Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy Cast in House of the Dragon

[The Wondering Wolf]

10 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

It would be neat if GRRM drew up a Velaryon family tree one day.

I would like that.

10 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

The Hightowers are still rich and powerful, but as far as we know, they have been excluded from the Red Keep (with the exception of Gerold Hightower) since the Dance.

I am not so sure about that. Garmund married Rhaena and Jon was hand to Aegon IV. 

10 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

And now house Velaryon has been reduced to a single member.

Monterys is the only Velaryon we know about, but that does not necessarily mean there are no others. There could be brothers, uncles and cousins on Driftmark or with Stannis.

[The Bard of Banefort]

9 hours ago, The Wondering Wolf said:

I am not so sure about that. Garmund married Rhaena and Jon was hand to Aegon IV. 

Good catch. 

[Lord Varys]

On 12/21/2020 at 11:52 AM, Annara Snow said:

No one is disputing that the lords of Westeros by and large prefer having a male monarch to a female one. But there's a big difference between that and a rule of succession - and if the only indication of such a rule is a Maester claiming that "In the eyes of many, the Great Council of 101 AC thereby established an iron precedent on matters of succession: regardless of seniority" (where not even he claims that it was in the eyes of all), when Grand Maesters need to give speeches to convince others that females should not be heirs. when an 11 year old mentally challenged girl's claim to the Iron Throne is considered something that needs to be officially rejected at a Great Council before you can proceed to the more serious claimant... this means there is no such rule, only people's preference.

Yes, there is no (binding) law of succession for the Iron Throne, and the precedents setting up Jaehaerys I's ruling in 92 AC was actually old Targaryen precedents, i.e. Aegon succeeding Aerion rather than Visenya, Jaehaerys I succeeding Maegor rather than Rhaena or Aerea, etc.

How the lords do it didn't really play into that whole thing very much.

And, yes, the fact that 233 AC the claim of Vaella Targaryen was even considered demonstrates very much that there was still not legal practice in place to cut women out of the succession. In fact, since Ran told us that Aerys I's third Heir Apparent - after Rhaegel and Aelor and before Maekar - was Princess Aelora one can even make a case that female heirs were more accepted in the 210/220s than they were back around 100 AC.

But in this context it isn't really important how it is in the books but how this will be adapted in the show. How will they frame the succession conflict? Is it going to look as if the men barring women from power are in the right ... or not? That is the important thing here, not how things are in the books, because the details will differ.

On 12/22/2020 at 5:34 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

I'm working on a formal writeup about the Velaryon rumors, but I've been researching the Velaryons in general. A few interesting points to jot down: 

• The Velaryons were officially never dragonlords
• The Velaryons' family history says they settled Driftmark before the Targaryens settled Dragonstone (the exact order of how Dragonstone got settled before Aerion the Exile was always vague to me)

We can gather that dragonlords arranged the first settling of Dragonstone and adjacent islands by Valyrians - and it would be then when the Celtigars and Velaryons first came to their islands - and that those dragonlords were not Targaryens.

On 12/22/2020 at 5:34 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

• The Velaryons intermarried with the Targaryens at several points during the Century of Blood: Aegon I's mother was Velaena Velaryon, who herself had an unspecified Targaryen mother.
• There isn't a single recorded instance of a Velaryon being in an incest marriage like the Targaryens did.  Most of their wives are simply listed as "unknown". None of them even confirmed to marry a cousin. The only exception is Alyn of Hull, who married Baela Targaryen daughter of Laena Velaryon...though that may be more due to her being Targaryen. He also had an affair with Aegon III's daughter Elaena, whose mother was Daenara Velaryon (again, more in line with Targaryen incest)

That is not exactly accurate. Corlys Velaryon married a cousin on the Velaryon side in Rhaenys Targaryen (Alyssa Velaryon, Rhaenys' great-grandmother, was the sister of Corlys' grandfather, the second Daemon Velaryon). They are second cousins once removed, unless I'm mistaken. Also, Aenys Targaryen is an unspecified cousin of Alyssa Velaryon on the Velaryon side due to his grandmother Valaena being a Velaryon. If the first Daemon Velaryon and Valaena were siblings - which is pretty likely - then Aenys and Alyssa are second cousins on the Velaryon side and more distant cousins on the Targaryen side.

Incestuous marriage is indeed unheard of among the Velaryons ... although I imagine that a King Laenor would have married Laena, just as I think that the Velaryons would have married the siblings to each other if they hadn't had the ambition to marry them back in the Targaryen main branch as they tried when they offered Laena to Viserys I and later Laenor to Rhaenyra.

