Richard E. Grant’s role revealed, plus The Babadook’s Essie Davis joins the cast

News, wonderful news, continues to stream out of Girona. The headliner from the past few days is that the show has been filming a play-within-a-show, one in which actors perform a play based on the events of the first few seasons, with people like Cersei, Joffrey, and Robert Baratheon as characters. Meta, right? Now, Telepgrograma has a wonderful new set of photos that reveal the real-life actors who will be playing those in-world actors, although there’s no official confirmation from HBO as of yet.

Photo courtesy of Teleprograma

In this first photo, it appears that actor Richard E. Grant (who it was revealed would be joining the cast earlier this week) is playing a character who is playing Robert Baratheon. That probably means that Grant is playing the role of the “Grand Theater Actor/Manager” detailed in a casting call a few days ago. The Manager “specializes in playing drunken aristocrats, but is mean to the other members of the troupe once the curtain falls.” That sounds a lot like Izembaro, known as the King of the Mummers, a character from Arya’s advance chapter from The Winds of Winter. With his comedic chops, Grant should be able to knock this larger-than-life character out of the park.

In that photo, you’ll also notice an actress playing a character who is playing Cersei. Here’s a better look at her.

Photo courtesy of Teleprograma

That would be actress Essie Davis in the role of Fake Cersei. This is a big get for Game of Thrones, as Davis proved that she had acting chops for days when she appeared as the lead character in horror film The Babadook. If her character is portraying Cersei, it can be safely assumed that Davis is filling a role described in another casting call, that of the “Leading Actress,” who is a “[f]un, charismatic, rum-drinking actress in the troupe.”

Also worth noting: this means that actress Souad Faress, who it was announced was joining the cast for Season 6 a couple weeks back, will not be playing the Lead Actress, as I’d previously theorized. So it’s open season on Ms. Faress.

Here are a couple more images from Telepgrograma, including one of a dwarf who will surely be playing a character based on Tyrion (that character is named Bobono in the books), and a guy who looks like he’ll be playing a fake Ned Stark. (UPDATE: apparently, this character is played by Kevin Eldon, a veteran actor and comedian who starred in Hugo and Hot Fuzz, along with a boatload of programs on the BBC.)

Photo courtesy of Teleprograma

Photo courtesy of Teleprograma

Fake Ned appears to beThe actor above appears to be Kevin Eldon, a veteran British

These scenes should be pretty damn interesting. There are plenty more pictures to check out, including a better look at the actor playing the character playing Joffrey, over at Telepgrograma.

Finally, I’d like to draw your attention to this photo of Maisie Williams walking alongside Essie Davis, taken by stargateorganic and posted to Instagram.

A couple days ago, Los Siete Reinos reported that Arya wouldn’t actually be playing a role in the play-within-a-show, as she does in The Winds of Winter, but would instead only watch it from a distance. That’s still entirely possible—after all, Williams as Davis are both filming in Girona, and may have just been taking a walk together during a break here. Still, I like to think that the fact they were photographed together means that their characters will have some interaction, which means that Arya could still end up on stage. Plus, Grant’s Manager character will be around for three episodes, according to the casting call. Unless Arya watches the play in three on three discrete occasions, that means she’ll probably be interacting with him, which gives me hope that she’ll join, rather than just observe, the troupe.

Next: Game of Thrones theorycraft: How will Rickon Stark be reintroduced onto the show?