House of the Dragon Had to Swap Twins Due to COVID

By Jamie Jirak

The first season of the new Game of Thrones spinoff series, The House of the Dragon, recently came to an end and it will be a bit of a wait before the next season. Now that the series is on hiatus, many of the folks involved with bringing it to life are sharing some interesting facts about the production. You probably noticed that Ser Arryk Cargyll and Ser Erryk Cargyll are twins on the show, and they're played by Luke and Elliott Tittensor. However, Luke had to pull double duty in the finale after his brother got COVID. Director Greg Yaitanes recently spoke to the West of Westeros podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) and talked about having to switch the actors. 

In the finale, the fight for the throne officially begins and Luke's Arryk sides with Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) and the Greens while his brother Elliott's Erryk chooses Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and the Blacks. Erryk ends up stealing King Viserys' (Paddy Considine) crown and gives it to Rhaenyra at Dragonstone, but it's actually Luke instead of Elliott in the scene. 

"There's that scene, that big scene where Corlys [Steve Toussaint] comes down and they're putting the markers on the table and the messenger comes in," Yaitanes explained. "It was a shot over two days and then one got COVID," he added. "[Elliott] got COVID, so we swapped him out with his brother."

Yaitanes went on to explain that there was extra confusion thanks to some of the names of the characters and actors. Luke Tittensor plays Arryk, but there's also a character named Luke Velaryon who is played by Elliot Grihault, not to be confused with actor Elliott Tittensor, who plays Erryk. "The way this came to me was the game of telephone," Yaitanes joked. He added "that would've killed us" if Luke had not been able to step in for his brother. "We were just about to do all Emma's coverage and he is standing right next to [them]," he says.

Previously, the Tittensor brothers shared the role of Carl Gallagher on Shameless, so they're no strangers to switching parts. Did you notice it was Luke instead of Elliot in that House of the Dragon finale scene? Tell us in the comments! 

The first season of House of the Dragon is now streaming on HBO Max. 

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