Actor reportedly cast as doomed rat-catcher on House of the Dragon

Of late, the cast and crew of House of the Dragon have been filming a massive battle sequence in and around Bourne Woods in England. That has mostly wound down now. Filming has gone back indoors, although we’re still getting reports from the set. Most recently, @HousetheDragons and Wiki of Thrones report that actor Nicola Wright will play a rat catcher in the second season of the Game of Thrones prequel show.

If you’ve read George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, mention of a “rat catcher” may set off alarm bells. We’re going to get into why, but beware that there are SPOILERS beyond this point:

"Nicola Wright has been cast to play a ratcatcher in the Red Keep in S2. She will appear in episode 2. by u/Outside_Slide_3218 in HouseOfTheDragon"

Who are Blood and Cheese in House of the Dragon?

So, in Fire & Blood, after Aemond Targaryen kills young Lucerys Velaryon on dragonback, Luke’s stepfather Daemon Targaryen starts hatching a revenge plot. He reaches out to an old acquaintance of his — most likely Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) — and puts into motion a deadly scheme. Mysaria hires a pair of mercenaries known to history only as Blood and Cheese. Cheese is or was a rat-catcher in the Red Keep, so he knows the place very well. It’s his job to sneak himself and Blood into the castle.

Blood, meanwhile, is the muscle. The pair surprise Queen Helaena Targaryen and her mother Alicent Hightower while they’re with Helaena’s kids Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, who we glimpsed very briefly in the first season. Blood kills one of them in front of mother and grandmother, getting revenge for Lucerys.

In the aftermath, King Aegon, the father of the slain child, orders all the rat-catchers in the Red Keep hanged. (His father, Otto Hightower, brings in a bunch of cats to replace them.) If Nicola Wright is indeed in House of the Dragon — this is an unconfirmed report at this moment — we’re guessing she plays one of the unfortunate rat-catchers who feel Aegon’s wrath.

According to @HouseTheDragons, Wright will appear in Episode 2, which sounds about right. We’ve already seen evidence of the aftermath of this event, and the producers have teased that it’s coming. “I don’t think you will be disappointed,” said writer Sara Hess. In this context, I’m not quite sure what “disappointed” means. Personally, I’m expecting to be harrowed.

So far as we can tell, Mark Stobbart will play Cheese and Sam C. Wilson Blood.

The latest from the House of the Dragon season 2 set

As long as we’re here, let’s catch up on a couple other things happening on set. Most of the filming has now gone indoors at Leavesden Studios in England, although they’re still shooting some things on the lot outside. For instance, we’ve seen them shooting on a big ship set. The ship probably belongs to Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint).

Also, bright lights indicate they’re shooting some kind of night scene. We’ll find out all the details when House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO and Max sometime in 2024.

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