Simon Russell Beale, Freddie Fox, Gayle Rankin and Abubakar Salim have all joined the cast of the second season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” which is currently in production.
Beale will portray Ser Simon Strong, Castellan of Harrenhal and great-uncle to Lord Larys. Fox will portray Ser Gwayne Hightower, son of Otto Hightower, brother to Queen Alicent, and uncle to King Aegon.
Rankin will portray Alys Rivers, a healer and resident of Harrenhal. Salim will portray Alyn of Hull, a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign.
They join returnees Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Rhys Ifans, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, and Matthew Needham.
The new season will clock in at a shorter eight-episode run, the shorter decision part of a long-term plan for the show with HBO already considering a green light for a third season which has already been mapped out.
George R.R. Martin is the executive producer and co-creator alongside showrunner Ryan Condal. The first season boasted a $200 million production budget and the biggest marketing campaign in HBO’s history. It snagged an average of 29 million viewers per episode – HBO’s best numbers in years until “The Last of Us” earlier this year.
Source: Deadline
