Carice van Houten would play Melisandre again “if the storyline was good”

House of the Dragon is set well over 100 years before Game of Thrones, which makes cameo appearances by the original cast very unlikely…but not impossible. This is a fantasy show, so there are ways around the obvious plot question of how someone who won’t be born for over a century yet could show their face.

For instance, there’s one character who wasn’t just already born by the time of House of the Dragon, but getting on in years: Melisandre, aka the Red Woman, is some 400 years old by the time of Game of Thrones, having greatly elongated her life using the power of the Lord of Light. She would already be well over 100 years old at the time of House of the Dragon, which means she would already know her fair share of magic.

Would actor Carice van Houten consider making an appearance on the prequel show? “Would I [return]? If the storyline was good – yes, why not?” she told Digital Spy. “But I think it would be more fun to show a young Melisandre, or a child Melisandre – to really go deep into her slave routes, because it’s all very… you know, I could go on forever about that.”

"But there is an interesting sort of storyline there, and I think it’s a bit boring to then drag me out again. I think it’s nicer to have another actor do it. But, you know, I wouldn’t say no."

And then there’s the possibility of a Melisandre spinoff; Jon Snow might get one, after all, so who’s to say we couldn’t have The Red Woman, airing Sundays on HBO? “Maybe,” van Houten said. “It’s going to be a fun show. A barrel of laughs.”

Tom Wlaschiha is down to play Jaqen H’ghar again

Game of Thrones actors often get asked if they’d consider returning to their old roles. Another case in point: Express asked Tom Wlaschiha, who played Arya’s Faceless Man mentor Jaqen H’ghar, if he’d consider coming back. “As far as I know, it’s over,” he said.

"Well, if ever an offer came, I would definitely consider it. It was a lot of fun shooting that show and it was really great, an honour being part of that. Although, personally, I’m not a big fan of… fantasy but then again for me, Game of Thrones has always been more Shakespeare than fantasy…The human relations spiced up with some dragons."

At the moment, HBO is pretty focused on House of the Dragon, which is the way it should be. But now that the prequel is a hit, I’ll bet we see at least one more. But which one, and will there be room for cameos?

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