While rumours about the status of Jon Snow continue to swirl, the rest of Game of Thrones’s sixth season is beginning to take shape. The latest star to join the cast? Max von Sydow, the renowned actor with a long career of playing slightly haunted characters in everything from the Exorcist to Minority Report.
According to Entertainment Weekly, von Sydow will play the Three-Eyed Raven, the supernatural mentor of Brann Stark. His is a character we have already encountered – albeit very briefly – in Game of Thrones’s fourth season, though the fact that the show’s creators have chosen an actor with the clout of von Sydow for the part indicates that the Three-Eyed Raven will play a more significant role this time around.
Von Sydow joins British actor Ian McShane in signing up for Game of Thrones’s sixth season. McShane, best known to American audiences as Deadwood’s sweary saloon owner Al Swearengen and British audiences as the roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy, will play a character “of key importance” in the fantasy drama.
Game of Thrones isn’t the only fanatically followed cult property to feature von Sydow. The veteran actor will also appear in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where he’s rumoured to be playing a Sith lord.
Game of Thrones’s sixth season will air in spring 2016. Last week, HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo indicated that the show is likely to run for at least three more seasons.
