Meet the ‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Jumping Into the ‘Yellowstone’ Universe

The upcoming Yellowstone prequel, 1923, will feature beloved Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn. Flynn is best known in the U.S. for playing Bronn, the sellsword who became incredibly close to House Lannister on HBO’s fantasy drama. Deadline recently reported that he is joining the Yellowstone franchise, but it’s not clear yet how similar his new character might be.

Flynn joins a star-studded cast including Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren on 1923, the second prequel spinoff to the Paramount Network’s Yellowstone. While he may not be quite as much of a household name as those co-stars, Flynn has definitely become a global star over the last few years. The role of Bronn did not necessarily need to be as big or long-lived as Flynn made it, but his popularity among fans kept Flynn on Game of Thrones for years.

Flynn was born and raised in England, and both of his parents were professional actors, making it easy for him to follow them into the industry. He had several lauded roles on ITV before reaching international acclaim, and in fact he had retired from acting for nearly a decade before he was offered the role on Game of Thrones.

Bronn is a warrior who is mercilessly practical, making it easy for Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) to trust him and to be blunt with him in the early seasons of Game of Thrones. In the books, he is granted an arranged marriage to a noblewoman outside the capitol and is absent from the latter part of the storyline, but on the TV show they kept him involved in the main series. This is generally attributed to the character’s popularity and Flynn’s performance, especially because at a certain point real-life drama would have made it easy to do away with him.

Flynn dated his Game of Thrones co-star Lena Headey for some years, but they broke up in early 2014. Headey played Queen Cersei Lannister. According to a report by The Telegraph at the time, their relationship ended badly and the production contrived to keep them apart on set. However, Flynn later told fans at Con of Thrones that this was false.

“We were actually in the same scene together,” he said, according to a report by Huffington Post. “And the last time I saw Lena we were speaking, so I wouldn’t believe everything you read, and like I said, [the media] can get pretty desperate for stories… Lena’s a wonderful person and a wonderful actress.”

Flynn’s outlaw status makes it easy to imagine him in this new Yellowstone series. There is no premiere date in place for the series yet, but Game of Thrones is streaming now on HBO Max.