House of the Dragon reveals the first new season 2 cast members

Meet the new players in the Dance of the Dragons.

HBO has confirmed four actors have joined the cast of House of the Dragon season 2 in new roles: Simon Russell Beale, Freddie Fox, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim.

Beale has been cast as Ser Simon Strong, the Castellan of Harrenhal and great-uncle to Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham).

Fox joins as Ser Gwayne Hightower, son of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), brother to Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke), and uncle to King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Queen Helaena (Phia Saban), and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).

Rankin and Salim will pay Alys Rivers and Alyn of Hull, respectively. Rivers is described as a healer and resident of Harrenhal, while Alyn is a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign.

HBO (4) Left to right: Abubakar Salim, Freddie Fox, Gayle Rankin, and Simon Russell Beale join 'House of the Dragon' season 2 cast

Without getting into spoilers, the presence of Simon Strong and Alys Rivers, in particular, point to a sequence of events from the source material that unfolds at Harrenhal. There's a reason Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) made mention of Harrenhal when poring over the painted table at Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) war council in the season 1 finale.

Season 2 is currently filming in London. In addition to Needham, Ifans, Cooke, Glynn-Carney, Saban, Mitchell, Smith, and D'Arcy, the confirmed returning veterans from season 1 are Eve Best (Princess Rhaenys Targaryen), Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon), Fabien Frankel (Ser Criston Cole), Harry Collett (Jace Velaryon), Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen), Phoebe Campbell (Rhaena Targaryen), and Jefferson Hall (Jason Lannister).

Series co-creator Ryan Condal, a co-showrunner on season 1 with Miguel Sapochnik, is now the sole showrunner on season 2. Co-creator George R.R. Martin also executive produces House of the Dragon with Condal, Sara Hess, Alan Taylor, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Loni Peristere, and Vince Gerardis.

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