House of the Dragon season 3: Meet the breakout star playing Oscar Tully

House of the Dragon season 2 spent a lot of time on the sales tour across Westeros, trying to stack bodies and banners. One of the more memorable pit stops: the Riverlands, where a very young Lord Paramount named Oscar Tully stared down a prickly, not-exactly-clearheaded Daemon Targaryen. It was a short, sharp scene that did its job — it made people ask: wait, who is that kid?

So, who plays Oscar Tully?

That would be Archie Barnes, a 20-year-old English actor who made the absolute most of his screentime as the newly minted Lord of the Riverlands. With season 3 rolling in, viewers are still Googling him off that moment, which tells you how fast a single scene can travel.

Yep, acting runs in the family

Barnes grew up around the business. His mom, Helena Calvert, is an actor with a stack of credits — you might have seen her in EastEnders and Crimetime — and she popped up in 17 episodes of Emmerdale, mostly back in 1996 with a few returning appearances in 2019. His dad, Olly Barnes, works adjacent to the screen world but on the music side: he is an entrepreneur who co-founded Voisey, a platform built to help singers and songwriters find each other and collaborate (that one comes straight from his LinkedIn).

Where you might have seen Archie Barnes

• House of the Dragon: Oscar Tully, the Riverlands upstart who refuses to be steamrolled by Daemon. Biggest role so far — and he is back for season 3.
• The Batman ( 2022): A small but notable part as Don Mitchell Jr., son of Gotham’s mayor. He shared the screen with Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, and Andy Serkis — not a bad set of scene partners to learn from.
• The Dig: Played Robert Pretty opposite heavy hitters like Ralph Fiennes (yes, Voldemort himself from the Harry Potter films) and Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go). Another case of Barnes holding his own around marquee names.

Back to that Riverlands moment

Season 2’s whole thesis was simple: whoever stacks the bigger army has the edge. Daemon tried to lock down Riverlands support for Rhaenyra, but his approach was... let’s call it abrasive. Enter Oscar Tully — young, unflappable, and unimpressed — who pushes back instead of playing along. Fans loved it so much they started memeing the encounter, joking that Daemon basically met the kid and immediately asked him to knock off his granddad, take the title, and hand over the troops. Not exactly the most diplomatic pitch.

What to expect next

Barnes returns as Oscar in season 3, which should only raise his profile. If he brings the same steel he had in that first face-off, the Riverlands might get a lot more interesting.

Did Archie Barnes win you over as Oscar Tully? Drop your take in the comments.