What is it with George R.R. Martin and twins? Game of Thrones famously has Jaime and Cersei Lannister, highborn twins who are a little too close for comfort. Now, HBO is working on a Game of Thrones prequel series called House of the Dragon, set 200 years before the events of the original show. This time, there are at least two sets of twins: we already know that Jefferson Hall will play Lord Jason Lannister and Tyland Lannister, the lord of Casterly Rock and a savvy political player in King’s Landing respectively. And now, Reddit has sussed out who will be playing a different pair of twins: Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, knights on the Kingsguard to King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine).
New images show twin brothers Elliot and Luke Tittensor on the set of House of the Dragon in the Spanish city of Cáceres. They’re training alongside actor Fabien Frankel, who plays Cristin Cole, the Lord Commander of King Viserys’ Kingsguard.
That’s Elliot Tittensor above, not Luke. But seeing one is as good as the other, because twins. They got their start jointly playing the character of Carl Gallagher on Shameless; eventually Luke left the show and Elliot continued playing Carl. They’ve both done separate acting work since.
To be fair, we don’t know for sure that the Tittensor brothers are playing Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, but the evidence is stacking up. The next question is: who are they?
Who are Arryk and Erryk Cargyll on House of the Dragon?
As I already said, Arryk and Erryk are both members of the Kingsguard for King Viserys I Targaryen, who is ruling Westeros when the show begins. However, the story really gets going when Viserys dies and there’s disagreement over who should succeed him. On the one side you have his eldest child Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy, who are playing younger and older versions of the character respectively), who was long promised the role of queen. However, her half-brother Aegon Targaryen (we don’t know who’s playing him yet) contests her claim at the urging of his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the king’s second wife and Rhaenyra’s stepmother.
The Kingsguard is supposed to guard the king, but what happens when two people claim the title? Well, the members take sides; Arryk takes up arms for Aegon while Erryk sides with Rhaenyra. It’s literally brother vs brother. I won’t spoil how that conflict ends, but it’s pretty intense; you can read George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood if you want to know more.
We heard tell that the show was casting Arryk and Erryk a while back, and it’s good to see the series follow through. Side note: I’m betting they change the names of the characters for the series. Twin brothers with names that are both pronounced “Eric”? That could get confusing.
House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO sometime in 2022.
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h/t Los Siete Reinos