'House of the Dragon' Makes Tom Cullen a Knight for Season 3

HBO's House of the Dragon will never be as big as Game of Thrones was during its heyday, the world has changed too much,  not to mention the entertainment landscape. But, like many British-ish series, it continues to gainfully employ fan favorites from PBS shows, and even sometimes helps return them to cultural relevance, much like the original series did for Charles Dance. The series, which stars Matt Smith (The Crown) and Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses), also follows in the footsteps of its predecessor by killing off large sections of the cast every season, necessitating hiring more PBS stars.

We already noted that James Norton (Grantchester's OG Hot Priest) will be joining the series in a relatively high-profile role as one of the Hightower patriarchs. (Hightower is the prominent family supporting the "Team Green" side of the Targaryen Civil War, almost guaranteeing Norton will die spectacularly at some point.) Now we've got another PBS star from the same era joining the series, as Tom Cullen, who Downton Abbey fans will remember as Lady Mary's rebound beau, who she summarily dumped for being boring in bed, Tony, Lord Gillingham.

Cullen has been cast as Ser Luthor Largent, the Head of the City Watch in King's Landing. (Game of Thrones fans will remember that position as held by Lord Janos Slynt.) That puts him on Team Green automatically as they hold King's Landing. Unless, of course, he decides to betray them. (Something that happens an awful lot.)

Passenger did not do well for BritBox, but Barry Sloan, one of the primary leads, deserves good things anyway, and I am happy to report he also will be joining House of the Dragon, as Ser Adrian Redfort. Redfort is the head of the Queensguard at Dragonstone, where the Team Black half of the Targaryen Civil War is located, and in essence, is the Team Black counterpart to Largent. Rounding out the new hires, there's Joplin Sibtain (Andor) as Ser "Bold Jon" Roxton, another piece of cannon fodder for Team Green, also likely to experience a spectacular death, Tommy Flanagan (Peaky Blinders) as Lord Roderick Dustin, and Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts) as Ser Torrhen Manderly.

So far, there is no synopsis for the show's third season, but everybody dies at some point, so let's just go with that.

Season 3's returning main cast includes Smith, Cooke, Emma D’Arcy (Hanna), Eve Best (MaryLand), Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin), Fabien Frankel (The Serpent), Ewan Mitchell (World on Fire), Tom Glynn-Carney (Rogue Heroes), Sonoya Mizuno (Civil War), and Rhys Ifans (Elementary). The returning supporting cast includes Harry Collett (Dunkirk), Bethany Antonia (Nolly), Phoebe Campbell (Midsomer Murders), Phia Saban (The Last Kingdom), Jefferson Hall (Oppenheimer), Matthew Needham (Great Expectations), Tom Bennett (After Life), Kieran Bew (Liar), Freddie Fox (Lot No. 249), Clinton Liberty (Normal People), Abubakar Salim (Jamestown), Kurt Egyiawan (The Agency) and Gayle Rankin (GLOW).

House of the Dragon is based on a few chapters in a small subsection of the first volume of George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. (No, there's no second volume, why would you think that?) Series co-creator Ryan Condal is the showrunner and executive producer alongside Martin, Sara Hess, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Vince Gerardis, David Hancock, and Philippa Goslett.

House of the Dragon Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Max, along with all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. The next Westeros-set spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is expected to arrive on HBO and Max in the summer of 2025. House of the Dragon Season 3 is expected to follow in 2026.