Who could Richard E Grant be playing in Game of Thrones?
Could the cult favourite be playing the Mad King? Or maybe Samwell Tarly's father? We speculate as Game of Thrones goes Chainmail and I...
He's already done Doctor Who and Downton Abbey, so Richard E Grant being cast in series six of Game of Thrones is news so obvious that it feels like it should have happened already. Still, Chainmail and I is better late then never.
The question now, of course, is who the veteran actor will play? According to reports, his role is still undisclosed, but given that George RR Martin's books are still, for the moment, ahead of the TV show, there is plenty of material for us to speculate with...
The Mad King
Aerys II Targaryen - AKA the Mad King - was the ruler that wanted to burn Westeros to the ground. You may know him as the titular king that Jaime 'the Kingslayer' Lannister killed, and the father of Daenerys Targaryen. Of course, Aerys is dead, but, according to reports, series 6 will feature flashbacks.
Randyll Tarly (Samwell Tarly’s father)
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Samwell Tarly’s father is not a nice man. A skilled military commander, he’s said to be ashamed of his rotund, book-loving son, and sent him off to the Wall to prevent him from inheriting any of the family wealth. Going by the books, and the fact that the show has just cast Samwell’s brother, it seems that we’ll meet this Dad of the Year on Samwell’s journey to become a Maester.
Aeron Greyjoy
We already have the casting of Euron Greyjoy, but there’s the matter of his brother Aeron – AKA, the Damphair. A priest of the Drowned God, he plays a bigger part as the story progresses. We might, of course, have already seen him in this scene, although not by name. Also, Game of Thrones is known for recasting actors…
The Elder Brother (who saves the Hound)
This would be a small but significant part.
In George RR Martin's original story, Brienne and the Hound do not fight. Instead, the Hound is hurt in a pub brawl, his wound becomes infected and he is left to die by Arya. In her search for the Stark girls, Brienne instead stumbles on a place called the Quiet Isle, a monastery for brothers of the Faith, and asks the Elder Brother about the Hound.
He reveals that he actually came across him while he was dying and did his best to help (although he is vague about his fate). It's then that Brienne spots a larger-than-average grave digger. His head and face are obscured, but Brienne notices that he is limping from what could be a healing leg wound – the exact type that the Hound sustained...
