The suspense is ending! With the recordings already in progress, HBO announced today four names of the cast that should give life to important characters in House of the Dragon. Many of them have already been mentioned here in Miscelana because of other series. Let’s go: Sir Simon Russell Beale, Freddie Fox from Slow Horses, Gayle Rankin from Perry Mason, and Abubakar Salim, our dear “Father” from the extinct Raised by Wolves.

With these confirmations, some of the most anticipated plots are also more than certain as the award-winning theater actor, Sir Simon Russell Beale will play Ser Simon Strong, a relative of the late Ser Harwin and Ser Lyonel Strong and Larys Strong’s great-uncle. Ser Simon was ruling Harrenhall after the ultra suspicious death of his great-nephew and great-nephew and will “lose” the cursed castle to Daemon Targaryen.

Once there, we have confirmation of one of the most anticipated roles in the plot, that of the sorceress Allys Rivers, who will be played by Gayle Rankin, an actress who stood out in the first season of Perry Mason (also from HBO) and was in the cast of Glow too. Allys will be the great love of Aemond Targaryen’s life, will be an antagonist of Rhaenyra, and will have an important participation in all Dance of the Dragons.

On the Hightowers side, we will have a reunion of the Slow Horses series. Although I have my support for the entry of Jack Lowden to House of the Dragon, it is the actor Freddie Fox who is already part of the Greens. He, who was also in The Great and The Pursuit of Love, became known as the irritating James Webb of the wonderful Slow Horses, which had Olivia Cooke in the first season. Freddie will play Alicent Hightower’s brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower, who only appears in one scene where he loses the duel to Daemon, but is covered in armor and we don’t see his face.

And the wonderful Abubakar Salim will play Alyn of Hull, a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign and who will ingratiate himself with Ser Corlys Velaryon. His entry into the cast kind of dispels the theory that many fans were betting on, that Alyn was Laenor (dead in the book, but alive in the series).

The second season of House of the Dragon will have fewer episodes than the initial one, only 8, but for me, it is a sign that we will have a third and possibly fourth seasons ahead.

There are other rumors of actors that we will update little by little. Those confirmed give an injection of cheer for the long wait!