On 12/22/2020 at 5:34 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

• There are multiple instances of Velaryons marrying Stormlanders: Massey, Tarth, Estermont, Harte (well, Harte is Crownlands, once Stormlands).

The Harte match is a match between a very obscure cadet branch Velaryon. Daeron Velaryon is the son of a son of younger brother to the Lord of Driftmark. You cannot expect prestigious matches there. We don't even know whether Daemion or Daeron is the elder son of Vaemond Velaryon.

And Larissa Velaryon was basically married off to somebody - the second son of the Evenstar - to separate her from Princess Rhaena so that they would not continue their homosexual affair (at least that's the implication there). It is their daughter who eventually ends up as an Estermont bride, i.e. a Tarth girl.

On 12/22/2020 at 5:34 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

I actually don't have a specific problem with "a Velaryon" being mixed race - the Targaryens would consider Alyssa Velaryon "Mixed Race", in terms of "Valyrians vs everyone else".

I'd actually not go that far. The Masseys around the Conquest were pretty close to Aegon the Conqueror. Could be only because Aethan Velaryon was married to Alarra Massey - or their marriage represents but the most recent intermarriage between the Masseys and the Targaryen bannermen ... meaning Alarra's mother could have been a Celtigar, a Qoherys, another Velaryon, or even a Targaryen for that matter.

Even Justin Massey still looks as if there could be more than one or two drops of Valyrian blood in his bloodline.

On 12/22/2020 at 5:46 AM, The Bard of Banefort said:

It would be neat if GRRM drew up a Velaryon family tree one day.

We should at least be able to trace things from the first Daemon Velaryon (and Valaena) down to Corlys and Alyn and Daeron and Daenaera. That shouldn't be to hard for George to come up with.

[Lord Varys]

22 hours ago, The Wondering Wolf said:

I would like that.

I am not so sure about that. Garmund married Rhaena and Jon was hand to Aegon IV.

Yes, the Hightowers are far from done. They are pretty much as prominent as before, with Leyton having a close relative in the Kingsguard (Ser Gerold) and a daughter as Lady of Highgarden at Mace's side.

We can expect them to have played a pretty big role in the history of Westeros from the Dance to the Rebellion, a much bigger role, in fact, than, say, the Starks.

22 hours ago, The Wondering Wolf said:

Monterys is the only Velaryon we know about, but that does not necessarily mean there are no others. There could be brothers, uncles and cousins on Driftmark or with Stannis.

On Driftmark, yes, with Stannis is less likely. We should have seen them in ADwD. And if a close relative of Monford's had still been with Stannis before he left Dragonstone, then this guy would have likely have had the right to demand being castellan in Stannis' absence.

But chances are good that Monterys may have (elder) sisters, a mother who runs things now as the dowager lady, and also legitimate uncles and cousins who help to keep things together.

For the Velaryons we should go with the end of Robert's Rebellion and the destruction of the Targaryen fleet in the night of Dany's birth as the moment of their relative downfall. The new regime didn't need/trust them, and they would have lost most of their war fleet at Dragonstone.

Lucerys Velaryon - possibly Monford's father - was Master of Ships in the last years of Aerys II's reign - meaning the Velaryons were as prestigious and influential than they had been earlier ... although no longer as wealthy or powerful as they had been during the golden age of Corlys Velaryon.

We cannot even dismiss the possibility that there was further intermarriage between the Targaryens and the Velaryons after Baela/Alyn. The second Laena could be the grandmother of some of the brides of the sons of Daeron II, and (one of) Maekar's daughters, Vaella the Simple, Daenora (if she remarried after Aerion's death) or even children of Duncan/Jenny (if they had any) could have married into House Velaryon.

The Velaryons were the traditional house to pick up spare brides from the dragon family tree.

[Muffin King]

How in the hell will people follow this show and understand the connection between characters without pre-existing knowledge? A lot of the characters will look and sound the same (Rhaena and Rhenyra, Aegon and Aemond for example). 

They will have to make certain characters of different races or something, for example, nobody will understand that Jacerys and Lucerys are suspected to be illegitimate because they have brown hair. It has to be something that makes the viewers go "That doesn't add up"

 

 

 

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

@Muffin King I hope the opening credits feature a family tree of some sort instead the map of Westeros.

[Muffin King]

On 12/31/2020 at 12:24 AM, Thomaerys Velaryon said:

@Muffin King I hope the opening credits feature a family tree of some sort instead the map of Westeros.

