‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel: Eight New Cast Members Join Naomi Watts

We still know next to nothing about when or where they’ll be battling, but the upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel series just added a bunch of new players to the mix. On Tuesday, a group of eight actors and actresses were announced as brand new cast members on the still untitled series, set thousands of years before the timeline of the current “Game of Thrones” TV show.

Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Georgie Henley, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Toby Regbo, and Alex Sharp all join the previously revealed Naomi Watts in the show’s ensemble. (George R.R. Martin has hinted that he’d like the series to be called “The Long Night,” but no official title has been confirmed as of yet.)

Ackie might be familiar to some audiences from her performance in William Oldroyd’s 2017 film “Lady Macbeth.” She will soon appear in the next installment of the main “Star Wars” saga. Henley is returning to blockbuster fare after playing Lucy Pevensie in “The Chronicles of Narnia” film series. Most recently seen as the youthful version of Grindelwald in the latest “Fantastic Beasts” film, Bower might be best known for roles in the “Twilight” series and as Anthony in Tim Burton’s film adaptation of “Sweeney Todd.” Gough, an acclaimed stage actress who was Tony nominated last year for her role in “Angels in America,” also had a memorable turn as the gender-bending Missy in “Colette.”

The announcement did not include any information about the characters these up and coming performers will be playing, but the series will not come to TV until at least next year.

Led by Martin and Jane Goldman, the official description of the series says that the show will take the “Game of Thrones” franchise “from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.”