House of the Dragon season three is not expected until next year—but while we wait, we can start speculating about what to expect when the Dance of the Dragons gets underway in earnest. Today there’s some casting news that should thrill fans of George R.R. Martin‘s source-material novel, Fire & Blood: the Winter Wolves are coming!
According to an HBO press release announcing the start of production on season three, House of the Dragon has just added Tommy Flanagan as Ser Roderick Dustin and Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly; they join the previously announced James Norton as Ormund Hightower.
So what does this mean for season three? Dustin, known as “Roddy the Ruin,” is probably the most exciting casting because he’s just a very, very cool character. He’s the leader of the Winter Wolves—an army of 2,000 older Northmen who join forces to support Rhaenyra Targaryen’s Team Black during the civil war, aka the Dance of the Dragons. “Older” is key because these guys are riding to fight to the death; in keeping with Northern traditions, they’ve volunteered for battle so that the younger generation can survive and thrive back in their frozen homeland.
And, in fact, many of the Winter Wolves end up dying—but not without taking tons of Team Green soldiers with them, including a bunch of those pesky Lannisters to avoid them providing support during the Green’s attempted assault on Harrenhal, a key setting in House of the Dragon season two. No spoilers if you haven’t read the book, but suffice to say Roddy the Ruin is around for some memorable deaths and betrayals, as well as some badassery even after losing one of his arms.
The other two new characters are more spoilery to discuss, but Sir Torrhen Manderly plays a key role in the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons—and if Ormund Hightower’s name is familiar, that’s because he’s Otto’s nephew, and is a general who’ll factor into the battles we’ll see in season three.
The returning cast includes Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim.
No word yet on when we can expect to see their characters (and respective dragons) back on the battlefield, but 2026 would seemingly be the absolute earliest.
Additional reporting by James Whitbrook.
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