Over its first season, House of the Dragon has had multiple time jumps with the longest skipping over 10 years of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower’s lives.
As a result, the show has had several cast changes. Most notably, Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke replaced Milly Alcock and Emily Carey in the show as Rhaenyra and Alicent.
Episode 8 had a time jump of six years, introducing several new actors into the roles of Rhaenyra and Alicent’s children. Here is everything you need to know.
‘House of the Dragon’ Time Jumps Again, Here’s Who Plays Rhaenyra and Alicent’s Kids
Ollie Upton/HBO
In House of the Dragon, Alicent has three children by King Viserys I: Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond. These characters were previously portrayed by Ty Tennant, Evie Allen, and Leo Ashton, respectively, in episodes six and seven.
In Episode 8, the characters are replaced by Tom Glynn-Carney, Phia Saban, and Ewan Mitchell who are expected to portray the trio for the rest of the season.
It is not just Alicent’s children who are recast. This is also true of Rhaenyra’s children: Jacaerys and Lucerys Velaryon.
Jacaerys and Lucerys are from Rhaenyra’s first marriage to Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan), though it is actually revealed that they are the children of Rhaenyra by Ser Harwin ‘Breakbones’ Strong (Ryan Corr), not that the princess will allow anyone to believe they are anything but her and Laenor’s trueborn children.
From Episode 8, the characters are portrayed by actors Harry Collett and Elliot Grihault, respectively. Leo Hart and Elliot Grihault previously played Jacaerys and Lucerys in the HBO show.
As it stands, the characters are not expected to be recast again in Season 1 of House of the Dragon, though that is not to say that new actors won’t take on the roles once their characters become older.
It’s not just Rhaenyra and Alicent’s children, as Daemon Targaryen‘s (Matt Smith) children with his late wife Laena Velaryon, Baela and Rhaena, are also being portrayed by new actors.
Episode 8 sees Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell portray Baela and Rhaena. Shani Smethurst and Eva Ossei-Gerning played the characters in their younger years.
House of the Dragon previously followed Alcock and Carey’s iteration of Rhaenyra and Alicent until midway through the series, at which point the show had a 10-year time jump to explain D’Arcy and Cooke taking over the roles.
Both Alcock and Carey spoke to Newsweek about their desire to reprise their roles should the show call for it, saying they’d be open to it but that they wouldn’t want to take away from their co-stars’ performances.
“I adore Rhaenyra and I adore the cast and I adore the way that they’ve told this story, so, you know, if they would have me I’d love to come back,” Alcock said. “But I know that Emma’s going to continue Rhaenyra’s journey for the next season or whatever.
“So I don’t really want to take away from that performance or anything, you know what I mean? I have to give her up in a way.”
Carey added: “I mean, of course! It’s such a cool show to just be involved in, even if I was just in one scene, even if I was in one episode.
“But I have such a strong connection to this character and it feels strange to leave her story halfway and just let someone else take over. As much as I adore Olivia—I cannot wait to see what she does with it—it felt strange, you know?”
House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
