Abubakar Salim is "terrified" and "pumped" to play Alyn of Hull in House of the Dragon

The second season of House of the Dragon, HBO's excellent prequel to Game of Thrones, is almost here! The first season introduced us to a number of vivid characters, including heir apparent to the Iron Throne Rhaenyra Targaryen, her mercurial uncle/husband Daemon Targaryen, and her half-brother and rival Aegon Targaryen. Yes, this show has a lot of dragon-riding blonde people in it.

But just like Game of Thrones, the second season will expand and introduce us to lots of new characters, including Alyn of Hull, a sailor from the isle of Driftmark who will play a large role in the story going forward.

Alyn will be played by Abubakar Salim, who you may recognize as the benevolent android "Father" from the bonkers sci-fi Max show Raised by Wolves. “Oh man, I’m terrified! I’m really pumped for it,” Salim told Den of Geek about his House of the Dragon role. “I’ve always loved other worlds as a kid, these kind of fantasy spaces. And the beauty of jumping into [author George R.R. Martin’s universe is that, yes, the dragons are there and that’s all cool, but it’s all about human politics and connections and relationships, and that’s what’s really, really special about it.”

Without spoiling things, Alyn of Hull has connections to the Valyrian family, and will come into the story alongside another new character named Addam of Hull, played by Clinton Liberty. If House of the Dragon can tell the full story of the Dance of the Dragons civil war as laid out in Martin's book Fire & Blood, we'll be seeing more of Alyn and Addam in future seasons, a prospect that excites Salim. "Put me in the shoes, man," he said. "I’m there now and feel like there’s definitely space to kind of explore and jump into those stories.”

Alyn of Hull is "such a fantastic beast to hop into" for new House of the Dragon cast member

Salim tweets a lot on X, so he's probably worth keeping an eye on if you want updates about House of the Dragon as we get closer to the June premiere date. "I’m super pumped to be in House of the Dragon this year," he shared recently. "Alyn is such a fantastic beast to hop into, & what the team have created was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Big love to the crew on this show too."

The second season of House of the Dragon will also feature Salim's Raised by Wolves costar Amanda Collin in the role of Jeyne Arryn. And they're just a couple of the new faces we'll meet:

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