For 30 years Aerys II Targaryen has existed only as rumor — a name muttered by the characters who outlived him, a cautionary tale, a scorched piece of backstory. He finally has a face now, and it belongs to Michael Shaeffer.
On Saturday the Royal Shakespeare Company released the first photo and the complete cast for Game of Thrones: The Mad King, and what strikes you immediately is how unremarkable everyone looks. There are no dragons in the shot. No fire. Only nine actors lined up, portraying the generation that made every wrong turn.
Who’s standing where
Reading the portrait from left to right: Tanisha Spring as Ashara Dayne, Elizabeth Ayodele as Princess Elia Martell, Mariah Gayle as Queen Rhaella Targaryen, Callum Woodhouse as Lord Robert Baratheon, Shaeffer as King Aerys II Targaryen, Harmony Rose-Bremner as Lyanna Stark, Luke Brady as Brandon Stark, Noah Ritter as Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Michael Abubakar as Eddard Stark.
Go back over that list. Not one of those names arrives without a grave or a body count attached.
Performances begin Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, with the run continuing through Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. The production was first announced in February.
Thirty years since the book
None of that scheduling is coincidental. The staging also lands on the 30th anniversary of the original publication of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, the opening novel of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
The adaptation comes from Duncan Macmillan, working from Martin’s writing, with Dominic Cooke directing. The official press release says the play covers “the final years before the events of the novels” and “reveals a legendary chapter of Westerosi history.”
Translated out of press-release language, that means the tourney at Harrenhal, the crown of blue roses, the wildfire — the whole thing.
The full company
The alphabetical cast list for George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King runs as follows:
Michael Abubakar (Eddard Stark), Elizabeth Ayodele (Princess Elia Martell), Maxim Ays (Ser Jaime Lannister), Miles Barrow (Benjen Stark), Islam Bouakkaz (Howland Reed), Luke Brady (Brandon Stark), Marty Breen (Catelyn Stark), Sebastian Charles (Owen Merryweather / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Adrian Christopher (Prince Lewyn Martell / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Ronan Cullen (On-stage Swing / Puppeteer), Fred Davis (Qarlton Chelsted / Maester / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Edem-Ita Duke (Oberyn Martell), Simi Egbejumi-David (Ensemble / Puppeteer), Daisy Franks (Cersei Lannister / Golda Whent / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Mariah Gale (Queen Rhaella Targaryen / Lady Shella Whent), Richard Hansell (Grand Maester Pycelle), Daniel Hawksford (Ser Barristan Selmy), Lewis Howard (Ensemble / Puppeteer), April Nerissa Hudson (Ensemble / Puppeteer), Tom Larkin (Lord Whent / Wisdom Rossart / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Chelsea Marie (Ensemble / Puppeteer), Kel Matsena (Ser Arthur Dayne), Shaun Yusuf McKee (Ser Gerold Hightower / Ensemble / Puppeteer), Alexander Newland (Lord Rickard Stark), Hughie O’Donnell (Lord Varys), Huw Parmenter (Ser Oswell Whent), Noah Ritter (Prince Rhaegar Targaryen), Harmony Rose-Bremner (Lyanna Stark), Kate Rowsell (On-stage Swing / Puppeteer), Michael Shaeffer (King Aerys II Targaryen), Tanisha Spring (Ashara Dayne), Tom Stacy (On-stage Swing / Puppeteer), Matt Tait (Ensemble / Puppeteer), Tzarina-Nassor (Ensemble / Puppeteer), Marcello Walton (Ser Jonothor Darry / Lord Tywin Lannister) and Callum Woodhouse (Lord Robert Baratheon).
Tally up the puppeteers — there are plenty of them, and so far no one has revealed what they’ll be operating.
The people building it
Alongside Cooke and Macmillan, the creative roster features Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell (Lume) handling puppetry and movement, set designer Chloe Lamford, costume designer Georgia McGuinness, lighting designer Jon Clark, composer Will Stuart and sound designer Tom Gibbons.
Casting is led by Amy Ball CDG. Bethan Clark serves as fight director and Ingrid Mackinnon as intimacy director. Voice and text fall to Jeannette Nelson, dialect to Hazel Holder. Emily Raymond takes associate director duties, with Scarlet Wilderink as associate puppetry and movement.
Francesca Roche is on board as period dance consultant, Ti Mikkel as creative consultant and Lenore Gallegos as director’s consultant. The associate roles go to Oli Simonon (puppetry design), Machiko Weston (set design), Alex Berry (costume design), Lucía Sánchez Roldan (lighting design) and Alex Twiselton (sound design). Bellaray Bertrand-Webb is assistant director.
A consultant for period dance. On a play about a monarch who set people on fire. It’s the sort of credit that signals the tone before a single scene has played.
Who’s paying for it
Co-producers on Game of Thrones: The Mad King are Simon Painter, Tim Lawson, Mark Manuel, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, HBO and Sir Leonard Blavatnik and Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment.
Seeing HBO printed on a Stratford-upon-Avon playbill is an alliance worthy of Westeros in itself. Still, the venue counts for more than the logos do. Aerys will have his tragedy performed in a theater that has staged Lear for a hundred years, before an audience that already knows the ending and will show up regardless.