Time to pull back the curtain on the latest roles cast. No big surprises for those who read the comments on the last two entries.

You guys did an amazing job with the clues, as always. I can see I'm going to have to make them harder in future. Either that, or we need to start hiring more obscure actors. But not this time around.

"The old maester has lived many lives, brief but numerous. In his youth he fought in the wars that some say inspired all of this. He has been a king and a god, but he'll always be daddy to me." The answer to this one will be no stranger to anyone who has ever enjoyed the series as audiobooks. Yes, it's ROY DOTRICE, our once and future audiobook reader.

Roy is an extraordinary talent who first took up acting in a prisoner of war camp during World War II, and has been working constantly ever since. Among his many, many roles was his portrayal of King Edward IV in the classic BBC production of THE WARS OF THE ROSES. He's also in the Guinness Book of World Records for his one-man show, the play BRIEF LIVES; most performances by an actor in a one-man show. (If you ever get a chance to see it, do. It's a great play, and Roy is wonderful). He played Zeus in HERCULES and XENA. But for me, of course, Roy will always be Father, the role he performed on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, where I was a writer/ producer for three seasons.

Working with Roy Dotrice for those three years was a singular honor, and one of the highlights of my decade in Hollywood. He's the sort of actor who will take every line you write for him and make it better. Not to mention, he knows some great stories about Charles Laughton. He was my first and only choice as reader on the Ice & Fire audiobooks, and he has done an amazing job there as well... not simply reading the text, but acting it out, giving every character his or her own voice. He may be in Guinness for that as well: most voices by a single actor on an audiobook.

HODOR! Hodor, Hodor, Hodor. And yes, clever ones, it's KRISTIAN NAIRN.

I don't know Kristian the way I know Roy, since I have never had the chance to work with him before, but of course I'd seen his audition tapes, and I am looking forward to meeting him the next time I visit the set. He's a huge guy, though -- only two inches shorter than Hodor is in the books -- and hails from Belfast, where he's involved heavily in the local music scene.

You can find out more about Kristian on his myspace page: here.

And hey, I'm told that Kristian has already memorized all his dialogue for the entire season! Meanwhile, casting continues.

We're close on half a dozen other roles. Some of them may be hinted at here, others will be first announced on HBO's own GAME OF THRONES website, or through Mo Ryan, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, and the other entertainment media. Watch this space. Watch ALL those other spaces too, especially if you're a fan of Harper Lee.

George R.R. Martin

From Martins "Not a Blog": 

I suppose I could still hint around about this... something about holly and oaks and a bill, I guess... but it seems rather pointless, since (1) you guys would solve such hints in about twelve seconds, and (2) the answer has already leaked out on Twitter and has been picked up by some of the fan sites.

So instead I'll just confirm the reports. We have our Knight of Flowers. The part of Ser Loras Tyrell in the HBO series GAME OF THRONES will be played by Finn Jones.

Jones is a talented young British actor whose previous credits include the long-running British soap opera HOLLYOAKS and a cop show called THE BILL.

I haven't seen either of those myself, but I have seen Finn's audition for Ser Loras (the scene where Loras confront Jaime and Brienne at the gates of the Red Keep), which was terrific.

(There's a YouTube video with clips of many of his scenes from Hollyoaks, for those who might be interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDSFXbOFmSE
There's also a YouTube fan video from a young lady who seems to be madly in love with him, which I guess just goes to show that (1) he's a great choice, and (2) Sansa isn't the only one. That one you'll need to find for your own selves, however).

From Martins' blog:

"Don't worry about it. Here you go, for everyone in Europe and Asia and Saturn's moons, and those who don't have HBO (yet, I hope), and those who just want to watch it thirty times (hey, I'm way ahead of you): here.

Enjoy

And for lagniappe, check out HBO's brand new GAME OF THRONES web page:

http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones

George R.R. Martin