Variety: Alys Rivers and “Alyn of Hull” cast

[The Dragon Demands]

https://www.google.cl/amp/s/variety.com/2023/tv/news/house-of-the-dragon-alys-rivers-season-2-1235592500/amp/

Quote

Gayle Rankin will play Alys Rivers, a healer and resident of Harrenhal. In author George R.R. Martin’s novel “Fire & Blood,” on which “House of the Dragon is based, Alys is a witch who has mystical visions and becomes a powerful figure within the Targaryen’s Green faction.

Quote

Simon Russell Beale will play Ser Simon Strong, the Castellan of Harrenhal and great-uncle to Lord Larys Strong, played by Matthew Needham in Season 1.

Freddie Fox will play Ser Gwayne Hightower, the son of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), brother to Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and uncle to her children King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).

Abubakar Salim will play Alyn of Hull, a sailor in the Velaryon fleet who served in the Stepstones campaign.

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by The Dragon Demands

[The Dragon Demands]

Abubakar Salim is 30 years old and he’s playing “Alyn of Hull”? What’s going on?

[Annara Snow]

1 hour ago, The Dragon Demands said:

Abubakar Salim is 30 years old and he’s playing “Alyn of Hull”? What’s going on?

I guess they're aging up Alyn. Not sure to which age though. Baela is probably around 16-18 in the show but is played by a 25 year old. He's definitely not gonna be playing a 14 year old, but maybe he'll be around 20?

As for the other cast members: I did not expect the biggest name among the new cast members to be playing Simon Strong. I guess that means plenty of scenes with the Strongs in Harrenhal, which is a good thing.

When Gayle Rankin was first speculated to have been cast, I imagined her as Sabitha rather than Alys. I later remembered watching her in season 1 of Perry Mason, where she had a major role central to the season's mystery, as the mother of a boy who is kidnapped and found dead. She's a really good actress and this was a very heavy dramatic and emotional role. I'm sure she rocked the audition (full disclosure: I like Emily Beecham, but I didn't like her Alys audition, though I know many did).

[Ran]

Aging up Alyn obviously opens up the idea that, on the show, he's the result of an affair from before Corlys was married to Rhaenys, which I gather is an issue a lot of people have with Corlys from the books because I guess moral purity plays.

Oh, so that's where I recognized Rankin from. Yeah, she also appears in visions of sorts in the second season. I saw her in GLOW as well but she was quite heavily made-up there.

Simon Russell Beale is an amazing actor. I wonder if they'll beef up Simon's role any to take advantage of that? I hope he gets at least a good monologue. 

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

1 hour ago, The Dragon Demands said:

Abubakar Salim is 30 years old and he’s playing “Alyn of Hull”? What’s going on?

Having a 30 years old actor playing a character in his early 20s is not a big deal, so they just need to age up somewhat Addam and Alyn. Nobody was buying them as Laenor's bastard sons anyway, the show will make it that much clearer they are Corlys's. I have not problem with that, what I would have a problem is if:

1) the "Laenor is Addam" theory turns out to be true in the show.

2) Addam and Alyn are combined into one character, thus making changes to the "LOYAL!" subplot.

Hopefully we will have a casting for Addam soon enough and everything will be clearer for everyone.

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

4 minutes ago, Ran said:

Simon Russell Beale is an amazing actor. I wonder if they'll beef up Simon's role any to take advantage of that? I hope he gets at least a good monologue. 

Having more Harrenhal scenes with Daemon interacting with Simon and/or Alys would be a good idea. It would make a bigger impact when Aemond takes back Harrenhal later on and executes Simon and takes Alys as a lover. Plus it's not like we have a lot of information on what Daemon was doing in Harrenhal apart from gattering the riverlords for the blacks.

[Annara Snow]

17 minutes ago, Ran said:

Aging up Alyn obviously opens up the idea that, on the show, he's the result of an affair from before Corlys was married to Rhaenys, which I gather is an issue a lot of people have with Corlys from the books because I guess moral purity plays.

Oh, so that's where I recognized Rankin from. Yeah, she also appears in visions of sorts in the second season. I saw her in GLOW as well but she was quite heavily made-up there.

Simon Russell Beale is an amazing actor. I wonder if they'll beef up Simon's role any to take advantage of that? I hope he gets at least a good monologue. 

Corlys and Rhaenys have been married for over 30 years, and HotD Alyn is probably going to be around 20-22..Someone has suggested that he was conceived during the war in Stepstones, which would match that age. 

(Baela and Rhaena are in their late teens but are played by actresses in their mid 20s, same as Aemond. Aegon is around 20-22 but played by a 28 year old. It wouldn't be that odd if a 30 year old was playing a 20-22 year old.)

Edited April 24, 2023 by Annara Snow

[Ran]

9 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Corlys and Rhaenys have been married for over 30 years,

The actor can be playing older than 30 just as well as younger than 30.

9 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Someone has suggested that he was conceived during the war in Stepstones, which would match that age. 

On the show, he is a sailor who took part in the Stepstones campaign, so he was concieved well before then.

[The Bard of Banefort]

There’s a fan theory that they kept Laenor alive so that he can come back disguised as Addam of Hull. Personally, I think that’s pretty stupid, but the way his death was faked was pretty stupid too.

