This has been an exciting week for fans of House of the Dragon. On Monday, HBO announced that its Game of Thrones prequel series had begun filming on its third season. To go along with the good news, two important new cast members were announced, and showrunner Ryan Condal spoke with Entertainment Weekly about a range of topics including the Battle of the Gullet, the future of King Aegon II Targaryen, last year's critical blog post from author George R.R. Martin and more. It's been a lot to sift through.
So far, we know three new cast members who are joining House of the Dragon for season 3. The two who were announced this week are Tommy Flanagan as Roderick Dustin (Roddy the Ruin) and Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly, both men of the north. We got word of the other cast member a few months back: English actor James Norton is playing Ormund Hightower, the nephew of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and Lord of Oldtown. Condal spoke a bit more about what we can expect from Ormund, and it sounds like he'll play a substantial role in the upcoming season.
"This is the biggest new role that I think we've added since season 1," Condal said. "I think that Ormund is really going to delight and surprise the audience with what he brings to the narrative and with what James does with the character."
Ormund is the son of Lord Hobert Hightower, who was played by Steffan Rhodri back in the first season of House of the Dragon. He was present at court when his niece Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) debuted her signature green dress at young Rhaenyra Targaryen's wedding. "We saw he had a very particular brand of older brother-ness with Otto," Condal said of Ormund's father Hobert. "Hobert has since passed away, and Ormund has inherited the High Tower. So Ormund is the voice of the south."
Generally speaking, I like how deeply Condal is thinking about the wider familial associations within House Hightower. Ormund isn't the first character I'd think of to become a new central character in House of the Dragon, but considering that he'll be leading a rather large army through the Reach, it makes sense that he could become a prominent face on the show.
Why Daeron Targaryen wasn't in earlier seasons of House of the Dragon
And then there's the other important character in Ormund's sphere of influence: Daeron Targaryen, the youngest son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine). Daeron hasn't yet appeared on screen in House of the Dragon, but we caught a glimpse of his blue dragon Tessarion in the season 2 finale. Condal confirmed Daeron will appear in season 3, but stopped short of revealing who will play him.
"Daeron's in the story. He's a big feature in the book, but if you read the book narrative sequentially, the material we've covered so far didn't really have a lot of call for Daeron in it, which is why we're getting to this now," Condal explained. "I won't say much more, but I will say that the fact that Daeron has not featured in the world of his family, at least his immediate nuclear family, is sort of the point I think. The thing that interested us, if not the most, about his character is who he is now as a young man."
Considering that Daeron will be a key part of Ormund's army, their relationship could become a pillar of the new season. Why do I have a feeling that the Hightower family is going to be more interesting than ever this season?
House of the Dragon season 3 is currently filming. We expect it will premiere on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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