That would be cool, think it'd work pretty well. 

 

[The Grey Wolf]

Two blonde parents having three brown-haired children being highly unusual isn't too difficult to grasp.

[BlackLightning]

On 12/11/2020 at 8:12 PM, Lord Varys said:

Oh, well, the really great tidbit we get from those statements there is that Alicent Hightower is apparently not yet the queen when the show starts. She is the daughter of the Hand, and was raised at court with Rhaenyra, nothing more so far.

Which greatly plays into what I said from the start this show has to be about: The personal relationships: Rhaenyra and Alicent have to like or love each other first, before they can become enemies. The show has to be surprising for the people who don't know the books - and that wouldn't work if everybody hated each other already at the beginning.

And it seems they did the only smart thing they can - age up Rhaenyra to make her closer to Alicent in age, which then can cause problems for their friendship simply because Alicent becoming Rhaenyra's stepmother will be odd ... and later their children will likely be closer in age, too, with the Velaryon boys and Aegon II/Aemond not being apart that much in age - which should also work to the benefit of the story.

Wait so are we starting early on in Viserys' reign? Or are we starting at the very end of Jaehaerys' reign when Alicent was just Jaehaerys' nurse before Otto became Hand.

Or are we starting towards the end of Viserys' reign?

 

I maintain that it would be much, much better if we started at the end of Aegon's reign (or, at least, with the beginning of Jaehaerys' reign). That way we can see the stories of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism, Aerea, Rhaena, Saera, Elissa Farman, Vaegon and Alysanne play out on screen.

Most of Fire and Blood revolves around the reign of Jaehaerys anyways. And the Dance begins with Jaehaerys not Viserys.

[Lord Varys]

7 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

Wait so are we starting early on in Viserys' reign? Or are we starting at the very end of Jaehaerys' reign when Alicent was just Jaehaerys' nurse before Otto became Hand.

Or are we starting towards the end of Viserys' reign?

We seem to be starting at the beginning of the reign of Viserys I, when Daemon is the presumptive heir to the throne, Alicent not yet queen, and Rhaenyra just the only child of the king and apparently somewhat older than she would be in the book at that time.

We also seem to be meeting Ser Criston Cole at a time when he has yet to join the KG, pointing also to the early years of the reign of Viserys I.

But the best hint in that direction - as has already been discussed - is the revelation that Ser Harrold Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard until 112 AC, is going to be a series regular in the first season. That wouldn't be the case if the show started later in the reign of Viserys I. It indicates - unless there are dramatic changes made to the story, of course - that the first season may only cover events up until Rhaenyra's first marriage in 113 AC. Although nobody would expect Westerling to be a major character if there were dramatically changing the story. Such an obscure character shouldn't become prominent then ... instead we would expect them compress and condense things to the benefit of characters that are really important to the story.

Or, to be sure, somewhat earlier, since an aged-up Rhaenyra could marry earlier, say, around the time or shortly after her father takes a second wife in Alicent Hightower. If Rhaenyra and Alicent are going to be roughly of the same age then they would also marry roughly around the same time.

7 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

I maintain that it would be much, much better if we started at the end of Aegon's reign (or, at least, with the beginning of Jaehaerys' reign). That way we can see the stories of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism, Aerea, Rhaena, Saera, Elissa Farman, Vaegon and Alysanne play out on screen.

Most of Fire and Blood revolves around the reign of Jaehaerys anyways. And the Dance begins with Jaehaerys not Viserys.

It would be great to see them adapt some of that stuff, too, but this show is about the Dance of the Dragons. The question always was when exactly they would start with the story - and I always and rather vehemently said that unless they take their time and focus intensively on the reign of Viserys I this show would not work and definitely not become a success.

The way Gyldayn frames the story the first seeds for the Dance are sown when Jaehaerys I's succession is unclear. That is why that chapter in FaB is named 'Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession'. Thus I'd like to see it if we got the Great Council in the show - either featured directly or in flashback or heavily referenced in dialogue.

But you don't have to go further back than that.

So far we don't have any news indicating that an old Jaehaerys I is going to be cast, so chances are not that good that we will see him. But then, we also have no news that Queen Aemma Arryn is going to be cast, although she should be in the show if Alicent isn't yet the queen at the beginning of the show. But since both Jaehaerys I and Aemma would likely be minor/recurring characters we would not necessarily hear anything about them at this point.

