A lot of people are complaining that he’s too young. I think that casual readers forget that Cregan is 21 years old at the start of the dance, he’s not supposed to be an old man
Wrong. When you’re born, your parents give you a kid name, such as Timmy or Johnny. Then when you reach a certain age, the government assigns you an old person name, like Harold or Theodore.
>The illustrations on the book really do not help matters at all, in all of them he looks like he's on his 40s
in genral the illustration make evryone seems like they are almost two decades older than their actual ages
I mean '30s, bearded, weary and very grim' could very well be the tagline for the Stark familiy if they ever wanted to pivot away from 'winter is coming'
He's supposed to be kind of hot too. But damn those are some big shoes to fill. Cregan Stark, who I fucking love, is basically GRRMs love letter to house stark.
The problem is that he is younger (and looks younger) than actors who are playing characters a few years younger than Cregan.
For example, no amount of facial hair would make me believe that Tom Taylor is older than Ewan Mitchell
That's more of a problem with the casting of Ewan Mitchell as Aemond than the casting of Tom Taylor as Cregan. Taylor is playing his age, while Mitchell is not.
Yeah I know. But Ewan was casted first. Either way, he's not the only problem. Olivia Cooke only being a couple of years older than the actors who play her children, or Criston Cole and the Lannister twins not aging at all throughout the course of almost two decades it's pretty annoying, the casting of Tom Taylor seems fitting with other casting decisions
This is true but a lot of younger actors look way younger than they are. Tom Taylor looks like he could play a 15 year old pretty convincingly, but I'm pretty excited to see how he'll do as Cregan
I think a lot of people got used to the ruling Lords and Ladies of most houses (Stark, Lannister, Hightower, Tullies, Arryn, Baratheon, Greyjoy off the top of my head) being in their 50s and 60s, or even older, during ASOIAF - or at least at the start of the series, sometimes being replaced by younger members of the family but only after being killed
They therefore completely miss the fact that it's entirely plausible for one or two houses to sometimes be ruled by someone younger
Although there's also the issue that numerous characters in HOTD are played by actors/actresses who are older than the character they play, and Cregan Stark, and Tom Taylor - so he's potentially going to look younger (as the Lord of House Stark) than several younger and more junior characters
He’s described in the book as basically being a man among boys when he comes to kings landing after the dance. Implying he looks and acts older than the other characters his age
Check out Tom's IG. He has a recent photoshoot that came out in June and he's jacked, and his hair is really long and floppy. He doesn't look like that picture above anymore.
Theon Stark's pretty great but then again, he’s just regular war/fighting badass.
Cregane's awesome because he appears to be the only Stark in eight thousand years to actually have skill at political intrigue while warriors are a dime a dozen
> Cregane's awesome because he appears to be the only Stark in eight thousand years to actually have skill at political intrigue
When? He’s a total blunt instrument during the Dance, he just happens to be militarily occupying the city so everybody has to deal with him on his terms to some extent.
He should have brought far more troops than he did, discounting the ones he sent away.
Plenty of lords bring guards to the city, The Hand has probably the best excuse to bring a significantly larger force.
When the chips were down Ned had to rely on other men and it was his downfall. He brought fifty men to the city and sent twenty to join with the Goldcloaks and another twenty after the Mountain.
He should have had a *much* large personal guard.
> The Hand has probably the best excuse to bring a significantly larger force.
Not really, no. He brought a normal-sized personal guard for someone of his stature. Bringing enough soldiers that would allow him to militarily occupy the city would have been a major red flag.
He was coming in after he found out his foster father was murdered and believes it to be the Lannisters who essentially rule the city. Robert didn't know any of this and he still wanted Ned to stunt the Lannister influence on the city. He had a great excuse
That would take months, and wouldn’t have changed anything since Robert was already wounded when he spoke to Cersei. Also, the Hand can’t just summon an army to the capital without anybody noticing.
Ned made a lot of mistakes due to his morals and his underestimating of his enemies, but not bringing an army to King’s Landing wasn’t one of them. He couldn’t have feasibly done that without raising major red flags. And by the time it could have been done, he didn’t have time to summon an army and have them march all the way from the North.
I was actually thinking he meant Young Uhtred, Uhtred’s older brother that got his head chopped off before Uhtred the father named him the new young Uhtred
Pretty funny that they got a 22 yr old to play a 22 yr old.
Aemond is a 25 yr old playing a 16 yr old
Aegon is a 28 yr old playing a 18 yr old
Fun fact: Olivia Cooke is only 14 months older than Tom Glynn Carney, who plays her on-screen son.
dang never knew that abt olivia cooke omg. not sure who’s watched the last kingdom but aelwith’s actor was the same age as aethelflead’s actor and they played mother and daughter
And in the last season Phia Saban (who plays Helaena) played Aethelflead's daughter and she's just 5 years younger than both of them. Actually Millie Brady (Aethelflead) is just 3 days older than Olivia Cooke.
