Game Of Thrones Prequel Adds Poledark's Josh Whitehouse To Cast--Report

Joshua Whitehouse is joining the cast of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, The Long Night, according to a report from Variety. The actor is probably best known for his turn as British aristocrat Hugh Armitage in BBC One's Poldark, which is set in the aftermath of the American Revolution.

Whitehouse joins Naomi Watts on the cast, who HBO officially announced this week as joining the show and who is reportedly playing its lead. Watts' character is said to be "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret."

There's no title for the prequel yet, the pilot of which was written by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass), who created the series with George R. R. Martin and will serve as its showrunner when it begins filming in 2019. We know from HBO's previous description of the prequel that it'll take place thousands of years before the current Game of Thrones series, during the Age of Heroes.

That period is when some of the longstanding noble houses of Westeros--like the Lannisters and the Starks--were first founded. According to HBO, the show "chronicles the world's descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour."

It's tough to speculate who Whitehouse might be playing, but Game of Thrones lore and the show description suggest two potential possibilities. The first is Land the Clever, the trickster character who legend says founded House Lannister and tricked the Casterly family out of the Lannister family seat, Casterly Rock. There's also Bran the Builder, the founder of House Stark, who was responsible for the construction of the Stark castle of Winterfell according to legend, and later, the Wall.

HBO has several Game of Thrones spin-off series in the works to pick up the story of Westeros after Game of Thrones comes to an end with Season 8 in 2019. There still isn't too much information about that season available yet, thanks to HBO's intense secret-keeping efforts. The recent tie-in video game, Reigns: Game of Thrones, seems like it might have some possible story hints for the final season, though.