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Credit: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO, Dream Works and Apple TV
When we return to the world of dragons a vikings, a new actor will be taking over the role Kit Harington originated in How to Train Your Dragon 2. In a stroke of inspired casting, Phil Dunster will step in to play Eret in the live-action adaptation of the sequel. So, when I interviewed the Ted Lasso actor, I asked what he’d like to replicate from the Game of Thrones star’s original voice performance.
Dunster has some big shoes to fill here, in the animated movie Harington voices the “finest dragon trapper alive,” and he does it with a lot of swagger and humor. In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Eret steals and sells dragons to Drago Bludvist (who will be played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson in live-action). So, he’s working for the bad guy, and he’s doing it with a cocky yet charming attitude. When I interviewed Dunster for his new show on the 2026 TV schedule, Rooster, I also asked him about HTTYD 2 and what he’d like to take from Harington’s performance to add ot his own. He said:
His whole, like, swashbuckling… He had a little bit of Jack Sparrow in him, like a dragon-esque Jack Sparrow.
I totally see what he’s saying here. While Eret isn’t as free-spirited as Johnny Depp’s pirate, he does operate with a confidence and goofy swagger like the lead pirate of Pirates of the Caribbean. Like Jack, Eret has some very funny moments in the HTTYD movies, and Harington balances them and his character’s cool and kick-butt attitude perfectly.
I know Dunster will be able to do this, too. Like his beloved Ted Lasso character, Jamie Tartt, Eret is cocky and bad at first; however, he’s also very funny and eventually quite lovable.
Overall, it sounds like the Emmy-nominee is enjoying his time on the Isle of Berk, and he’s taken inspiration from the actor who came before him, as he told me:
It’s honestly so much fun to do that, and it’s so nice to have the template that’s already existing.
Along with having a template to go off of with the animated movies, How to Train Your Dragon 2 also features actors from the OG films. Both Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett are reprising their roles as Hiccup’s parents. Plus, Dean DeBlois, who directed both the animated movies and the first live-action film, is helming the live-action sequel. Speaking specifically about working with the director who has been in charge of this universe since its inception in 2010, Dunster told me:
And it’s such a joyful set. And Dean, the director, was just like – he’s made this world, and everyone’s living in it. It’s beautiful.
It’s always seemed like these movies are a joy to make, and Dunster made it very clear to me that that’s been the case on How to Train Your Dragon 2, which has been in production since January.
Now, to watch Dunster in action as Eret, and to see Mason Thames, Nico Parker and more back as Hiccup, Astrid and co., you’ll be able to catch How to Train Your Dragon 2 in theaters on June 11, 2027. In the meantime, you can see Phil Dunster in his newest show, Rooster, by streaming the premiere with an HBO Max subscription at 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 8. And you can hear Kit Harington as the OG Eret by streaming the How to Train Your Dragon movies with a Netflix subscription.