‘House of the Dragon’ Star Left out of Season 2 Reveal

HBO triumphantly announced that House of the Dragon Season 2 is in the works as of Tuesday, but the press release left out one major cast member. The announcement made a point of listing returning stars and producers, but that means anyone left out of the announcement is now in peril. Fair warning: There are spoilers and possible spoilers ahead!

Tuesday’s press release said specifically that Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Eve Best, Steve Touissant and Matthew Needham will be back for House of the Dragon Season 2. It also mentioned Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Rhys Ifans, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban and Jefferson Hall. However, it said nothing of Graham McTavish, the actor who played Ser Harrold Westerling in Season 1. McTavish was billed as a star last year, but his character made a dramatic exit from King’s Landing near the end of the season.

As fans may recall, in Episode 9 Otto Hightower (Ifans) ordered Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, to assassinate Rhaenyra (D’Arcy) and her family, and he was outraged. He said that he would not recognize Hightower’s authority and abandoned the white cloak that is the badge of office for the Kingsguard. He stormed off and was replaced with Ser Criston Cole (Frankel), but die-hard fans know that that’s not how Westerling’s story ended in the book.

In George R.R. Martin’s fictional history book Fire & Blood, Westerling was actually dead long before this point. He died before King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) of unnamed causes. The book only mentions that Westerling died in the year 112 AC and was replaced by Cole – presumably by Viserys’ choosing.

While the TV version may have been more dramatic, it also leaves a loose end that could have ripple effects down the line. On one hand, Westerling does not reappear in the book ever again, so any involvement he has in the war to come would be a divergence from the source material. On the other hand, his departure from the Small Council in Season 1 is an unresolved story, and if it doesn’t come up again it will be the kind of oversight that Game of Thrones was infamous for in its later seasons.

As for McTavish himself, he has other work on the horizon but he seemed hopeful that he would return to House of the Dragon in an interview with TV Line last year. He said: “When he leaves, I mean – hey, you know, in my mind, I imagined him sort of striding out, getting on his horse, riding out of town and really taking time to decompress, to actually think, you know, ‘What am I going to do next?’ Because I don’t think he has a plan. I don’t think Harrold would go home at night having an exit strategy if things went wrong. He would never have imagined that ever happening.”

House of the Dragon Season 2 is filming now and is expected to premiere in the fall of 2024. Season 1 is streaming now on HBO Max along with all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. Martin’s books are available in print, digital and audiobook formats.