Barring reshoots, filming on the second season of House of the Dragon has wrapped up. The Game of Thrones prequel show filmed right through the writers and actors strikes that shut down much of Hollywood, benefiting from already-completed scripts and draconian English labor laws. And now that the writers strike is over, writers can tweak the show in post-production. They got away with it, everyone!
And even though shooting is over, we’re still getting info on new actors joining the cast. For instance, the Twitter account @housethedragons reports that English actor Tom Bennett — who appeared in the movie Rocketman as well as a great many British TV shows — will be playing the role of Ulf White, aka Ulf the White or Ulf the Sott.
Meanwhile, Redanian Intelligence has confirmed that Bennett is part of the cast of House of the Dragon season 2 but couldn’t confirm his role, so this isn’t a sure thing. Still, it’s a good enough excuse to talk a bit about Ulf White and his role in the story going forward. Beware SPOILERS ahead!
Who is Ulf White on House of the Dragon?
Ulf White lives on the island of Dragonstone, which Rhaenyra Targaryen and her blacks have made their home base in the upcoming war against Rhaenyra’s half-brother Aegon. But while Rhaenyra lives in Dragonstone Castle, Ulf is a peasant and a bit of a drunk, hence the name Ulf the Sott.
However, it’s likely that Ulf has Targaryen ancestry; a lot of people on Dragonstone do, since Targaryens have lived here for centuries and tend to…ahem…mingle with the locals now and then. This becomes important when, after Team Rhaenyra suffers a couple of defeats, they decide to put out a call to anyone who will listen: if you can tame and ride one of the wild, riderless dragons that live on Dragonstone, you will be given titles and land so long as you fight for Queen Rhaenyra. Ulf White is one of the many people who answer this call.
Many die or are gravely injured trying to tame the wild dragons. Ulf is one of a few people who succeeds. Together with Hugh Hammer, Addam of Hull, and a girl known simply as Nettles, they become known as the Dragonseeds.
Ulf White is able to mount the dragon Silverwing. He and his fellow Dragonseeds will become important to the remainder of the story. So far as we can tell, Warrior star Kieran Bew is playing Hugh Hammer and Clinton Liberty is playing Addam of Hull. We don’t know who’s playing Nettles yet.
But with news like this coming in, I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard some whispers soon. The second season of House of the Dragon is due out on HBO and Max sometime in 2024.