Westeros

An exclusive report from Whats on Stage features images released by the Royal Shakespeare Company during rehearsals for Game of Thrones: The Mad King, showing many of the cast… and showing, intriguingly, a sign directing “Horses” one way and “People” another (one of the images appears to explain why!) We’ve embedded the RSC’s post with images below.

What’s on Stage confirms remarks from the writer and director that while the play does center on the tourney at Harrenhal, it covers more ground than that, extending into the rebellion-proper (we’d guess as a final act or epilogue, perhaps?)

Actors Huw Parmenter and Kel Matsena as Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Arthur Dayne of the Kingsguard. Photo by Johan Persson.

We’re half way into the third season of House of the Dragon, and this episode leaves us with a lot of thoughts, suffice it to say. The shape of where they’re going this season—and, more importantly, how they’regetting there—is largely coming into focus now. You can see our extensive discussion below!

Some housekeeping: we may or may not manage to film the review for the next episode prior to going on vacation, but if not at most it will delay the review a bit as we sort out filming it while away from home (much as we did for the first episode).

A nice bit of news dropped today, as the Emmy Award nominees were announced and the little show that could, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, managed to score nine nominations, including a nomination in the prestigious Best Drama category! Deadline has the full list, but here’s the relevant ones for fans of the adventures of Dunk and Egg:

 
•   Outstanding Drama Series
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Ira Parker, George R.R. Martin, Sarah Bradshaw, Ryan Condal, Owen Harris and Vince Gerardis, executive producers; Aziza Barnes, Hiram Martinez, Annie Julia Wyman and Sarah Adina Smith, co-executive producers; Layla Blackman, producer; Lisa Byrne, produced by.  
 
•   Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour)
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “Seven” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Tom McCullagh, production designer; John Merry, supervising art director; Stephanie Rea, set decorator.  
 
•   Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour)
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Gustav Danielsson, FSF, director of photography.  
 
•   Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “Seven” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Lorna Ó Ríordáin, costume designer; Libby Dempster and Kyle Callanan, assistant costume designers; Rachael W. Crozier and Stephen O Rawe, costume supervisors.  
 
•   Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Hairstyling
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “The Morrow” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Pippa Woods, department head hairstylist; Lucille Harding, hair supervisor; Tamara-May Richards, assistant department head hairstylist; Anna Knight, Cat Coogan and Lauren Appleby, hairstylists.  
 
•   Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Dan Romer, composer.  
 
•   Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Alastair Sirkett, MPSE, supervising sound editor; Martin Cantwell, sound designer; Michele Woods, MPSE, dialogue editor; Adéle Fletcher, ADR editor; Ruth Knight, sound effects editor; Neil Stemp, music editor; Barnaby Smyth and Rebecca Glover, foley artists.  
 
•   Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Arron Roebuck, overall VFX supervisor; Paul Russo, overall VFX producer; Luke Dhand, VFX editor; Angel Rico Riesgo, VFX supervisor at El Ranchito; Sonsoles L. Aranguren, additional VFX supervisor at El Ranchito; Rocío Ruiz de Azúa, VFX producer at El Ranchito; Mike Dawson, SFX supervisor; Tom Lloyd, SFX floor supervisor; Paul Tuersley, VFX artist.  
 
•   Outstanding Stunt Performance
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother” — HBO Max; HBO in association with GRRM and Friendly Wolf Pictures.
    Zach Roberts, Gyula Tóth, Chris Cox and Jake Cox, stunt performers.  

Many congratulations to HBO, as well as Ira Parker and the writing and production team.

Another evening, another episode of House of the Dragon. This one may be a surprise for many, as it shifts almost entirely (besides the cold open) to Rhaenyra’s story as she tries to get a grip with King’s Landing, the city she finally claimed at the end of the previous episode. Suffice it to say, there’s quite a lot to untangle about this episode.

House of the Dragon has just aired, and as usual we’re back with a video discussing what happened and what we thought of it! See the video on Youtube:

It’s a busy episode with a lot of major events largely headed towards a single destination, but lets just say some of what transpired left us puzzled.

