The Royal Shakespeare Company has released the first production photographs from Game of Thrones: The Mad King, giving audiences their earliest glimpse of the world premiere play before it opens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. WhatsOnStage

The images confirm a sprawling company of more than two dozen actors in costume. Michael Abubakar plays Eddard Stark, Noah Ritter plays Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, and Maxim Ays plays Ser Jaime Lannister. The cast also includes Mariah Gale as Queen Rhaella Targaryen and Lady Shella Whent, Hughie O'Donnell as Lord Varys, and Kel Matsena as Ser Arthur Dayne — the legendary swordsman known to readers of George R. R. Martin's novels as the Sword of the Morning.

The play is adapted by Duncan Macmillan — whose stage credits include 1984 and People, Places and Things — and directed by Dominic Cooke, a former artistic director of the Royal Court. It is based on Martin's Game of Thrones series but set decades before the novels' main events, dramatising the conflict known as Robert's Rebellion and beginning with a tourney at Harrenhal, a crumbling fortress that looms large in the backstory of Martin's world. WhatsOnStage

Further casting revealed in the production photos includes Luke Brady as Brandon Stark, Marty Breen as Catelyn Stark, Alexander Newland as Lord Rickard Stark, and Edem-Ita Duke as Oberyn Martell. Elizabeth Ayodele plays Princess Elia Martell. Daniel Hawksford plays Ser Barristan Selmy, Richard Hansell plays Grand Maester Pycelle, and Miles Barrow plays Benjen Stark.

The production had a disrupted path to the stage. According to Variety, the first week of preview performances was cancelled, though the show remained on track to open in July 2026. Variety Previews ultimately began on 20 July, with the run scheduled from 28 July through to 5 September 2026 at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. WhatsOnStage

The RSC is co-producing the play with Simon Painter, Tim Lawson, Mark Manuel and Warner Bros. — a partnership that pairs one of Britain's flagship subsidised theatre companies with major commercial producers and the Hollywood studio behind the television adaptation. RSC For the RSC, a staging of this scale brings the resources of a global entertainment franchise into a 1,400-seat subsidised house; for the producers, a Stratford run offers a prestige launch before any potential West End transfer.

Among the remaining cast members in the released images are Islam Bouakkaz as Howland Reed, Huw Parmenter as Ser Oswell Whent, and Shaun Yusuf McKee as Ser Gerold Hightower. Several actors take multiple roles: Tom Larkin plays Lord Whent and Wisdom Rossart, while others — including Sebastian Charles, Adrian Christopher, Fred Davis and Daisy Franks, who plays Cersei Lannister — also appear in the ensemble. Michael Shaeffer and Harmony Rose-Bremner round out the company.

With opening night approaching, the production photographs are the first concrete evidence of how Cooke and Macmillan have translated Martin's sprawling political drama — dragons, dynasties and all — onto a theatrical stage. The run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre closes on 5 September 2026.