[BlackLightning]

26 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

It would be great to see them adapt some of that stuff, too, but this show is about the Dance of the Dragons. The question always was when exactly they would start with the story - and I always and rather vehemently said that unless they take their time and focus intensively on the reign of Viserys I this show would not work and definitely not become a success.

The way Gyldayn frames the story the first seeds for the Dance are sown when Jaehaerys I's succession is unclear. That is why that chapter in FaB is named 'Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession'. Thus I'd like to see it if we got the Great Council in the show - either featured directly or in flashback or heavily referenced in dialogue.

But you don't have to go further back than that.

So far we don't have any news indicating that an old Jaehaerys I is going to be cast, so chances are not that good that we will see him. But then, we also have no news that Queen Aemma Arryn is going to be cast, although she should be in the show if Alicent isn't yet the queen at the beginning of the show. But since both Jaehaerys I and Aemma would likely be minor/recurring characters we would not necessarily hear anything about them at this point.

But on that note when will the show end?

Because Fire and Blood ends on a cliffhanger. Alys Rivers has mothered Prince Aemond's bastard and holds Harrenhal (and, what I believe to be another baby dragon). Viserys II and the Rogares show up at the end of the Regency period. And there are still plenty of dragons left: Morning, Moondancer, Silverwing, Shrykos and the Cannibal were all still alive. Not the mention the eggs yet to be hatched. Plus, Nettles and Sheepstealer survive the Dance with stories of how they came to be worshipped by the Painted Dogs and the Burned Men circulating after the fact.

37 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

Or, to be sure, somewhat earlier, since an aged-up Rhaenyra could marry earlier, say, around the time or shortly after her father takes a second wife in Alicent Hightower. If Rhaenyra and Alicent are going to be roughly of the same age then they would also marry roughly around the same time.

I understand them aging Rhaenyra up. I'm not sure if it will work out well moving forward because that screws things up a bit. But not a bad idea.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about Rhaenyra and Alicent being in the same age group.

Not a bad idea but...I don't know. Don't really like it. It heightens the drama but it also mean that Alicent's children (including Aegon II), Rhaenyra's first batch of children and Daemon's first batch of children will all be kids no older than 13 by the time the Dance starts. The age gap between Rhaenyra and her half-siblings was big enough as originally written. Making it bigger causes issues. One of said being that Rhaenyra and Daemon's second batch of children will be babies. Is Viserys supposed to make his triumphant return a proverbial stroller pushed by Larra Rogare?

There is a reason why adaptations age up child characters. They don't de-age them.

I don't know man. I'm so skeptical. There are just many problems and obstacles that this show has address before the first episode even airs.

The biggest problem is that they are in danger of doubling down on the shitty messages that the GoT finale hammered in: women in positions of power are bad news unless they are Starks who have had the concepts of honor, kindness goodness raped out of them. If they aren't humbled by bullies and monsters, they become insane, narcissistic mass murderers.

I mean let's look at it real closely. TV-Daenerys (aka Danielle) became a dumber, much less compelling version of Rhaenyra and got an send-off that was wildly disrespectful and even dumber than what the character became. TV-Cersei (aka Carol) was something of a cheap, melted-down and re-frozen Dairy Queen fusion of Alicent and Aegon II....that did nothing but drink wine without getting drunk.

[Lord Varys]

32 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

But on that note when will the show end?

Basically, when HBO decide they have had enough.

Quote

Because Fire and Blood ends on a cliffhanger. Alys Rivers has mothered Prince Aemond's bastard and holds Harrenhal (and, what I believe to be another baby dragon). Viserys II and the Rogares show up at the end of the Regency period. And there are still plenty of dragons left: Morning, Moondancer, Silverwing, Shrykos and the Cannibal were all still alive. Not the mention the eggs yet to be hatched. Plus, Nettles and Sheepstealer survive the Dance with stories of how they came to be worshipped by the Painted Dogs and the Burned Men circulating after the fact.

If I had to guess it is going to end with Aegon III's coronation, his marriage to Jaehaera and, perhaps, a some kind of early return of Prince Viserys from Lys. That would be the way to wrap things up after seven or eight seasons. We could have 2-3 seasons buildup for the Dance, then the Dance, and then an ending.

The Regency material story is manifestly unsuited for a show focusing on a civil war ... and as you point out, it leads nowhere, leaving crucial plot threads hanging in the air.

The story of Alys Rivers and her son could work very well ... if George were to write it before they get to that point, but after a lot of dragon action and slaughter people would not want to see years of blind Tyland Lannister, sullen and silent Aegon III, and the capricious and evil Unwin Peake doing stuff.

