Tommy Flanagan joins the cast of House of the Dragon season 3 as Ser Roderick Dustin, better known to readers of Fire & Blood as Roddy the Ruin, the hardened head of House Dustin who will lead the Winter Wolves into the Dance.
The character arrives during a period when the civil war for the Iron Throne is becoming increasingly savage, and according to Flanagan, Roddy is exactly the kind of man who thrives in that chaos.
“All he wants to do is die this glorious death,” Flanagan said to Entertainment Weekly. “He’s lived too long already.”
Season 3 of House of the Dragon is expected to push the Targaryen civil war into full-scale destruction, with larger battles and higher stakes than previous seasons, such as the long-awaited Battle of the Gullet. Roddy enters the story as a veteran warrior whose age and experience have shaped him into someone extremely eager to fight in the battlefield and give his life for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen.
How Tommy Flanagan was cast in House of the Dragon
Showrunner Ryan Condal admitted that he initially didn’t have a specific actor in mind for the role, saying, “I was looking at these stately British actors and wondering who we could rough up and who wanted to do some light murder on premium television.”
That changed after casting director Kate Rhodes James recommended Flanagan. Although Flanagan had not closely followed Game of Thrones before joining the prequel, he said Condal’s description of Roddy convinced him. The showrunner remembers telling Flanagan that Roddy is “basically a Viking warrior who has passed his prime and has the choice of probably dying in a long and difficult winter, or he can get sent south to battle and go to Valhalla.”
“He's hacking and slashing, but no one can f**king kill him, and he just gets more and more frustrated by it,” Flanagan said. “So the more frustrated he gets, the more ferocious he gets, and then the more un-killable he becomes.”
Flanagan said the role immediately appealed to him and that Roddy might be the most fun he’s had with a character up until now. “As soon as you got that armor on and the hair and the beard… there was no acting required,” he said.
The actor joins a list of fellow newcomers in the third season, also including James Norton as Ormund Hightower, Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly, Tom Cullen as Ser Luthor Largent, and Annie Shapero in Alysanne Blackwood.
Season 3 of House of the Dragon premieres June 21 on HBO and HBO Max.
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