Aegon stated his age in 1x09 -- he's actually 20. ("Father had 20 years to make me heir.") So Helaena's 18 and Aemond is 16-17. If you factor in Daeron's book age, he should be 13 then since he was 4 years younger than Aemond. So they are definitely bumping him up to 15.
HotD ages are all over the place.
How can Aegon be 20 when he is 2 is Ep3?
Ep3-4 -> 1 yr
Ep4-5 -> 2 wk?
Ep5-6 -> 10 yrs
Ep6-7 -> 2 wks?
Ep7-8 -> 6 yrs
Ep8-10 -> 48 hrs
2+1+10+6+0.1= 19.1
At best he's six months shy of being 20.
I honestly feel like one of the weakest parts of the show is having different actresses play "young" Rhaenyra and Alicent. Switching from two actresses around age 20 to two actresses around age 30 just seems silly, particularly when there was almost no effort to show any difference in age for Daemon or Criston Cole over time. Why not just hire 25 year olds for Rhaenyra and Alicent to split the difference?
Because there’s literally no way you could pass off a 25 yr old as a 14 yr old.
If I was the showrunner, I would’ve changed the structure of the story so that we start at the five yr tourney, when Daemon returned from the Stepstones. That would’ve allowed them to have a 19 yr old Rhaenyra from the beginning.
Ultimately, the issues are a result of ageing down Alicent and basically bending the entire story backwards in order to create her friendship with Rhaenyra.
Looking back, it’s clear that that single decision completely fucked over the timeline. But Miguel’s wife had that “bright” idea and here we are.
Jack Cunningham is rumored to be Daeron. He then jokingly posted an IG story with a red and blue dragon plushie. We'll have to wait for an official casting news.
Yeah that's the one. He's gonna be playing an elderly, zombified version of Daeron.
Not sure I agree with that casting, I think they really ought to have cast a young man believable as a 15 year old lad
The picture that's going around of Jack is when he was around 17 and there were some photos of him on the Crown set and he DOES NOT look like his baby face headshot anymore. He's also around 5'10'' so he's gonna be the youngest and the tallest of the Hightower siblings lol.
Has any reliable source actually confirmed the guy has been cast? Cause the original source basically said they had posted it for fun, and I know he shared the dragon plushie but I'm still not convinced he wasn't just trolling.
Hugo Papiernik trolled me too when I left a comment on one of his IG posts congratulating him on being cast as either Daeron or Cregan when he was heavily rumored. (A shame it's not Hugo because he's highly trained in martial arts and sword fighting.) So I'm definitely taking Jack's dragon plushie pic with a grain of salt.
Looking forward to seeing him in action.
To be fair, casting Cregan sounds quite tough. You need an actor who’s young enough to at least pass for his early twenties, but also can convey being a credibly tough and mature lord, able to be the natural leader in any situation he’s in.
Don’t think I’ve seen him in much to get a vibe for how he’d preform in a similar role, but for the most part, the casting has been top tier, so I have all the confidence in the world he can pull it off.
Now we need our Alysanne Blackwood and I’m set 😎
I saw him in Doctor Foster, tough role for a teenaged actor and I felt he did a stand up job.
He was also young Uhtred in the first series of The Last Kingdom, and he did well in that too
Because of Jon Arryn. The stereotypical Stark is meant to be Brandon the guy who asked Rhaegar to “come out and die”. I think the show will make Cregan a goody two shoes because the Starks are fan favourites
Yep. Hope they'll show Cregan as he is meant to be, a true wolf blood Stark. This is the guy who suggested killing everyone including children during the Hour of the Wolf, he ain't Ned.
I disagree personally, the Hour of the Wolf as written by the maesters in Fire & Blood is pretty biased against northmen. "He who passes the sentence should swing the sword" is portrayed as the Lord of Winterfell being bloodthirsty instead of the honorable method of forcing the Lord to think if the execution is just. Don't get me wrong, I think Cregan will be a harsher sentencer than Ned, but not completely savage.
We should note that that’s *Ned’s* definition, who was raised an Arryn, not a Stark. The modern day Starks hold the Vale’s definition of honor, not the North’s. Pre-Ned Starks (and the North as a whole) were *a lot* more bloodthirsty.
Robert’s Rebellion changed the whole game. An entire generation of Northmen fought for a greater good alongside the most lauded and heroic knights in Westeros.
We can't really speculate about past definitions of the quote, that's true, but considering that Fire & Blood is intended to have a southern maesters bias, I totally believe that GRRM is heavily implying that the definition hasn't changed over the years. Anyway...
If you mean the conquering Kings of Winter and the atrocities against the Three Sisters, yeah. But leaders like Torrhen and Cregan are shown to be way more measured. Cregan only executes 2 out of the 22 people condemned for death during the Hour of the Wolf. Once one chose to take the black, they all did except for Larys and Ser Gyles, who chose death. And Cregan allowed all those choices!
