House of the Dragon swapped out twin Cargyll actors and nobody noticed

House of the Dragon has preserved most of the names from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, even when it risks confusing the audience. For example, there are two dragon-riding women on the show named Rhaenyra and Rhaenys, although that’s easy to understand compared to Erryk and Arryk Cargyll, twin brothers who are both members of the Kingsguard. In the story, Arryk sides with Aegon II Targaryen and the greens while Erryk steals Viserys Targaryen’s crown and gives it to Rhaenyra, throwing his lot in with the blacks.

Arryk and Erryk are played by real-life twin brothers Luke and Elliott Tittensor. Although it can be hard for the audience (and even the characters, sometimes) to keep Arryk and Erryk straight, there is a behind-the-scenes advantage: if either Luke or Elliott Tittensor is out for whatever reason, the other brother can step in without missing a beat. And that’s actually what happened in the House of the Dragon season finale, according to director Greg Yaitanes.

“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 said on Entertainment Weekly’s West of Westeros podcast. “It was a shot over two days and then one [of the brothers] got COVID. [Elliott] got COVID, so we swapped him out with his brother.”

Arryk and Erryk and Elliott and Luke(s)

Easy peasy, although the confusing web of names tripped up even the people behind the scenes. Remember: there’s Luke and Elliott Tittensor, who play Arryk and Erryk Cargyll respectively. But there’s also actor Elliot Grihault, who plays Luke Velaryon. “The way this came to me was the game of telephone,” Yaitanes joked.

But in the end, the team worked through it and the Tittensors were able to save the day. “[T]hat would’ve killed us [if Luke hadn’t been able to step in], Yaitanes said. “We were just about to do all [actor Emma D’Arcy’s] coverage and he is standing right next to [them].”

All 10 episodes of House of the Dragon are available to stream now on HBO Max. Don’t expect season 2 until 2024.

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