Rhys Ifans plays political schemer Otto Hightower in House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. It's a pretty important role, but Ifans has other ambitions: Deadline reports that he'll play the lead in Star City, a spinoff of the Apple TV+ drama For All Mankind.
For All Mankind is set in an alternate history where the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union never ended. Every season jumps forward several years in time reveal what kinds of new technologies the world would have invented had these two superpowers been competing the whole time to push deeper into outer space. For All Mankind is mostly about the American side of things. Star City will focus on the Soviets. Ifans will play the role of "Chief Designer."
According to Made in Vilnius, Star City will start filming in the Luthuanian city of Vilnius this month. So far as we can tell, House of the Dragon season 3 will begin filming in March. This raises the question: can Rhys Ifans play the lead in Star City and Otto Hightower in House of the Dragon at the same time?
The short answer is yes. According to Deadline, Ifans isn't leaving House of the Dragon, and Ifans himself has hinted at filming getting started before too long. But this announcement does ring some alarm bells, particularly in light of what happened with Otto Hightower in House of the Dragon season 2.
What will happen to Otto Hightower on House of the Dragon? Beware SPOILERS below!
In Fire & Blood, the book on which House of the Dragon is based, Otto Hightower pretty much stays in King's Landing for the entirety of the events the show is covering. So it was strange when, in the second episode of House of the Dragon season 2, Otto decided to leave the city for the Reach. We didn't see him again for the entire season, except a brief cameo in the season finale where he appeared in a jail cell somewhere.
Of all the changes House of the Dragon made to the source material — and it made a lot — this was probably the weirdest, because...just...why? Why take this character completely off his book path? When Otto disappeared for most of the season, I assumed that it was because the writers had some new plan for him. But hearing that Rhys Ifans is signing up for a full-time gig in a different show, I wonder if there was more to the change. Perhaps Ifans wants to be written out out of the Game of Thrones prequel series?
But here's the thing: if Ifans wanted to be written off the show, all the producers needed to do was keep Otto on his path from Fire & Blood. (Here's your last chance to avoid SPOILERS.) One of the next big things to happen in the story is that Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) takes over King's Landing. Once she does, she executes several people she considers disloyal, including Otto Hightower. Obviously that would have freed up Rhys Ifans' time.
If Otto were still in King's Landing, he would probably be executed fairly early in season 3. But now, who knows? Maybe Otto will linger on and Ifans will somehow juggle appearing in both House of the Dragon and Star City. Maybe we're in for another season of House of the Dragon where he's weirdly absent. Or maybe there's a third option we haven't considered yet.
In any case, both Star City and the third season of House of the Dragon will likely debut in 2026. Apple TV+ is also working on a fifth season of For All Mankind:
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