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Game of Thrones Prequel TV Show Casting A Key Targaryen Prince
The prequel to Game of Thrones titled House of the Dragon is looking to cast an important character from House Targaryen. The prequel is set to premiere on HBO in 2022 and production is set to get underway in 2021. The show is expected to explore a turbulent period for the Targaryens, centering on the destructive Dance of the Dragons event that tore the royal family apart.
Game of Thrones ran for eight seasons and was a massive hit for HBO. The TV series adapted George R. R. Martin’s popular A Song of Ice and Fire novels. The Targaryen family play a pivotal role in the series, with Daenerys Targaryen's quest to claim the Iron Throne serving as one of its central plots. House of the Dragon will feature more of the Targaryen bloodline, but it will be set 300 years prior to the events seen in Game of Thrones. The show will likely pull material from Martin’s Fire & Blood, which focuses on the Targaryen family history, as well as two novellas about the Targaryens: The Princess and the Queen and The Rogue Prince. Now, HBO is looking to cast a key Targaryen character featured in those books.
Casting began for House of the Dragon in late July, but a new casting notice points to a main character from the novella The Rogue Prince: Prince Daemon Targeryen. In an exclusive obtained by The Illuminerdi, the HBO casting notice for Prince Daemon describes the younger brother of King Viserys as “less methodical and more imperious. Not to mention easily bored...Most of Daemon’s joy is found at sword-point.” The notice also describes Daemon as “the most experienced warrior of his time. He vacillates between vile and heroic, making him the true rogue of the series.” This rogue is also listed as a series lead, scheduled to film from January to December of 2021.
According to the source material, Prince Daemon marries his niece Rhaenyra on his quest for the Iron Throne - a move that brings about the Dance of the Dragons. Since a casting notice for Rhaenyra went out earlier this year, it seems likely this relationship will play out in the prequel. Combine that love affair with Daemon's ambition, and there's the catalyst for the fracturing of House Targaryen. In other words, don't expect a happy ending for the stories of this Martin-created world, a lesson learned from the Game of Thrones series finale.
Miguel Sapochnik, who directed many episodes of Game of Thrones and won an Emmy for “Battle of the Bastards”, joins House of the Dragon as showrunner and his inclusion should bring the same look and feel of the original hit. With Daemon as a series lead, the prequel looks to focus on a morally conflicted anti-hero, similar to a few popular Game of Thrones characters. After all, Jaime Lannister was fun to watch, if not always easy to empathize with. House of the Dragon is currently casting and no official announcements have been made, but once they are, it'll be interesting to see the sort of actor the prequel chooses to play a character like Daemon.
