An epic fantasy series starring a Bolton actor will return for its third series, it has been announced.

House Of The Dragon series two, a prequel to Game Of Thrones, aired in June with the season drawing to an end.

Based on George RR Martin’s series of novels A Song Of Ice And Fire, the series stars a host of British talent including Bolton's Tom Glynn Carney, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy and Oldham's Olivia Cooke.

HBO announced the news with a video posted to Instagram of a dragon breathing golden fire which disperses to reveal the words “season 3”.

“The Dance of the Dragons continues”, the US network wrote alongside the post.

Martin’s original books chronicled the former rulers of the fictional world of Westeros, called the House Targaryen, who had been overthrown in the HBO series Game Of Thrones.

"I love everything about playing him,” said Tom about reprising his role on season two of House of the Dragon as King Aegon II Targaryen.

“There’s such freedom with playing a role like Aegon – not only does he have a status within a room now, which gives him that sort of freedom to express himself however he wants, there’s no restrictions to how he can be.

“I never really know what’s going to happen with him.”

Speaking about ‘small council’ scenes, a recurring setting in the show which sees Aegon develop as a character, Tom added: “It’s just great to be in that company with those actors that are in that room.

“Everyone brings such a different flavour to it, and it’s great to play off each other, and throw each other curveballs, and be quite naughty in there.”

To, received praise for his performance in the show, with a review in Glamour noting that Tom's performance “added much more complexity and layers to his character’s development compared to the previous season”.

Tom attended Canon Slade School and trained in the performing arts at CATS Youth Theatre, based in Great Lever, and at Dawsons Academy of Dance & Stage, which is based in Bolton town centre and has been running for 37 years.

His first major role was in the Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk, which was released in 2017. Since then, he has had roles in The King, a 2019 film in which Tom starred alongside Timothee Chalamet, and on 2017 BBC drama The Last Post.

House of the Dragon’s can be watched on Now and Sky Atlantic.