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).
Norton has amassed impressive work over the past few years, appearing in the HBO series The Nevers and delivering a BAFTA-nominated performance as a chilling murderer in the British crime drama Happy Valley.
This isn’t the first time he has become involved in the family matters of influential female figures, having played John Brooke, husband to Meg March (Emma Watson), in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women.
Naturally, Norton should expect far more heated family debates (quite literally, if dragons are involved) as he joins the Greens in their battle for the Iron Throne and the power that comes from it.
Until now, Ormund has only been mentioned in passing by his uncle Otto (Rhys Ifans) in season 2 and was reportedly drawing forces out of Oldtown to join the action. Of course, that was before Otto made a quick appearance in the finale, curled up in a cell with no clarification on who had imprisoned him after losing his duty as Hand of the King.
With that in mind, could Ormund’s rounding up of soldiers who are just waiting to get torched get put on hold to arrange a brief rescue mission and bust his uncle out from behind bars? We can only wait and find out when House of the Dragon opens its doors again sometime in 2026. For all other updates on what’s happening in Westeros, save yourself a raven and head here to learn everything we know about House of the Dragon season 3.