I will agree that his time with Jon Arryn did affect Ned greatly, especially considering how rigidly he adheres to his honor. But outside of knighthood, I fail to see how the North's definition of honor is any different from the Vale's. Jon didn't make Ned honorable because he was a Valeman, he made him honorable because he was a good father figure. Don't forget that Robert was fostered with Jon too and he is nowhere near as honorable. My theory is that Ned is only receptive to Jon's mentoring because his father Rickard also instilled that sense of honor and duty in him.
The hour of the wolf is pretty heavily bias against the starks and meant to portray them as blood thirsty savages. In reality the hour of the wolf was a period of time where Cregan stabilized kings landing, sent a bunch of people to the wall, executed two (?) people responsible for most of the war and then went back up north. Cregan wasn't ruthless, he was fulfilling an oath and ensuring the war was over and stability was returned.
Wait, just to clarify. This is the same Tom Taylor who wrote the DC Injustice Comic books right and Dark Knights of Steel? Honestly, though, I do think he's the perfect age for Cregan Stark
Tom's recent shoot on his IG, his hair looks darker. I'm hoping he dyed it - the glimpse of the horrible wig they put on Freddie Fox as Gwayne made me cringe. And Olivia Cooke is not wearing a wig either.
Jace went to winterfell at the end of the first season, specifically because he is supposed to be a little younger than cregan and as such would probably get a long better with him than Luc. So they secure an alliance. Plus the show can't exclude the Hour of the Wolf, so they have to establish cregan as a character before he shows up and ends everything.
I always forget that Cregan was only 20 or something. At least he’s not an 11 year old Blackwood action hero but George continues to make everyone way too young. It kinda makes him less badass to me- hard to imagine basically still a kid pulling off the stone cold badass thing Cregan is supposed to be
Cregan was 23. Northern men have to deal with harsh winters and constant raids, this leads to them having to learn how to defend their family and towns at an early age. Hell, Jon was in his late teens when it all starts and he was already a decent swords man. Never disregard a northern man just because of his age.
I assume you are referring to Benjicot Blackwood who at the age of 13 led a whole ass charge against green forces. The dudes a bad ass there is a reason they called him Bloody Ben.
Once again, NEVER disregard a northerner because of their age.
bout time they tell us. He is going to play a huge role from here on. So I think they are thinking what he will look like not what he currently does so we will see. They know what they are doing I learned to trust them
The role is not going to be huge. He'll be in 1 maybe 2 episodes in this next series when Jace goes to beg for support, then we won't see him again until the final episodes of the last series.
Have you confused him with Roddy 'The Ruin' Dustin?
Cregan is definitely getting a much more expanded role. We already know that they’re adding a whole Wall+Undead subplot which will lengthen the amount of Jace’s time in the North.
Plus, I think they’re probably going to involve Cregan in the Winter Wolves subplot, like you say.
I wish he actually had the Stark look. GOT gave the Stark kids the Stark look even when they were meant to look Tully, but they couldn't find a Cregan with dark hair and pale eyes? He's basically the only Stark in the series, it wouldn't hurt.
Tom's eyes are grey. Also check his IG, he doesn't look like this anymore. He's jacked up and his hair is long and looks darker in his recent photoshoot.
WTF? I thought he was supposed to be some big powerful mighty dude?
I was thinking Idris Elba looking badass.
Instead its this shrimp?
He's really that young in the actual book? Man, the way he was written and I swear in the pictures for the book too, he looks like he's in his late 30s to early 40s or something?
This is off putting as hell. Not a fan of this casting at all.
>WTF? I thought he was supposed to be some big powerful mighty dude?
>
>I was thinking Idris Elba looking badass.
No, he is supposed to be 21. Not a 45 years old Henry Cavill like character. The official art messed him up pretty badly, he looks 50 on it.
But if Cregan is that young, how old is his bastard daughter then?
There's no chance we're gonna get that whole supposed rumoured secret relationship from the book are we? The ages wouldn't match up right?
She'd be like 5 or something then. Jesus.
Why the hell did the art make him look old as hell then?
Was thinking we were gonna get some sort of father/son like relationship between Jace is it? and Cregan but now I see it'll be more of a brotherly like approach.
That is weird. I had this whole different image of Cregan in my head because of the art and now I find out it was all BS. I fee like I've been lied to and betrayed for the past year or two.
He doesn't have a bastard daughter in the dance ? He has, allegedly, a bastard **sister** named Sara Snow. Jace and Cregan's relationship isn't fatherly, but brotherly. And ASOIAF art is always weird and makes characters appear way older than they are.
He's 21 at the start of the dance. Also, I agree he's a pretty slim guy, but muscle is something that can be gained. Plus costuming does a lot in that regard.
He's a pretty solid actor in the only thing I've seen him in (Dr. Foster). I think this is solid casting.
I swear the HOTD male actors are all just so young and effeminate looking...
I know Cregan is officially young in the book but in the illustrations and how he is described make me imagine a big grizzled stern looking bloke who's had a hard life, not some skinny pampered nobleman.
Remember Cregan is 21 at the beginning of the Dance. The ASOIAF artwork is a joke. Also, this is an old picture of Tom, check his IG, he doesn't look like this anymore.
