All 11 House of the Dragon characters being replaced by older actors
By Daniel Roman
Jacaerys Velaryon
Like Alicent, Rhaenyra has plenty of children. After marrying Laenor Velaryon, Rhaenyra gives birth to three sons. They’re the center of quite a bit of court gossip, however, owing to their dark hair and “plain” features. Why aren’t they Targaryen blonde, people will ask? In Fire & Blood, many believe them to be illicit children that Rhaenyra has with Harwin “Breakbones” Strong, the son of Lord Lyonel Strong, Viserys’ new Hand of the King.
Rhaenyra’s oldest son, Jacaerys Velaryon, is played in his younger years by Leo Hart, pictured above. Later, he’ll be played by Harry Collett, who will presumably play Jacaerys for the rest of the show:
Jacaerys is a dragonrider just like his mother. His dragon Vermax hatches from its egg while in his cradle as a baby. Who says this isn’t a feel good show?
Lucerys Velaryon
Then there’s Jacaerys’ younger brother Lucerys. As with the rest of the children we’ve discussed, Lucerys Velaryon will be played by two different actors during season 1 of House of the Dragon. As a kid, Lucerys will be played by Harvey Sadler:
As the years pass and Lucerys gets older, he’ll be played by Elliot Grihault. Even then, Lucerys will only be an older teenager, not an adult. Rhaenyra’s children are quite a bit younger than Alicent’s, since Alicent started having babies at an earlier age.
Grihault’s Lucerys is the second one from the left in the above image, where he’s standing with his brother Jacaerys and their twin cousins, Baela and Rhaena Targaryen.
Rhaenyra does have one other child with Laenor, named Joffrey Velaryon. But as HBO currently has no actors listed for him, we’re guessing he’ll still be pretty young by the time the season ends and won’t factor into events overmuch until later on.