‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2: Meet the New Cast and Characters

The trailer for House of the Dragon Season 2 showed fan-favorite returning characters in action, but an additional press release from HBO introduced some new faces. We got confirmation on six newly-cast characters this weekend, bringing our total for Season 2 up to 10 brand new Westerosi people. Here’s a look at each actor and the character they are playing.

House of the Dragon has an uphill battle following the controversial ending of Game of Thrones while adapting a very unconventional book to screen. The show is based on Fire & Blood, a fictional history book by George R.R. Martin that is not written or structured like a typical novel. In order to cover all the relevant events, House of the Dragon Season 1 employed sporadic time-skips that were not universally popular among fans. However, now that the timeline is stabilizing in Season 2, we can start to expand the roster.

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The extra characters will be needed as we kick off the bloodiest war in Westeros’ history. Both sides have dragon-riders and, as you will see in the list below, more are coming soon. House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres in early summer of 2024. Read on for all the new cast members we’ve met so far and a bit about their characters.

Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull

Clinton Liberty is a 25-year-old Irish actor with a strong background in dance. He has made a number of movie and TV appearances, including notably the ITV adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel Holding. He starred alongside Game of Thrones alum Conleth Hill in that project.

Liberty will play Addam of Hull, a character who was somewhat mysterious in Fire & Blood because of the book’s unreliable narrator. Addam is a “dragonseed” – a low-born person presumed to have some amount of Valyrian ancestry through a bastard descendant of House Velaryon. In Season 2, dragonseeds will be invited to attempt to claim dragons so that Rhaenyra’s side can gain an advantage in the war. Addam is supposed to bond with Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke, but since the show changed Laenor’s fate from death to self-exile, many fans are curious about how the transition will go.

Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome

Jamie Kenna is a British actor with a long resume in procedurals and soap operas. He had a stellar year in 2023 with a role in The Crown and in the movie Gran Turismo, among other things. Kenna will play Ser Alfred Broome, one of the senior nights in the garrison at Dragonstone. Broome will be a major player in the war to come.

Kieran Bew as Hugh

English actor Kieran Bew is a recent Max star thanks to Warrior, so he should be right at home on this HBO fantasy. Bew is best known for playing Bill O’Hara on Warrior – a martial arts drama based on a treatment originally written by Bruce Lee. He has worked with House of the Dragon co-star Matt Smith before on a 2006 series called The Street.

Bew will play another dragonseed named Hugh the Hammer, or simply Hugh Hammer. Little is said about Hugh’s history or personality in the book, so it will be interesting to see him brought to life in the show.

Tom Bennett as Ulf

Hugh’s friend and fellow dragonseed Ulf White will be played by Tom Bennett. Like Hugh, Ulf has no surname so he is called Ulf the White or simply Ulf White because of his pale white hair. Ulf was a man-at-arms at Dragonstone before the war and was known for being a bit of drunkard. His chance to ride a dragon was seen as an attempt at redemption and glory.

Bennett is another British actor with an impressive resume – he has appeared in some of the country’s most beloved series including EastEnders, and has worked with HBO before on the 2013 series Family Tree. He is the son of actor Colin Bennett.

Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark

Tom Taylor takes on the highly anticipated role of Cregan Stark, the Lord of Winterfell at the time of this series. Taylor is best known for playing Jake Chambers in the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower, alongside Idris Elba as the Gunslinger. Now 22 years old, Taylor has several other credits to his name and he is stepping into a much more mature role.

Fans may recall that at the end of House of the Dragon Season 1, Rhaenyra’s two sons flew off on their dragons to negotiate with the lords of other great houses. Lucerys went to Storm’s End which we saw in the finale, but we haven’t seen Jacaerys’ trip to Winterfell yet. The book lingers on this meeting, though it raises more questions than it answers. If there’s one thing fans of Martin’s writing are excited for, it’s this meeting of ice and fire in the flesh.

Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne

Vincent Regan joins the cast as Ser Rickard Thorne – a character that we should already have met by now. Rickard is a member of the Kingsguard, the elite knights in white cloaks constantly lurking behind the king and the royal family. He is loyal to Aegon II and is at King’s Landing, opposing Rhaenyra and her claim to the throne.

Regan is a great choice for this role with plenty of experience playing sword-wielding heroes. The 58-year-old actor played the Captain in 300, Eudorus in Troy and King Cepheus in Clash of the Titans. He has held plenty of other roles both in and out of armor, but right now fantasy fans would most likely recognize him for playing Vice Admiral Garp in the Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece.

Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull

We’re moving on to the actors who were announced in previous press releases, starting with Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull. Salim was in the HBO series Raised by Wolves from 2020 to 2022, which is where American fans are most likely to recognize him from. He will play another dragonseed named Alyn from the town of Hull on the island of Driftmark – the domain of House Velaryon. After seeing his younger brother Addam tame a dragon, Alyn hopes to do the same.

Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers

Scottish actress Gayle Rankin takes on another role that has book-readers curious – the mysterious Alys Rivers from the castle Harrenhal. Rankin is 34 years old and is best known for playing Sheila in the Netflix original series GLOW. She was the first Scottish student ever to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. To some fans, even Rankin’s age is a massive revelation when it comes to Alys Rivers.

Alys is living at Harrenhal working as a wet nurse when the war comes to the Riverlands. The infamously “cursed” castle changes hands during the fighting, and the historians can’t ignore Alys’ apparent influence on the course things take. Fans have concocted plenty of theories about Alys, believing she has magical powers relating to the Greenseers and woods witches of Westeros. Many expect her to become the Melisandre of House of the Dragon. 

Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower

Technically speaking, you could call this the first re-casting in House of the Dragon. In the pilot episode, Ser Gwayne Hightower jousted against Daemon Targaryen and lost, though he had no lines and kept his helmet’s visor down. Now, he will be played by Freddie Fox, a 34-year-old English actor known for numerous BBC productions as well as movies like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, among others.

Gwayne actually jousted against Ser Criston Cole in the book version, so there’s no telling what other changes are coming for his character. Gwayne is the eldest son of Otto Hightower, Hand of the King. He will need to take the field on his family’s behalf in the war to come.

Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong

Finally, Simon Russell Beale plays Ser Simon Strong. Beale is a 62-year-old English actor lauded for his work on the stage, even earning a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. Beale’s best-known screen performances include The 1996 adaptation of Hamlet, The 2021 biopic Benediction and last year’s thriller The Outfit.

By now fans have seen House Strong’s entanglements with the Targaryens go tragically awry. Viserys’ advisor Lyonel and Rhaenyra’s lover Harwin were both killed by arson in Season 1, leaving the spymaster Larys in control of the family’s wealth while he serves Alicent at King’s Landing. Larys’ great-uncle Simon is the castellan of Harrenhal – the castle given to House Strong generations earlier by Viserys’ predecessor, King Jaehaerys I. As the war spills into the Riverlands, Simon will face onslaught from every side as he tries to hold the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms.

House of the Dragon Season 2 is expected in early summer of 2024. Season 1 is streaming now on Max along with all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. Martin’s books, including Fire & Blood and the rest of A Song of Ice and Fire, are available in print, digital and audiobook formats.