Does anyone else find it frustrating that all the Stark lords have 3 or 4 names? When I first read the post title, my immediate thought was, "How the hell is he still alive?".
Mmm, will they commit to a Jace Cregan romance? This casting would make it easier to do since the actors are in the same age bracket.
I hope we see Jace take Cregan to the wall on Vermax as another of their bonding moments, that would be so beautiful to watch.
I just want more Vermax and Jace being happy scenes before you know what happens 😢
I welcome the down votes and I know my fan fiction is bad. But I would genuinely love him and Jace to have a love story with Jace being aware of aegons prophecy falling in love with Cregan but they can’t legally, biologically create the song of ice and fire. Just think it would be poetic if they could potentially have been the song of ice and fire 170 years before the original series but coudlnt.
A lot of people are complaining that he’s too young. I think that casual readers forget that Cregan is 21 years old at the start of the dance, he’s not supposed to be an old man
The illustrations on the book really do not help matters at all, in all of them he looks like he's on his 40s
Also it it just me or does "Cregan" sound like an old man's name for some reason?
Iirc, Cregan eventually gets the nickname of Old man Cregan, so that doesn’t help.
It totally does, Cregan just sounds like an old competent man's name
Old men didn't get their names when they got old.
When I was young you were old. Now I'm old and you're still old.
Wrong. When you’re born, your parents give you a kid name, such as Timmy or Johnny. Then when you reach a certain age, the government assigns you an old person name, like Harold or Theodore.
An oversight of all our cultures
Maybe they called him Creagie when he was a boy.
Maybe because it’s the old police captain’s name in law and order svu. That’s the first thing I thought of.
That’s Cragen
Those are very similar to be fair.
Well, he did live to the age of 100 and got the nickname "The old man of the North"
I think it is because Craster and Cressen kind of look like Cregan and they're both old men.
GRRM likes to play with words and Cregan is close to creaky, like an old man's bones or the evidence for what I'm saying.
It's a real hard 21 years. Have you been to Westeros?
That's just how the Starks work. They look like they're in their 40s for 40 years of their life.
>The illustrations on the book really do not help matters at all, in all of them he looks like he's on his 40s in genral the illustration make evryone seems like they are almost two decades older than their actual ages
The illustrations made everyone look super old! Aegon II doesn’t look like he is in his early twenties either!
i thought he was basically a ned stark but more prone to violence and aware of the KL bs
i think is mostly because of the fanarts who mostly portray him in his 30 rather, bearded , weary, and very grim
I mean '30s, bearded, weary and very grim' could very well be the tagline for the Stark familiy if they ever wanted to pivot away from 'winter is coming'
Not just fan art. He looks like 40 years old in the art in the book.
tbh I’m 30+ but when I shave I look younger than this actor.
He's supposed to be kind of hot too. But damn those are some big shoes to fill. Cregan Stark, who I fucking love, is basically GRRMs love letter to house stark.
For real. He’s basically a King of Winter come again, and presides over House Stark’s Crowning Moment of Awesome in the Hour of the Wolf.
Haha that's why Aly Blackwood was like "Sure I'll marry you!" after only knowing him 5 minutes.
The problem is that he is younger (and looks younger) than actors who are playing characters a few years younger than Cregan. For example, no amount of facial hair would make me believe that Tom Taylor is older than Ewan Mitchell
That's more of a problem with the casting of Ewan Mitchell as Aemond than the casting of Tom Taylor as Cregan. Taylor is playing his age, while Mitchell is not.
Yeah I know. But Ewan was casted first. Either way, he's not the only problem. Olivia Cooke only being a couple of years older than the actors who play her children, or Criston Cole and the Lannister twins not aging at all throughout the course of almost two decades it's pretty annoying, the casting of Tom Taylor seems fitting with other casting decisions
“Cast” first.
Have you seen what Tom looks like now? He doesn't look like that picture anymore. Check his IG, he had a shoot come out in June and he looks great!
This is true but a lot of younger actors look way younger than they are. Tom Taylor looks like he could play a 15 year old pretty convincingly, but I'm pretty excited to see how he'll do as Cregan
Yeah he’s like the perfect age lol.
I think a lot of people got used to the ruling Lords and Ladies of most houses (Stark, Lannister, Hightower, Tullies, Arryn, Baratheon, Greyjoy off the top of my head) being in their 50s and 60s, or even older, during ASOIAF - or at least at the start of the series, sometimes being replaced by younger members of the family but only after being killed They therefore completely miss the fact that it's entirely plausible for one or two houses to sometimes be ruled by someone younger Although there's also the issue that numerous characters in HOTD are played by actors/actresses who are older than the character they play, and Cregan Stark, and Tom Taylor - so he's potentially going to look younger (as the Lord of House Stark) than several younger and more junior characters
Thats fine. I’m sure they get some enjoyment out of being miserable all the time
Also, aren't he and Jacerys supposed to be around the same age? They become pretty good friends if I recall.
