Welcome to another edition of ThronesWatch – keeping you up to date with the ongoing news surrounding HBO’s Game Of Thrones.
George R.R. Martin confirmed last week that the role of Eddison “Dolorous Edd” Tollett will be played by Ben Crompton (seen above)
HBO confirmed that a new role created for the show – a character named Alton Lannister – will be played by Karl Davies.
Here’s a pretty big one – the role of Roose Bolton has been cast with Michael McElhatton filling the role.
And on a side note, Martin reported that two scripts destined to be auctioned off for charity recently are presumed stolen as Martin received an envelope from USPS that was opened with the documents in question missing. My question? Who the hell uses USPS for ANYTHING – especially something important.
For a while now, I’ve been wanting to do a Game Of Thrones regular news section much like Matt’s Dr. Who/Torchwood Tardis News. And here is the first edition of it with a name that may be changed later if I get a better idea.
This is a “playing catchup” edition, covering all the big second season casting news that came out right before, during, or after Comic-Con. Moving forward, these should be a bit shorter since there won’t be anywhere near as much to report.
WARNING! This column WILL contain spoilers for A Game Of Thrones – both the book as well as the first season of the television show. It will occasionally contain spoilers for future books but will be prefaced with a spoiler warning so you can run for the hills.
The spoilers for Season One begin after the jump. There are also a few minor spoilers for potential future seasons.
We start just about a month ago now with the casting of Stannis Baratheon, the elder brother of the now-decased King Robert Baratheon. Stannis’ role as the rightful heir to the crown is of major importance in the second season of the show as he looks to take his brother’s place on the Iron Throne. The role of Stannis will be played by British actor Stephen Dillane, who played the role of Thomas Jefferson in John Adams.
Next up is the right hand woman for Stannis, Melisandre. Melisandre comes into the season as a mysterious sorceress whose powers and visions are a driving force behind Stannis’ actions. This role will be played by Carice van Houten (Valkyrie).
We also learned that Oliver Ford Davies would play the role of Maester Cressen who serves at Stannis’ side as well as Season Two begins. Stannis’ Onion Knight, Davos Seaworth, was also cast with Liam Cunningham landing the choice role.
Season Two filming is underway! And some statues of the Seven have been assembled on a beach for what should be a very dramatic scene – if you’ve read A Clash Of Kings you probably know what I’m talking about. Curious what the statues look like? Check it out.
This one blew me away. Bluebolt, the company responsible for the visual effects on the show, put together a reel to show off some of their work with a series of before and after shots. Really, really impressive stuff. It’s amazing how much of that stuff isn’t really there but looks so realistic. The reel is below -
How about casting AND a name change all in one? Theon Greyjoy’s sister is named Asha in the books. The producers apparently felt some concern that viewers might confuse the character with the wildling Osha that has already been introduced. Their solution? Meet Yara Greyjoy who will be played by Gemma Whelan. I’ve gotta admit – this is not how I pictured this character at all.
A few quick ones – Kerr Logan as Matthos Seaworth, Nonso Anozie as Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H’ghar, Roy Dotrice is Pyromancer Hallyne, and Hannah Murray as Gilly.
Whew.
Okay, that does it for this edition of ThronesWatch. Now I face the challenge of staying on top of the seeming flood of Thrones info that comes out every week.
