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Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon casts Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy

The West Australian
Matt Smith will play Prince Daemon Targaryen - a younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne.
Camera IconMatt Smith will play Prince Daemon Targaryen - a younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne. Credit: Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

More cast members for the hotly-anticipated Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon have been announced, with Matt Smith set to play Targaryen royalty.

The 10-part series based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood and set 300 years before Game of Thrones will see Smith play Prince Daemon Targaryen — a younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne.

Alongside Smith, Olivia Cooke from Bates Motel has been cast as Alicent Hightower — the daughter of the Hand of the King — while Truth Seekers’ Emma D’Arcy will star as PrincessRhaenyra Targaryen, a dragonrider of pure Valyrian blood and the king’s first-born child.

They join Peaky Blinders’ Paddy Considine who was previously announced to play King Viserys I Targaryen.

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HBO also revealed the all new line-up of directors to the GOT franchise including Clare Kilner from East Enders, Geeta Patel from The Witcher, and Greg Yaitanes who previously worked on House.

Filming for the first season is expected to begin in England next year and will debut on HBO in 2020.

The new series is based on George R. R. Martin’s novels and set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Camera IconThe new series is based on George R. R. Martin’s novels and set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Credit: Liam McBurney - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Smith, a former The Crown and Doctor Who star, is working on several upcoming projects and will also appear in 2021’s Morbius with with Jared Leto.

He’s also signed up for Edgar Wright’s psychological horror film Last Night in Soho and John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven, based on the Lawrence Osborne book of the same name.

The original Game of Thrones TV series wrapped up last year with many fans left disappointed by the finale.

Martin has been working on A Song of Ice and Fire’s penultimate book The Winds of Winter for nearly a decade and the author recently updated fans on his progress.

“No, sorry, still not done, but I do inch closer. It is a big book,” he wrote on his blog.

“I try not to dwell on that too much. I write a chapter at a time, a page-at-a-time, a sentence at-a-time, a word at-a-time. It is the only way. And sometimes I rewrite.”

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