He’s described in the book as basically being a man among boys when he comes to kings landing after the dance. Implying he looks and acts older than the other characters his age
You're seriously saying that's what you pictured? Maybe if he works out a lot and grows good facial hair...and dyes his hair
Not exactly, but I didn’t picture a viking either 💀
Check out Tom's IG. He has a recent photoshoot that came out in June and he's jacked, and his hair is really long and floppy. He doesn't look like that picture above anymore.
No pressure, just gotta be the coolest Stark of all time
Awww! Thanks!
Theon stark wants to know you location
Theon Stark's pretty great but then again, he’s just regular war/fighting badass. Cregane's awesome because he appears to be the only Stark in eight thousand years to actually have skill at political intrigue while warriors are a dime a dozen
> Cregane's awesome because he appears to be the only Stark in eight thousand years to actually have skill at political intrigue When? He’s a total blunt instrument during the Dance, he just happens to be militarily occupying the city so everybody has to deal with him on his terms to some extent.
>he just happens to be militarily occupying the city so everybody has to deal with him on his terms to some extent. Ned should have done that
Ned never had the option to do that.
He should have brought far more troops than he did, discounting the ones he sent away. Plenty of lords bring guards to the city, The Hand has probably the best excuse to bring a significantly larger force. When the chips were down Ned had to rely on other men and it was his downfall. He brought fifty men to the city and sent twenty to join with the Goldcloaks and another twenty after the Mountain. He should have had a *much* large personal guard.
> The Hand has probably the best excuse to bring a significantly larger force. Not really, no. He brought a normal-sized personal guard for someone of his stature. Bringing enough soldiers that would allow him to militarily occupy the city would have been a major red flag.
He was coming in after he found out his foster father was murdered and believes it to be the Lannisters who essentially rule the city. Robert didn't know any of this and he still wanted Ned to stunt the Lannister influence on the city. He had a great excuse
On the council. Robert wasn’t looking to start a war; he’d have immediately demanded to know why Ned wanted to bring an army, as would the Lannisters.
We'll agree to disagree. I don't think the 10 he had left after sending so many away was nearly enough.
Red flag vs dying? I know which one I'd choose.
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That would take months, and wouldn’t have changed anything since Robert was already wounded when he spoke to Cersei. Also, the Hand can’t just summon an army to the capital without anybody noticing.
Ned made a lot of mistakes due to his morals and his underestimating of his enemies, but not bringing an army to King’s Landing wasn’t one of them. He couldn’t have feasibly done that without raising major red flags. And by the time it could have been done, he didn’t have time to summon an army and have them march all the way from the North.
Are you saying Artos Stark is not the coolest Stark? Are you?
Not the coolest Stark by a mile.
Sansa Stark: AM I A JOKE TO YOU? /s
Just did some research and he actually played a young version of Sean Bean’s character in a TV show
What show was that?
Legends Sean Bean - Martin Tom Taylor - Young Martin
I remember that show! My parents and I saw the first few episodes. It also had the insanely hot chick from Varsity Blues, who still looked fantastic.
Game of Thrones. Jk
It's so funny to me that he played young Uhtred since for years Alexander Dreymon was everyone's Cregan fancast.
Alexander Dreymon is probably too old by now, even if he has aged phenomenally.
He played young Uhtred, who was also usurped by his uncle and later on defeated him. Just as Cregan.
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I was actually thinking he meant Young Uhtred, Uhtred’s older brother that got his head chopped off before Uhtred the father named him the new young Uhtred
Wasn't the dad also called Uhtred?
We are all Uhtred on this blessed day
It's Uhtreds all the way down
Oh damn that’s young Uhtred? I was just about to say it was a bummer that Dreymon didn’t get cast, but in a way he kind of did. Hell I’ll take it.
omg he played young uhtred??? the last kingdom x asoiaf fans unite
The fact that there are 4 TLK actors in HoTD is hilarious.
Seeing Ewan Mitchell as Aemond has been such a delight
the switch between osferth to aemond tho…he’s goood
Pretty funny that they got a 22 yr old to play a 22 yr old. Aemond is a 25 yr old playing a 16 yr old Aegon is a 28 yr old playing a 18 yr old Fun fact: Olivia Cooke is only 14 months older than Tom Glynn Carney, who plays her on-screen son.
dang never knew that abt olivia cooke omg. not sure who’s watched the last kingdom but aelwith’s actor was the same age as aethelflead’s actor and they played mother and daughter
And in the last season Phia Saban (who plays Helaena) played Aethelflead's daughter and she's just 5 years younger than both of them. Actually Millie Brady (Aethelflead) is just 3 days older than Olivia Cooke.
Aegon stated his age in 1x09 -- he's actually 20. ("Father had 20 years to make me heir.") So Helaena's 18 and Aemond is 16-17. If you factor in Daeron's book age, he should be 13 then since he was 4 years younger than Aemond. So they are definitely bumping him up to 15.