The first episode of the penultimate season of House of the Dragon, and Westeros.org’s founders return to Youtube (from sunny Denmark!) to discuss it in detail, covering the major character and story beats.

It’s certainly an eventful episode, filled with spectacular moments in the back half, with every penny on the screen. But is it all equally good from start to finish? That’s a matter of some discussion…

Just a bit over a week left to the premiere of House of the Dragon‘s third season premiere, and another behind the scenes teaser has dropped, this time focused on the absolutely massive logistics behind the spectacles promised for this season which explain, to some degree, just why it takes so long to produce a season:

Among the details are that the season involved 314 days of filming, with the naval battle that will be featured in the opening alone taking 27 days of shooting.

Now out, the latest trailer is also the last for the upcoming House of the Dragon season 3. The penultimate season promises a great deal of bloodshed, between battles on land and sea.

Tommy Flanagan as Lord Roderick Dustin, Lord of Barrowton.

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

Ahead of the June 21st release, HBO has begun to ramp up promotion of House of the Dragon‘s penultimate season. First, they released the official poster art. And now, during the upfronts going on with the press, they have released a behind the scenes video with, among other things, good looks at several of the show’s new characters who’ll all play significant roles in the Dance of the Dragons. As well, at the upfronts HBO revealed that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2, presently filming on location in the Canary Islands, is set to return in the first couple of months of 2027.

See the video below!

A very special occasion for collectors and bibliophiles: to mark the 30th anniversary of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, the Folio Society has announced a new signed limited edition of the novel, with the fantastic Jonathan Burton once again providing the artwork after having provided the art for the previous ASoIaF editions.

As reported exclusively by People, only 1,000 copies will be produced, each signed by George R.R. Martin. The 872-page single-volume edition features a “dragon-leather” binding, tipped-in artwork, handmade endpapers, a rolled map, and a clamshell box. The Folio Society’s own page also notes an exclusive introduction by Joe Abercrombie.

The Folio Society describes this as their most ambitious Limited Edition to date, produced with British craftspeople including James Cropper for the bespoke endpapers and Ludlow Bookbinders for the binding. Folio editor James Rose told People that the volume looks as if it had been “taken directly from the Citadel library itself.”

Full details below:

A Game of Thrones 30th Anniversary Limited Edition from the Folio Society.

HBO has set the date for the upcoming and penultimate season of House of the Dragon: June 21st. And to mark that announcement, here’s a dragon-filled, bloody new teaser promising quite a lot of violence (as one might have expected from a show about the Dance of the Dragons).

Suffice it to say, some of the details we see don’t seem to have too much connection to the version of the events described in Fire and Blood, but others seem readily identifiable. And dragons—there are definitely a lot of them involved in the events this season will be covering, by the looks of it.

Last month, news broke that Beau Willamon (House of Cards, Andor) was working on a Game of Thrones-related project, with speculation that it was related to Aegon the Conqueror and his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. At CinemaCon 2026, where the studios present their upcoming films and slates to the press and exhibitors, Warner Brothers confirmed the news when it made a presentation related to its plans for “2027 and beyond”, where Variety reports that the working title Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest was revealed.

Aegon on Balerion the Black Dread, burning Harrenhal. Art by Marc Simonetti.

Following February’s reveal that the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company would be putting on the world premiere of Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC has now followed up with details including the names of additional creative team members, as well as ticket sale details and, most importantly, actual performance dates starting on July 20th with the official opening night being on August 8th.

Among the announcements in the press release are that a new seating configuration will be used to place the audience “at the very heart of the action — immersed in the intrigue and theatrical spectacle that promises to make this production truly epic,” as well as the fact that among the creatives are Puppetry and Movement heads Nick Barnes and Finn Cadwell (winners of the 2022 Olivier Award for their work on the theatrical Life of Pi).

Full details below!

Key art for Game of Thrones: The Mad King

Variety reports that three of the main roles for the in-production 2nd season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms have been cast. One of the names was leaked awhile ago, I believe, but the other two seem new to us—and two, at least, are exciting to us.

Lucy Boynton, Peter Mullan, and Babou Ceesay. Images CC-by-SA, by GabboT / Gage Skidmore / Andymiah