It is not that there isn't potential there for some kind of show. But they should wrap it up and start anew if they want to make something of the Regency material. And only start after George has finished the story of the reign of the Dragonbane.

Quote

Not a bad idea but...I don't know. Don't really like it. It heightens the drama but it also mean that Alicent's children (including Aegon II), Rhaenyra's first batch of children and Daemon's first batch of children will all be kids no older than 13 by the time the Dance starts. The age gap between Rhaenyra and her half-siblings was big enough as originally written. Making it bigger causes issues. One of said being that Rhaenyra and Daemon's second batch of children will be babies. Is Viserys supposed to make his triumphant return a proverbial stroller pushed by Larra Rogare?

No, you seem to be as bad with numbers as George ;-). If Rhaenyra marries earlier, then her children will be older - closer in age to Alicent's elder children - not younger. Rhaenyra's sons by Daemon and Daemon's twins by Laena could be all roughly the same age they are in the books because aging Rhaenyra up doesn't have to mean she has to marry Daemon earlier than she does in the books. It only means she is likely going to have older Velaryon boys - and that's a good thing so that we don't get the GoT story of the (would-be) warrior boys and, especially, Jacaerys Velaryon can be a man grown when the action starts.

Also, it puts them into a position where the Vhagar incident does not involve a ten-year-old Aemond quarrelling with a three-year-old Joffrey! That was a complete joke in the book.

This kind of incident should involve boys who are all about ten or in their early teens, at an age where the used insults make sense and would be understood by all.

The age gap between Rhaenyra and Aegon II will be somewhat bigger, but that should also work reasonably well.

Quote

The biggest problem is that they are in danger of doubling down on the shitty messages that the GoT finale hammered in: women in positions of power are bad news unless they are Starks who have had the concepts of honor, kindness goodness raped out of them. If they aren't humbled by bullies and monsters, they become insane, narcissistic mass murderers.

Of course, that is a very big problem with this thing which I tried to address multiple times. I'd not be surprised if things are changed ... and Rhaenyra doesn't end the way she does in the book, or is at least not murdered by her brother but rather at the command of Alicent, say. Then it could be more personal. I mean, if you think about that ending it is also very difficult how this would be adapted if they were doing it faithfully - the whole plot is completely vapid if Aegon II being at Dragonstone isn't a huge surprise to both Rhaenyra and the audience. But if that were so - as it is in the history book narrative - then Aegon II would have to disappear from the show for 1-2 or more seasons. We would basically only see him at the beginning of the war until he is injured, then perhaps a couple of times in drug-induced sleep/confusion his bedchamber, and then he would disappear without a trace until showing up at Dragonstone when Rhaenyra gets there.

If they were to follow his story then there would be no surprise and the entire thing would, most likely, not work.

But they could also give Rhaenyra a different ending. It is not that crucial for the plot that she die the way she did in the book. And if they weren't doing the Regency stuff then Alicent is also likely to no survive the Dance - because she is the kind of major character that needs a proper ending.

They could also better things by making Rhaenyra and Aegon II liking each other to a point, turning him more into a puppet of his mommy and grandfather and Cole, and with Aemond being the guy who is hates Rhaenyra and his nephews with a passion.

This whole thing will only work if the relationships of the core characters are three-dimensional. They cannot just hate each other. There has to be more depth than that. In fact, to make it interesting there must be multiple scenes even as the war escalates where peace and reconciliation seem possible - like Cole-Rhaenyra reaching out to each other, Alicent having second thoughts about everything, Aegon II privately abdicating only for some development stopping him from publicly proclaiming it, and so forth.

But to be sure - the entire premise of this war is basically very bad. We don't really need a show hammering home the fact that women should not rule. Most misogynists already think they *know* that already, anyway.

Quote

I mean let's look at it real closely. TV-Daenerys (aka Danielle) became a dumber, much less compelling version of Rhaenyra and got an send-off that was wildly disrespectful and even dumber than what the character became. TV-Cersei (aka Carol) was something of a cheap, melted-down and re-frozen Dairy Queen fusion of Alicent and Aegon II....that did nothing but drink wine without getting drunk.

Yes, there is a very big risk that Alicent-Rhaenyra are going to turn into Lena and Emilia. And they are likely going to adapt things in a manner that this doesn't happen ... to the point of changing the story that it doesn't happen.

