No matter what century they live in, being a Targaryen comes with a lot of drama. An actor’s dream! Especially for Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy, who Deadline says have joined HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, which is set 300 years before GoT. The three will all play members of the famous house, alongside The Outsider’s Paddy Considine, who was announced in October as King Viserys Targaryen.
In the series based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, Deadline reports Smith will play Prince Daemon Targaryen, younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne, ahead of D’Arcy’s Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, technically the king’s first-born child, but also a woman, a conflict we can go ahead and assume will lead to deep (and deeply-entertaining!) resentment and conspiring.
Finally, Cooke will portray Alicent Hightower, daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, a renown beauty and a member of the royal family’s inner cycle. A fifth lead, Lord Corlys Velaryon, has yet to be cast, but he’s known in the book as the Sea Snake, if that nickname makes any actors leap to the front of mind.