all have previous credits that bode well for their performances in Westeros.

Cullen has some particularly relevant experience for this role, having played Sir Landry in the History channel’s historical drama Knightfall, and Viscount Gillingham in Downton Abbey. The Welsh actor has also appeared on Black Mirror, and even worked with Game of Thrones alum Kit Harington on Gunpowder. His character is a lowborn knight who rose through the ranks to become the commander of the City Watch of King’s Landing — a position he should already hold at this point in the show. Luthor has a reputation for incredible strength and size, and there is even a rumor that he once killed a war horse with a single punch.

Meanwhile, English actor Joplin Sibtain should be very familiar right now to anyone watching Andor on Disney+, where he plays the Rebel Brasso. He plays the head of a minor house from The Reach, who are fighting on the side of Aegon and the Greens. “Bold Jon” has an infamously short temper, and he carries his family’s ancestral Valyrian steel longsword, which is named “Orphan-Maker.”

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Finally, Sloane has a lot of great credits to his name, but his best work may be on the horizon. He will play “The Prodigal,” the seventh sibling of The Endless in Netflix’s The Sandman Season 2. He has also appeared in many TV shows in the U.S. and U.K., and provided the voice of Captain Price in four Call of Duty games. Sloane’s character Adrian is from one of the most prominent noble families in the Vale, though little is known about the Redforts at this point in the story. He has yet to be mentioned in the story, and even in the book, his role has not been revealed up to this point, so I won’t spoil it.

House of the Dragon is digging deep compared to Game of Thrones, with named characters from more of the minor houses in Westeros. Fans complained that the main series cut down on the elaborate pageantry of knights and the heraldry of many houses, especially in its later seasons. This prequel has already taken strides toward making up for that, and some of the characters we’ve seen cast for Season 3 promise even more to come.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is filming now and is slated for release sometime next year. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is coming sometime in 2025 on HBO and Max. Martin’s books, including Fire & Blood, are available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.