House of the Dragon‘s second season will go down as one of the most controversial in HBO history, but the prequel isn’t worried about the past. It’s moving forward with its next season.

Pre-production for House of the Dragon Season 3 is in full swing as the show recently enlisted a Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D crew, Nina Lopez-Corrado, as part of its director’s team.

Variety has learned exclusively that James Norton will join the HBO show’s upcoming third season as Ormund.

The Hightower family tree has grown a new branch with news from Variety that James Norton is joining House of the Dragon as Ormund Hightower, the first cousin of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the nephew of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).

House of the Dragon has added Happy Valley star James Norton to its season 3 cast. The Game of Thrones prequel series was renewed for a third instalment last summer, before season two had even been released.

James Norton has been tapped to portray Ormund Hightower in Season 3 of HBO's House of the Dragon, Deadline has learned.

Last we heard of him, Ormund was assembling his forces to confront Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) in season 2’s lukewarm finale. His army was on the march accompanied by Daeron Targaryen’s new dragon, Tessarion.

Even though the second season hasn't matched the record-breaking numbers of the first season, which premiered with 9.986 million viewers in the summer of 2022, the continuous rise in viewership is a positive sign,