Westeros

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the full cast for the world premiere of Game of Thrones: The Mad King, the new stage play based on George R. R. Martin’s novels, adapted by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke.

The production will run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from Monday 20 July to Saturday 5 September 2026, with official opening night on Saturday 8 August. Set in the final years before the events of the novels, the play promises to bring audiences face to face with familiar figures from Houses Targaryen, Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, and Martell.

Michael Shaeffer will play King Aerys II Targaryen. His long list of film and television credits includes Bodyguard, The Salisbury Poisonings, The ABC Murders, Chernobyl, Black Mirror, Game of Thrones, Kraven the Hunter, and Star Wars: Rogue One, where fans may remember him as General Corssin. This will be Shaeffer’s RSC debut.

Michael Shaeffer and the rest of the cast

The announced cast includes:

• Michael Shaeffer as King Aerys II Targaryen
• Michael Abubakar as Eddard Stark
• Elizabeth Ayodele as Princess Elia Martell
• Maxim Ays as Ser Jaime Lannister
• Miles Barrow as Benjen Stark
• Islam Bouakkaz as Howland Reed
• Luke Brady as Brandon Stark
• Marty Breen as Catelyn Stark
• Sebastian Charles as Owen Merryweather / Ensemble
• Adrian Christopher as Prince Lewyn Martell / Ensemble
• Ronan Cullen as Ensemble / Swing
• Fred Davis as Qarlton Chelsted / Ensemble
• Edem-Ita Duke as Oberyn Martell
• Simi Egbejumi-David as Ensemble
• Daisy Franks as Cersei Lannister / Ensemble
• Mariah Gale as Queen Rhaella Targaryen / Lady Shella Whent
• Richard Hansell as Grand Maester Pycelle
• Daniel Hawksford as Ser Barristan Selmy
• Lewis Howard as Ensemble
• April Nerissa Hudson as Ensemble
• Tom Larkin as Lord Whent / Wisdom Rossart / Ensemble
• Chelsea Marie as Ensemble
• Kel Matsena as Ser Arthur Dayne
• Shaun Yusuf McKee as Ser Gerold Hightower / Ensemble
• Alexander Newland as Lord Rickard Stark
• Hughie O’Donnell as Lord Varys
• Huw Parmenter as Ser Oswell Whent
• Noah Ritter as Prince Rhaegar Targaryen
• Harmony Rose-Bremner as Lyanna Stark
• Kate Rowsell as Ensemble / Swing
• Tanisha Spring as Ashara Dayne
• Tom Stacy as Ensemble / Swing
• Matt Tait as Ensemble
• Tzarina-Nassor as Ensemble
• Marcello Walton as Ser Jonothor Darry / Lord Tywin Lannister
• Callum Woodhouse as Lord Robert Baratheon

George R. R. Martin, executive producer and creator, praised the company in the press release, saying that the actors bring “all the strengths, flaws and intricacies within these characters” and adding that they have “a fire in them.” Director Dominic Cooke likewise described the creative team and cast as “exceptional” and said he was excited to bring both Duncan Macmillan’s script and Martin’s “vivid imaginative world” to the stage.

The full cast and creative team can be found on the RSC’s cast and creatives page, while booking details are available on the main production page.

One aspect of the announcement that is immediately noticeable is the casting approach, which follows a familiar modern theatre tradition: not so much colour-blind as colour-conscious casting. These are deliberate choices that open these roles to performers of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and that seems entirely appropriate for the stage. Theatre is not film or television, where a single, expensive production tends to become the fixed visual version of a story for years. A stage production is more fluid by nature; if Game of Thrones: The Mad King has a future life beyond this initial Stratford run, later companies may make different choices.

The one point that does stand out is the apparent visual binary in the announced company. At a glance, the principal casting seems largely divided between white and Black actors, with no obvious East Asian or South Asian presence among the named roles. That is a little surprising, particularly given the RSC’s own history of productions featuring Asian actors. It may simply be the result of this particular casting process, but it also raises the possibility that the production is using a stark racial distinction to frame two of the Seven Kingdoms’ most culturally distinct regions—the North and Dorne—as being uniquely similar. Those two regions sit, in many ways, at opposite ends of Westeros, geographically and culturally, and both stand somewhat apart from the political and social norms of the southron court. If that is part of the production’s visual logic, it will be interesting to see how it plays on stage.

Also..

Catelyn Stark? If that is not an error, that seems to very much confirm that this will go well beyond Harrenhal and deep into Robert’s Rebellion.