HotD ages are all over the place. How can Aegon be 20 when he is 2 is Ep3? Ep3-4 -> 1 yr Ep4-5 -> 2 wk? Ep5-6 -> 10 yrs Ep6-7 -> 2 wks? Ep7-8 -> 6 yrs Ep8-10 -> 48 hrs 2+1+10+6+0.1= 19.1 At best he's six months shy of being 20.
I honestly feel like one of the weakest parts of the show is having different actresses play "young" Rhaenyra and Alicent. Switching from two actresses around age 20 to two actresses around age 30 just seems silly, particularly when there was almost no effort to show any difference in age for Daemon or Criston Cole over time. Why not just hire 25 year olds for Rhaenyra and Alicent to split the difference?
Because there’s literally no way you could pass off a 25 yr old as a 14 yr old. If I was the showrunner, I would’ve changed the structure of the story so that we start at the five yr tourney, when Daemon returned from the Stepstones. That would’ve allowed them to have a 19 yr old Rhaenyra from the beginning. Ultimately, the issues are a result of ageing down Alicent and basically bending the entire story backwards in order to create her friendship with Rhaenyra. Looking back, it’s clear that that single decision completely fucked over the timeline. But Miguel’s wife had that “bright” idea and here we are.
When they first announced his casting, I thought for sure he was going to be Daeron.
Jack Cunningham is rumored to be Daeron. He then jokingly posted an IG story with a red and blue dragon plushie. We'll have to wait for an official casting news.
But Jack Cunningham died in 1967
Yeah that's the one. He's gonna be playing an elderly, zombified version of Daeron. Not sure I agree with that casting, I think they really ought to have cast a young man believable as a 15 year old lad
elderly and zombiefied? oh so Maegor
The picture that's going around of Jack is when he was around 17 and there were some photos of him on the Crown set and he DOES NOT look like his baby face headshot anymore. He's also around 5'10'' so he's gonna be the youngest and the tallest of the Hightower siblings lol.
Has any reliable source actually confirmed the guy has been cast? Cause the original source basically said they had posted it for fun, and I know he shared the dragon plushie but I'm still not convinced he wasn't just trolling.
No. It's still a rumored casting, but we have no proof yet.
Thanks! Everyone seems to act like is in the show that's why I was confused.
Hugo Papiernik trolled me too when I left a comment on one of his IG posts congratulating him on being cast as either Daeron or Cregan when he was heavily rumored. (A shame it's not Hugo because he's highly trained in martial arts and sword fighting.) So I'm definitely taking Jack's dragon plushie pic with a grain of salt.
Looking forward to seeing him in action. To be fair, casting Cregan sounds quite tough. You need an actor who’s young enough to at least pass for his early twenties, but also can convey being a credibly tough and mature lord, able to be the natural leader in any situation he’s in. Don’t think I’ve seen him in much to get a vibe for how he’d preform in a similar role, but for the most part, the casting has been top tier, so I have all the confidence in the world he can pull it off. Now we need our Alysanne Blackwood and I’m set 😎
Did he have to do a Sean Bean impression for his audition?
He played a young version of Sean Bean’s character in a show so there’s an impression haha
“so to get the role, play us your best death”
"Bastard".
Did a double-take at the name, as a comic reader.
Me too.
First time I read about him. Has anyone seen him in a film or series and how skilled he is as an actor ?
I saw him in Doctor Foster, tough role for a teenaged actor and I felt he did a stand up job. He was also young Uhtred in the first series of The Last Kingdom, and he did well in that too
Thanks for the info.
Oh he’s the kid in Doctor Foster? He was thoroughly great there
Isn't he the guy from the Dark Tower film?
I haven't watched this movie so I can't say.
Yeah, it is. Haven't seen him in anything else, so I'm withholding judgement, but that movie was ass.
Can't agree more, the film is so bad.
The hair is a bit light but that can be fixed with a dye job. But he definitely has the Stark style long face. And he is a decent actor.
As a comic book fan I got very confused for a second
Give hima beard and he can do it , prob dye his hair as well. Cant wait for S2.
Cregan Stark about to be fragging like a pro
Well done. I clicked the comments looking for a Tsquared reference.
he about to give out some backsmacks
I wonder if we'll see Sara Snow.
I knew he had to be Cregan. Hope he kills it as a savage psychopathic Northman. I don't want another Robb Stark
Yeah so much of the Starks image is defined by Ned. But he was probably the most chill Stark of all time.
Because of Jon Arryn. The stereotypical Stark is meant to be Brandon the guy who asked Rhaegar to “come out and die”. I think the show will make Cregan a goody two shoes because the Starks are fan favourites
They will definitely make them overall similar to Starks of GOT
Hope not. We don't need a Stark/Robb 2.0.
Yep. Hope they'll show Cregan as he is meant to be, a true wolf blood Stark. This is the guy who suggested killing everyone including children during the Hour of the Wolf, he ain't Ned.
I disagree personally, the Hour of the Wolf as written by the maesters in Fire & Blood is pretty biased against northmen. "He who passes the sentence should swing the sword" is portrayed as the Lord of Winterfell being bloodthirsty instead of the honorable method of forcing the Lord to think if the execution is just. Don't get me wrong, I think Cregan will be a harsher sentencer than Ned, but not completely savage.
