The Royal Shakespeare Company has unveiled the cast for George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones: The Mad King, a new stage play based on A Song of Ice and Fire. The production is set to open next week.
A newly released image shows the play's opening-day cast in costume. Michael Shaeffer, who plays King Aerys II Targaryen, is pictured at the center, surrounded by the actors playing Ashara Dayne, Elia Martell, Rhaella Targaryen, Robert Baratheon, Lyanna Stark, Brandon Stark, Rhaegar Targaryen, and Eddard Stark.
The Mad King is set a decade before the events of the A Song of Ice and Fire books and the Game of Thrones television series. The play mostly takes place at a dinner banquet during the final years of King Aerys II Targaryen's rule, depicting an important part of the franchise's backstory that has not been portrayed onstage before.
Because of its subject matter, the play marks the first time several iconic characters have been recast since the TV series, including roles not shown in the released image, such as Maxim Ays playing Jaime Lannister. The full cast, listed alphabetically by last name, includes Michael Abubakar as Eddard Stark, Elizabeth Ayodele as Elia Martell, Miles Barrow as Benjen Stark, Luke Brady as Brandon Stark, Daisy Franks as Cersei Lannister and Golda Whent, Mariah Gale as Rhaella Targaryen and Shella Whent, Noah Ritter as Rhaegar Targaryen, Harmony Rose-Brenner as Lyanna Stark, Michael Shaeffer as King Aerys II Targaryen, and Callum Woodhouse as Robert Baratheon, among many other performers filling ensemble, puppeteer, and swing roles.
George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones: The Mad King will run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from Aug. 8 until Sept. 5.