With production on House of the Dragon season 3 underway, the creative team is hard at work in putting the pieces in place for the highly anticipated next season of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel and, in doing so, they’ve officially cast the first major new character for the season!
As first confirmed by Variety, actor James Norton has joined the season 3 cast of House of the Dragon in the role of Ormund Hightower, a character who was previously referenced during the show’s second season but had previously never appeared on-screen. Ormund is the nephew of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and cousin to both Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Gwayne’s (Freddie Fox) cousin.
If his last name and family ties weren’t enough of a context clue, you can very much expect Ormund to be part of Team Green and he’s very much in opposition to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). In Fire & Blood, the book in which House of the Dragon is based, Ormund is a loyal ally of Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) and helps command armies in the Reach as Lord of Oldtown.
It’s not yet known how closely the show will follow Ormund’s storyline in the book, but it seems safe to assume there will be some minor adjustments to fit the show’s current narrative and adjust to the book changes already made.
Also unclear at this time is exactly how large a role Norton will have in the season as it’s unclear whether he is joining the House of the Dragon cast as a series regular or in a recurring role for the show’s third season.
Given filming is expected to begin in March 2025, it seems highly likely that additional casting announcements will be coming in as HBO works to cast additional key characters for House of the Dragon season 3. This includes the role of Daeron Targaryen, Alicent’s youngest son, who plays a key role in the Battle of the Honeywine, a battle in which Ormund leads his troops.
Our new additions will join returning stars that include Cooke, D’Arcy, Glynn-Carney, Ifans, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Harry Collett, Fabien Frankel, Jefferson Hall, Sonoya Mizuno, Ewan Mitchell, Matthew Needham, Phia Saban, Matt Smith, and Steve Toussaint.
After hitting a bit of a sophomore slump in season 2, expectations are incredibly high for season 3 which fans are hoping will begin picking up the action and deliver a more eventful season than the show's second season. We know we should be getting some big battles and new faces will enter the mix, so let's hope that the writers can right the show's path and that the wait for season 3 -- which isn't expected to arrive until 2026 -- will be worth it.