‘Game Of Thrones’ Prequel Casts Several Young, Rising Stars For Epic Series

The highly anticipated prequel to HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic series Game of Thrones now has a full cast, as Variety reported.

Aside from the cast for the pilot, SJ Clarkson has signed on as director, bringing her talents straight from the Star Trek franchise reboot and Netflix’s Collateral. Clarkson also popped in the director’s chair for The Defenders, Jessica Jones, and Orange Is The New Black.

Rounding out the cast are eight, diverse, rising stars who will all lend their abilities to the newest installment to the GoT franchise. Naomi Ackie, 27, will also appear in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX and has appeared in Doctor Who. The U.K. native has been nominated twice for the British Independent Film Awards.

Denise Gough, who was nominated for a Tony for her role as Harper Pitt in London adaptation of Angels In America, will also join the cast. With a lengthy theater resume, the 38-year old Ireland native has also appeared in several television shows, including Showtime’s Guerilla.

Also bringing his acting talents to the long-hoped-for series is British actor Jamie Campbell Bower. Bower, 30, hails from London and appeared in the Twilight franchise as well as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, playing the lead role of Jace Wayland. Eagle-eyed Harry Potter fans will recognize Bower from his reoccurring role as Gilbert Grindelwald in both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Fantastic Beasts: Grimes of Grindelwald.

The newest series in the franchise is set to take place in Martin’s GoT world, thousands of years before the events in his epic fantasy novel and subsequent television portrayal. It will chronicle the events that brought the kingdoms into the dark period and will span over the history of Westeros and how the whitewalkers came to be.

As with all things Game of Thrones, details surrounding the exact roles of the aforementioned cast is tightly under wraps, as is the majority of the plot. However, as the Hollywood Reporter reported, a logline for the new series gives the slightest hint as to what’s to come.

“Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it’s not the story we think we know,” the logline for the series revealed.

The diverse cast will also include Sheila Atim (Harlots), Ivanno Jeremiah (Black Mirror, Humans), Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia), Alex Sharp (To the Bone) and Toby Regbo (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald). As i09 reported, the pilot episode, under the working title “The Long Night” will begin filming sometime later this year in the Canary Islands of Spain and Belfast, Ireland.