Everything to know about House of the Dragon newcomer Tom Taylor (Cregan Stark)

It's almost time to journey back to Westeros for the highly anticipated return of House of the Dragon, and I think I speak for the whole fandom when I say I've been counting down the days! It's been almost two years since the Game of Thrones spinoff premiered on HBO, and fortunately, the first season totally delivered. Based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, House of the Dragon takes place nearly 200 years before the events of Thrones, following the Targaryen family at the peak of their power.

We got to meet a long list of important characters in the first season, and that list is only going to grow in season 2 as we travel to other parts of the realm during the Dance of the Dragons, a.k.a. the Targaryen civil war. One new face we'll meet in House of the Dragon season 2 is Cregan Stark, the Lord of Winterfell who plays a pivotal part in Fire & Blood. Newcomer Tom Taylor plays the character, so let's break down what we know about him.

Tom Taylor is an English actor

Unsurprisingly, Taylor is an English actor, hailing from Surrey. He was born on July 16, 2001, making him 22 years old. He'll turn 23 next month. In House of the Dragon, he plays a 21-year-old, making this casting pretty spot-on. And while Taylor has naturally blonde hair, he's been transformed with a brunette wig to make him look like a Stark, which works:

Taylor's first on-screen role came in 2014 when he appeared in one episode of the BBC One medical drama Casualty. In the years since, he's appeared in The Last Kingdom, playing a young version of Uhtred, and he also played the character Jake Chambers in The Dark Tower. More recently, Taylor appeared in the ITV crime drama The Bay in 2023. We're not sure how big of a role he'll ultimately have in House of the Dragon, but having the HBO hit on his resume will surely only do good things for his career.

Taylor became close with his House of the Dragon co-star

Though we don't know just how many scenes Taylor will have in House of the Dragon season 2, we do know that he's grown close to his co-star Harry Collett, who plays Jacaerys Velaryon. As we've read in Fire & Blood, Cregan and Jace spend a lot of time together when Jace visits Winterfell, so we know the two actors share scenes. Taylor and Collett have shared photos together on social media and continue to support one another in the comments of their posts, something that fans, understandably, have loved.

Fans are also speculating that Taylor and Collett might've collaborated on music together; Collett is a DJ as well as an actor, and he shared a video to social media of a song playing at the studio which he tagged Taylor in. Clearly, the two became friends during filming and it's so fun to see!

Speaking of social media, be sure to follow Taylor on Instagram here! At the time of this writing, he's got 47,800 followers, a number I'm certain will go up with the premiere of House of the Dragon season 2.

Taylor was inspired by Sean Bean while playing Cregan

The 22-year-old actor spoke to Entertainment Weekly ahead of the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere, sharing what lessons he took from Game of Thrones to play Cregan Stark. Of course, fans of the franchise are very familiar with House Stark, making his character a welcomed addition to a time in Westeros they're still learning about. But with that, I'm sure, comes a lot of pressure to live up to the Stark name. Taylor confirmed he used characters like Ned Stark and Jon Snow as inspiration, saying:

"I did use [Ned Stark actor] Sean Bean a lot. For some reason, I felt like I needed to because he's Sean Bean's great, great, great, great, great-granddad. I wanted him to have the same presence because the voice tells so much. When they speak, you can hear the weight on all their shoulders."

- Taylor

Taylor also spoke about the accent he uses for Cregan, noting that showrunner Ryan Condal and the producers "were quite surprised" by it. "I think maybe if I couldn't do the accent, it wouldn't be happening," he shared. "It was such an important thing to get the tone of Cregan right, so when he is speaking, it's not like a cringey speech because a lot of the wording is almost Shakespearean." I certainly can't wait to hear how he sounds!

Taylor might not have a big role in season 2, but he's ready for more

In the same interview with EW, Taylor called his appearance in House of the Dragon season 2 "a little tease for now," which is, honestly, disappointing! I absolutely love the moments between Cregan and Jace in Fire & Blood, so fingers crossed we'll still get to see how their friendship unfolds. As for the future, though, Taylor is looking forward to playing a bigger part:

"I'm just really keen to keep going. I've got so much I want to do with Cregan. I can just imagine it since I've stopped filming. I'm getting so many more ideas. And, yeah, I want to kill some people."

- Taylor

If you've read Fire & Blood, you'll know what's ahead for Cregan, who's also known as the Wolf of the North. Though I'm incredibly excited for the second installment of House of the Dragon, I also can't help but look ahead to future seasons; this war isn't going to end anytime soon!

Get ready to meet Cregan Stark in House of the Dragon season 2, premiering this Sunday, June 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET. New episodes air every Sunday night on HBO and stream on Max. Be sure to follow along with us at Winter is Coming all season long, including our Take the Black podcast where we'll be going live every Sunday night.

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