For those of you keeping up at home, we’ve had a plethora of casting announcements for the currently-shooting season four of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, including the addition of Pedro Pascal, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, and Roger Ashton-Griffiths. Today, via Comic Book Movie, we have two new announcements that include a new actor joining the cast, as well as a character who is apparently being re-cast.
First up, it’s being reported that Joseph Gatt (Thor, Banshee) has been cast in the role of Styr, Magnar of Thenn. The character is a wildling chief described as “a tall lean man with no ears. He is clean shaven, bald with a straight nose and grey eyes. He rules with an iron fist and commands absolute loyalty from his men.” You may recall from the book that he has a pretty decent sized role, always butting heads with Jon Snow as the wildlings make their way south to The Wall. From his picture, it looks as though they’ve gotten someone with a near-perfect likeness. Now it just remains to be seen whether he can act the part.
Second, there is a rumor going around that the role of Tommen, King Joffrey’s little brother, is being re-cast. Callum Wharry, the actor who portrayed Tommen in seasons one and two, is apparently not returning and will be replaced with an older actor by the name of Dean-Charles Chapman (The White Queen). The keen viewer may recall that Chapman already made an appearance on the show in season three, playing the role of Martyn Lannister, a squire who meets his demise at the hands of the Karstarks.
It’s odd that they would choose to switch the actors now, especially given that Tommen has such a small role. In fact, the few times that he is spoken of, it’s merely to fill us in on his one small part in the book, which is only learned of indirectly. Perhaps the showrunners are planning to use him a little more than George R.R. Martin has up to this point in the novels? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Season four of Game of Thrones, based on the latter half of A Storm of Swords, will begin airing this spring.