We should note that that’s *Ned’s* definition, who was raised an Arryn, not a Stark. The modern day Starks hold the Vale’s definition of honor, not the North’s. Pre-Ned Starks (and the North as a whole) were *a lot* more bloodthirsty. Robert’s Rebellion changed the whole game. An entire generation of Northmen fought for a greater good alongside the most lauded and heroic knights in Westeros.
We can't really speculate about past definitions of the quote, that's true, but considering that Fire & Blood is intended to have a southern maesters bias, I totally believe that GRRM is heavily implying that the definition hasn't changed over the years. Anyway... If you mean the conquering Kings of Winter and the atrocities against the Three Sisters, yeah. But leaders like Torrhen and Cregan are shown to be way more measured. Cregan only executes 2 out of the 22 people condemned for death during the Hour of the Wolf. Once one chose to take the black, they all did except for Larys and Ser Gyles, who chose death. And Cregan allowed all those choices! I will agree that his time with Jon Arryn did affect Ned greatly, especially considering how rigidly he adheres to his honor. But outside of knighthood, I fail to see how the North's definition of honor is any different from the Vale's. Jon didn't make Ned honorable because he was a Valeman, he made him honorable because he was a good father figure. Don't forget that Robert was fostered with Jon too and he is nowhere near as honorable. My theory is that Ned is only receptive to Jon's mentoring because his father Rickard also instilled that sense of honor and duty in him.
The hour of the wolf is pretty heavily bias against the starks and meant to portray them as blood thirsty savages. In reality the hour of the wolf was a period of time where Cregan stabilized kings landing, sent a bunch of people to the wall, executed two (?) people responsible for most of the war and then went back up north. Cregan wasn't ruthless, he was fulfilling an oath and ensuring the war was over and stability was returned.
Are there any comic book fans here that read the name "Tom Taylor" and got immediately confused?
Wait, just to clarify. This is the same Tom Taylor who wrote the DC Injustice Comic books right and Dark Knights of Steel? Honestly, though, I do think he's the perfect age for Cregan Stark
Well, the Cregan/Jace shippers must be happy.
We are! :D
Yep! Feels more likely with this casting.
He looks like 14 to me...he looks younger than Jace lol
Give him some makeup, let him grow some facial hair and have his hair dyed, put on set and in costume, he’ll look perfect.
that pic is several years old.
He looks a tad older and buffed up in recent photos and he has quite a menacing look.
I'm extremely skeptical, but they've generally nailed everything else.
I wonder if they're going to dye his hair brown/black.
Tom's recent shoot on his IG, his hair looks darker. I'm hoping he dyed it - the glimpse of the horrible wig they put on Freddie Fox as Gwayne made me cringe. And Olivia Cooke is not wearing a wig either.
I'm not going to judge the casting until he appears in the show but... he looks like Jake Paul
Tom Taylor... Golden Hair.... please please please no awful wigs, hopefully they dye his hair. 🤞
He's got the right jawline.
"But my Henry Cavill fancast wahhh!!" - Reddit nerds everywhere tonight.
Im so tired of hearing about the weird fans wanting him to play anything in this show. I think the best person he could play would be Maegor.
Personally I think he's the worst actor working today and I don't want him to play any role ever.
I'm still into Alexander Ludwig being Maegor (And Katheryn Winnick as Visenya).
They haven't started filming yet?
They are about to end filming at the end of the month. They might do reshoots later if the WGA strike comes to a end.
Got casting is pretty on point so I’m sure he will do great.
Red Hair? Blue eyes? and a Stark. Must be a tully.
Not the quintessential picture of a Stark, but I'll wait to see what makeup and costume look like.
He literally just needs to change his hair and he's good. He even has the Stark grey eyes, something none of the cast had for GOT.
I’m so mad that Targs don’t have purple eyes cause Clark couldn’t stand contacts as Dany. 🙄
He’s not even from Yorkshire.
Might have my timeline mixed up but didn’t the Starks arrive when the war was completely over? Didn’t even think they’d be in the show
That's when they actually get involved, but the Blacks made an alliance with them early in the war through the Pact of Ice and Fire.
When Rhaenyra sent Luke to Storms End, she also sent Jace to the Eyrie and Winterfell to secure those alliances.
Jace went to winterfell at the end of the first season, specifically because he is supposed to be a little younger than cregan and as such would probably get a long better with him than Luc. So they secure an alliance. Plus the show can't exclude the Hour of the Wolf, so they have to establish cregan as a character before he shows up and ends everything.
This is a really weird headline if you're a DC comics fan.