I think there’s a good chance that they may change it so that Alyn is Vaemond’s bastard son instead of Corlys. Then Rhaenyra can be seen “making amends” by naming Vaemond’s son the Lord of Driftmark.

I personally think they could combine Jace’s role with Addam’s. They made a point of him learning that he was a bastard; after the Two Betrayers, he could protest Rhaenyra’s call to arrest Nettles and then lead the attack on Tumbleton to prove to himself (and his mother) that bastards aren’t traitors.

[The Dragon Demands]

48 minutes ago, Ran said:

Aging up Alyn obviously opens up the idea that, on the show, he's the result of an affair from before Corlys was married to Rhaenys, which I gather is an issue a lot of people have with Corlys from the books because I guess moral purity 

So suddenly a politically respected and powerful black man must face accusations of impropriety? That’s Green talk.

seriously though…has Addam been cut?

[The Dragon Demands]

47 minutes ago, Thomaerys Velaryon said:

2) Addam and Alyn are combined into one character, thus making changes to the "LOYAL!" subplot.

Hopefully we will have a casting for Addam soon enough and everything will be clearer for everyone.

God help us all.

[Annara Snow]

43 minutes ago, Ran said:

The actor can be playing older than 30 just as well as younger than 30.

On the show, he is a sailor who took part in the Stepstones campaign, so he was concieved well before then.

It's really unlikely that he served in the first one, since he'd be a child. The second one ended lasted 6 years but ended recenrtly and it's not unheard of for teenagers to go to wars.

[Annara Snow]

29 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

There’s a fan theory that they kept Laenor alive so that he can come back disguised as Addam of Hull. Personally, I think that’s pretty stupid, but the way his death was faked was pretty stupid too.

 

It would be extremely stupid, unless Laenor has become a Faceless Man or learned how to use glamor. Otherwise everyone would recognize him and goodbye, the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's second marriage and her youngest two sons. Laenor coming back wouldn't help Rhaenyra, it would only help her enemies, and he sure couldn't play a similar role to Adda.

 

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

1 minute ago, Annara Snow said:

It's really unlikely that he served in the first one, since he'd be a child. The second one ended lasted 6 years but ended recenrtly and it's not unheard of for teenagers to go to wars.

I agree with you, the show made it so the War in the Stepstones had two phases (first with the dragonriders Daemon and Laenor; then just Corlys only). With Alyn seemingly been aged up a bit, having him join the second phase of the war makes sense.

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

I have nothing against the actors but

1) I hope they keep Alys having black hair

and

2) Gwayne looks a bit young for someone who is, at minimum, in their 40s (Criston suffers from the same problem incidentally)

Speaking of Gwayne, where was he in S1?! He pretty much disappeared after the tourney scene in the first episode, which makes no sense. He's the son of the Hand and the queen's brother for crying out loud! (If I remember correctly, they took out the rest of Alicent's brothers, none of whom GRRM bothered to name.)

I really do think they shot themselves in the foot by having Laenor fake his death.

And yeah, the absence of Addam is concerning.

Edited April 24, 2023 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[Annara Snow]

10 minutes ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

I have nothing against the actors but

1) I hope they keep Alys having black hair

and

2) Gwayne looks a bit young for someone who is, at minimum, in their 40s (Criston suffers from the same problem incidentally)

1) Gayle Rankin has had all sorts of different hair colors and lengths so far in her roles - they are just using the one where she has shoirt blonde hair for the article (you can Google her and find ones with dark hair too)- and obviously hair dye and wigs exist, most of the HotD cast are using one of those, in fact.

2) The actor is 34, and there's no reason for Gwayne to be in his 40s in the show since Alicent is in her mid-30s. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Annara Snow

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

I forgot show!Alicent is younger than her book counterpart. Anyway, the Gwayne actor still looks a little too fresh-faced if you ask me but I'll admit that's a small complaint all things considered.

Edited April 24, 2023 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[Thomaerys Velaryon]

11 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

2) The actor is 34, and there's no reason for Gwayne to be in his 40s in the show since Alicent is in her mid-30s. 

In the pilot, Gwayne was a knight and Alicent was 14. So even though he never shown his face, he can't be younger than Alicent in the show. He was also described as "Otto's eldest son" in the show instead of "Alicent's youngest brother" in Fire & Blood. At the very minimum he would be 2 years older than Alicent, that way he would have been a freshly knighted 16 years old in the pilot (sort of a less talented Loras Tyrell of his day).

Edited April 24, 2023 by Thomaerys Velaryon

[The Dragon Demands]

Can a mod please lock this thread and redirect to the official news post thread on the same announcement.

[Annara Snow]

1 hour ago, Thomaerys Velaryon said:

In the pilot, Gwayne was a knight and Alicent was 14. So even though he never shown his face, he can't be younger than Alicent in the show. He was also described as "Otto's eldest son" in the show instead of "Alicent's youngest brother" in Fire & Blood. At the very minimum he would be 2 years older than Alicent, that way he would have been a freshly knighted 16 years old in the pilot (sort of a less talented Loras Tyrell of his day).

Alicent is 35 to 37 in the show (hard to say with the messy timeline) and Olivia is 29. There's barely an actor on the show who's not 5-7 years off from theid character's age, if this actior is 3-5 years off that would be hardly dramatic.