Outlander star Graham McTavish has confirmed he’s part of HBO Max’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, but he wouldn’t expand on the specifics of how he fits into the upcoming fantasy series. However, anyone even remotely familiar with his filmography could probably guess that there’s going to be some sort of gruff and grizzled villainy involved.
McTavish decided to let the cat out of the bag during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, after he posted social media images revealing himself to be in the vicinity of House of the Dragon’s shoot in Cornwall, England, which was swiftly followed by grainy set photos of the actor in full costume circulating online.
“I’m enjoying that, yes. I’m really having a lot of fun. We’ve just started. It’s a very big project, so we’re getting to know each other. They’re lovely people. It’s great, but I can’t tell you too much. I can’t tell you really anything about the story! But it involves a lot of dragons.”
McTavish has been working solidly for over 30 years, but over the last decade or so he’s become one of those faces you regularly see popping up everywhere from movies like The Hobbit trilogy, Creed and Aquaman to recurring appearances in TV shows including 24, Outlander, Preacher and Lucifer. House of the Dragon isn’t even the only major episodic fantasy he’s got in the works, after he recently wrapped Season 2 of The Witcher, where he’ll play Sigismund Dijkstra.
McTavish joins an already stacked ensemble that boasts Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith as her uncle Prince Daemon Targaryen, as well as Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Rhys Ifans as Hand of the King, Otto Hightower and Olivia Cooke as his daughter Alicent, not to mention roles for Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno, Eve Best and more.
House of the Dragons has been shooting since last month, and the ten-episode run is expected to premiere at some point in 2022. Game of Thrones veteran Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan J. Condal share the burden of showrunners, with George R.R. Martin getting a co-creator and executive producer credit.