EXCLUSIVE: Internet speculation has been rife in recent weeks over who will star as one of George R.R. Martin’s most fierce female fighters in the upcoming House of the Dragon Season 3.
We can reveal that Australian-British actor Annie Shapero is playing Alysanne Blackwood in the next season, which started shooting several weeks back in the UK.
Known as Black Aly, Blackwood plays a key role in Martin’s Fire and Blood novel. The fearless warrior is Lord Benjicot Blackwood’s aunt and fights for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) in the Dance of the Dragons before marrying Lord Cregan Stark, who is played by Tom Taylor. She becomes a legendary figure in House Stark lore and her storyline looks likely to be told in House of the Dragon Season 3.
Blackwood is not a series regular but we are told she will appear in five of the eight eps of Season 3, which comes out next year.
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She joins an array of newcomers to HBO’s hit franchise including James Norton, who plays Alicent (Olivia Cooke)’s cousin Ormund Hightower, Tommy Flanagan as Lord Roderick Dustin and Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly.
Shapero played American journalist Jenny in Red Skies, the Series Mania Award-winning Israeli TV show about the Second Intifada co-created by Euphoria’s Ron Leshem. She has also been in FX pilot The Border, Jacob Elordi-starrer The Narrow Road to the Deep North and has been cast in upcoming Australian horror pic Saccharine opposite Midori Francis.
House of the Dragon has been a huge hit for HBO. Starring Matt Smith, D’Arcy and Cooke, the third season will pick up with a major escalation in the Dance of the Dragons, the war that rips the powerful Targaryen dynasty apart.
HBO declined comment on Shapero’s casting.