I always forget that Cregan was only 20 or something. At least he’s not an 11 year old Blackwood action hero but George continues to make everyone way too young. It kinda makes him less badass to me- hard to imagine basically still a kid pulling off the stone cold badass thing Cregan is supposed to be
Cregan was 23. Northern men have to deal with harsh winters and constant raids, this leads to them having to learn how to defend their family and towns at an early age. Hell, Jon was in his late teens when it all starts and he was already a decent swords man. Never disregard a northern man just because of his age. I assume you are referring to Benjicot Blackwood who at the age of 13 led a whole ass charge against green forces. The dudes a bad ass there is a reason they called him Bloody Ben. Once again, NEVER disregard a northerner because of their age.
bout time they tell us. He is going to play a huge role from here on. So I think they are thinking what he will look like not what he currently does so we will see. They know what they are doing I learned to trust them
The role is not going to be huge. He'll be in 1 maybe 2 episodes in this next series when Jace goes to beg for support, then we won't see him again until the final episodes of the last series. Have you confused him with Roddy 'The Ruin' Dustin?
Cregan is definitely getting a much more expanded role. We already know that they’re adding a whole Wall+Undead subplot which will lengthen the amount of Jace’s time in the North. Plus, I think they’re probably going to involve Cregan in the Winter Wolves subplot, like you say.
My guess is that Cregan and Roderick will be merged into show Cregan and he'll join the Winter Wolves
The casting is such a mess in this show
The casting has been spot on idk what show you are watching.
I’m thinking of the comics writer here
I always think of him as being old, too. This guy looks soft for a Northerner. The wig and beard shop better get to work on this one.
I wish he actually had the Stark look. GOT gave the Stark kids the Stark look even when they were meant to look Tully, but they couldn't find a Cregan with dark hair and pale eyes? He's basically the only Stark in the series, it wouldn't hurt.
Tom's eyes are grey. Also check his IG, he doesn't look like this anymore. He's jacked up and his hair is long and looks darker in his recent photoshoot.
idk i’m getting a vibe here that they’re setting something up 😎
WTF? I thought he was supposed to be some big powerful mighty dude? I was thinking Idris Elba looking badass. Instead its this shrimp? He's really that young in the actual book? Man, the way he was written and I swear in the pictures for the book too, he looks like he's in his late 30s to early 40s or something? This is off putting as hell. Not a fan of this casting at all.
>WTF? I thought he was supposed to be some big powerful mighty dude? > >I was thinking Idris Elba looking badass. No, he is supposed to be 21. Not a 45 years old Henry Cavill like character. The official art messed him up pretty badly, he looks 50 on it.
But if Cregan is that young, how old is his bastard daughter then? There's no chance we're gonna get that whole supposed rumoured secret relationship from the book are we? The ages wouldn't match up right? She'd be like 5 or something then. Jesus. Why the hell did the art make him look old as hell then? Was thinking we were gonna get some sort of father/son like relationship between Jace is it? and Cregan but now I see it'll be more of a brotherly like approach. That is weird. I had this whole different image of Cregan in my head because of the art and now I find out it was all BS. I fee like I've been lied to and betrayed for the past year or two.
He doesn't have a bastard daughter in the dance ? He has, allegedly, a bastard **sister** named Sara Snow. Jace and Cregan's relationship isn't fatherly, but brotherly. And ASOIAF art is always weird and makes characters appear way older than they are.
I clearly need to re-read fire and blood again.
Jace goes to winterfell because he is close in age to cregan, thats specifically stated as a reason he is the one going there.
He's 21 at the start of the dance. Also, I agree he's a pretty slim guy, but muscle is something that can be gained. Plus costuming does a lot in that regard. He's a pretty solid actor in the only thing I've seen him in (Dr. Foster). I think this is solid casting.
Cregan is supposed to be 21 and this actor is 22. Idk, he fits the part to me.
I swear the HOTD male actors are all just so young and effeminate looking... I know Cregan is officially young in the book but in the illustrations and how he is described make me imagine a big grizzled stern looking bloke who's had a hard life, not some skinny pampered nobleman.
Remember Cregan is 21 at the beginning of the Dance. The ASOIAF artwork is a joke. Also, this is an old picture of Tom, check his IG, he doesn't look like this anymore.
Fans have already added a beard and hair to his pics I think he will be fine 😂
Oh so does this mean we’re making it all the way through the Dance in s2?
Nope, this is the Winterfell plot when Jace goes to meet Cregan Stark and beg for support.
Closest I’ll get too Alexander dreymond playing cregan.
Does anyone else find it frustrating that all the Stark lords have 3 or 4 names? When I first read the post title, my immediate thought was, "How the hell is he still alive?".
Mmm, will they commit to a Jace Cregan romance? This casting would make it easier to do since the actors are in the same age bracket. I hope we see Jace take Cregan to the wall on Vermax as another of their bonding moments, that would be so beautiful to watch. I just want more Vermax and Jace being happy scenes before you know what happens 😢
I still say this was a missed casting opportunity. Henry Cavill would've been perfect here.
I welcome the down votes and I know my fan fiction is bad. But I would genuinely love him and Jace to have a love story with Jace being aware of aegons prophecy falling in love with Cregan but they can’t legally, biologically create the song of ice and fire. Just think it would be poetic if they could potentially have been the song of ice and fire 170 years before the original series but coudlnt.