[The Dragon Demands]

IMDB has updated to list Danny Sapani as appearing in House of the Dragon - rumored to be playing Corlys Velaryon - BUT IMDB doesn't actually list who he is playing, and only lists him for 1 episode.  Corlys Velaryon is so prominent he'd appear in more than one episode of Season 1

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11198330/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_ttfc_3

[Sotan]

Hi Everyone, 

Long time lurker, first time poster. Surpisingly excited for HOTD considering how I felt about GOT ending, but I still love the world and the books so I guess not that surprising. 

About the casting, I'm wary, but hair and makeup can do a lot if they bring the acting chops. As for Danny Sapani. the lady on Deadline who reported the rumor has a very good track record; usually in the business you don't report something like that unless its extremely likely, they're probably at final negotiations with him, which is why she was told this information with the understanding that would publish.  

[Lord Corlys Velaryon]

On 1/11/2021 at 12:47 AM, The Dragon Demands said:

IMDB has updated to list Danny Sapani as appearing in House of the Dragon - rumored to be playing Corlys Velaryon - BUT IMDB doesn't actually list who he is playing, and only lists him for 1 episode.  Corlys Velaryon is so prominent he'd appear in more than one episode of Season 1

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11198330/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_ttfc_3

If Danny Sapani is only in it for one episode, perhaps his character will be Craghas Drahar or Racallio Ryndoon, or even some alternative of one/both as an ancestor of GoT's Salladhor Saan. If any of those, I wonder if that's how his name got attached to the Corlys Velaryon rumour: if his character is meant to have scenes with/action against the Sea Snake in the Stepstones.

[The Dragon Demands]

I suspect that too; I'd even think it a good idea to combine Craghas with some earlier member of the storied Saan family.

The “1 episode” listing might just be a temporary placeholder IMDB put up for now.

By the way, minor update, the IMDB page has also been updated to list the three new episode directors who were already publicly announced last month: Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel, and Greg Yaitanes.  Curiously, these updates also list each of them as only in for "1 episode" - leading me to suspect that "1 episode" is just a placeholder until they get more specific info.

Anyway I'm checking the Danny Sapani's online CV regularly to see when it gets updated:  https://www.gordonandfrench.co.uk/artists-profile-stage.php?ArtistID=71?ArtistID=71 

[The Dragon Demands]

On lower-ranking Valyrians below the dragonlords intermingling with non-Valyrians:

Quote

"Founded by Valyrians as a trading outpost, Pentos soon absorbed the hinterlands surrounding it, from the Velvet Hills and the Little Rhoyne to the sea, including almost the whole of the ancient realm of Andalos, the original homeland of the Andals. The first Pentoshi were merchants, traders, seafarers, and farmers, with few of high birth amongst them; perhaps for this reason, they were less protective of their Valyrian blood and more willing to breed with the original inhabitants of the lands they ruled. As a consequence there is considerable Andal blood amongst the men of Pentos, making them perhaps our closest cousins."

-- The World of Ice & Fire, "Pentos"

 

[Sotan]

13 hours ago, The Dragon Demands said:

I suspect that too; I'd even think it a good idea to combine Craghas with some earlier member of the storied Saan family.

The “1 episode” listing might just be a temporary placeholder IMDB put up for now.

By the way, minor update, the IMDB page has also been updated to list the three new episode directors who were already publicly announced last month: Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel, and Greg Yaitanes.  Curiously, these updates also list each of them as only in for "1 episode" - leading me to suspect that "1 episode" is just a placeholder until they get more specific info.

Anyway I'm checking the Danny Sapani's online CV regularly to see when it gets updated:  https://www.gordonandfrench.co.uk/artists-profile-stage.php?ArtistID=71?ArtistID=71 

I honestly don't think so. I've been reading Deadline for years and Nellie Andreeva is rarely so off the mark. She specifically says that there are five lead characters- Viserys, Alicent, Rhaenyra, Daemon and Corlys; and that Sapani is in talks for that last key role. Deadline is more of an industry site than a gossip one. They get the scoops; I bet she was specifically told this with the idea that she would publish. The fact that he is in talks for Corlys lets you know the direction they are going with the character even if its not him. Anyways we should find out soon, I'm guessing Corlys, Rhaenys and their children will be announced at the same time. 

[The Dragon Demands]

House of the Dragon’s IMDB page has been updated to now credit Danny Sapani as Corlys Velaryon.  
 

small chance they’re just reporting on the rumor?

[Sotan]

I wonder who posts/edits on IMDB? Never thought about it before now tbh. This rumor about Corlys casting to me looks like it was info shared by the HOTD team to Deadline. At this point I would be surprised if its not Sapani and shocked if whoever they cast as Corlys isn't black.