Filming on the third season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon begins this month, and we're hearing lots about casting, some of it from official channels, some of it because cast member post pictures of characters lists without thinking through whether that's a good idea. The point is that things are moving, and that's exciting!
We have some more minor casting news courtesy of @westerosies on X/Twitter, who always do a great job of keeping tabs on the comings and goings of the Seven Kingdoms. According to them, Michelle Bonnard will return as Sylvi the brothel madam in House of the Dragon season 3.
Who is Sylvi the brothel madam, you might be asking? Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) visited her in season 2; in season 1 we learn she may have been the first person he was ever intimate with. She was around for the food riot that broke out in the back half of season 2.
Sylvi kind of serves as a stand-in for the smallfolk of King's Landing, the ones who are going to run over roughshod as Aegon and Rhaenyra and the rest of these power-players jockey for position; in one scene, she even advised Aemond to remember the smallfolk when he was out there waging his wars, advice we doubt he's going to heed.
I imagine Sylvi will continue to be a minor background playing in House of the Dragon season 3. It takes a village to fill out a world, and Sylvi makes for a good villager. While we're at it, @housethedragons reports that actors Sam Swann and Daisy Kakkar have joined the cast of season 3. It's a party.
We won't see new episodes of House of the Dragon until sometime in 2026. In the meanwhile, HBO is readying a new Game of Thrones prequel show called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms that will come out later this year. That one is set decades after the events of House of the Dragon but decades before Game of Thrones, and will be lighter in tone than either of them.
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