The most obvious spoiler warning you could ever wish for
For the past two weeks, Game of Thrones fans have been enjoying the opportunity to return to Westeros and indulge in all the usual antics that they get up to over on that damn continent, thanks to House of the Dragon.
There's been violence, sex, dragons, knights, deceit, betrayal, feuding. It's good to be back.
But if there's one thing fans will have learnt over the years, it's not to get too attached to any of the actors in Westeros, and House of the Dragon will be no different - although maybe not quite for the reason you'd expect.
If you've been paying attention to the trailers and the cast list for the series, you may have noticed that there are some actors who we haven't seen at all so far in the show.
This is because they are to play older versions of some of the characters later in the series.
At the halfway point of the 10-episode series, the story will jump several years forward in time.
So it's bad news if you've become a fan of Milly Alcock's portrayal of the feisty Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen or Emily Carey in the role of Alicent Hightower.
They will be replaced by Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke respectively. The other two actors who we'll be saying goodbye to after five episodes are Nova Fouellis-Mose, who plays Laena Velaryon, and Theo Tate, who stars as Laenor Velaryon.
They will be replaced by Nanna Blondell and John MacMillan respectively as the adult versions of their characters.
[caption id="attachment_356694" align="alignnone" width="1278"]
Emma D'Arcy (centre) will be replacing Milly Alcock in the role of Rhaenyra Targaryen after five episodes (HBO)[/caption]
Co-creator Ryan Condal told
Insider that the decision for a time jump was made "early on" in production.
He said: "It's a conceit but I think it does work, having watched it a bunch of times.
"The people that are truly children in this are the ones that get recast. And the people that are already adults when we meet them, we age them up through hair and makeup and sometimes the actors change their voice."
The change in actors will also help avoid any awkward romantic scenes between actors with a large age gap. In the latest episode, King Viserys announced his intention to marry Alicent Hightower, which could have led to some romantic scenes between 19-year-old Carey and 48-year-old Paddy Considine, who plays Viserys.
Fans of Considine in the role of the king and Matt Smith as his brother, the fiendish Daemon Targaryen, need not worry though. They won't be departing their roles after the time jump, although we can't make any guarantees about how long they'll last in the backstabbing and brutal world of Westeros.
Related links:
