Celeb Round Up: Gold to Get BAFTA, Jones Confirmed, New X-Men Trailer

We’re rounding the corner to Game of Thrones Season 6. Just over five more weeks to go before the premiere. While we wait, let’s check in on what some of the big names of the production have been up to.

We’ll start with Nina Gold, who might not be a name familiar to the layman, but is one Game of Thrones casting watchers know very well. She is the woman who has been responsible for discovering actresses like Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, along with landing names like Sean Bean, Charles Dance and Diana Rigg for the production. Now, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (the BAFTAs) has decided to honor her contributions to casting. with a special award to be handed out April 24th.

Gold, for those who might not be familar with her work outside of Thrones, has worked as the casting director for over 100 films and television productions. Among her bigger achievements are HBO’s series Rome and mini-series John Adams. She also did the incredible BBC production Wolf Hall. In the movie category, she’s cast such star studded Oscar nominated films as The King’s Speech, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and The Martian. Oh, and a little film we like to call Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

In a statement, Gold said: “I feel both delighted and humbled to be the first casting director to receive this Special Award. It is wonderful that BAFTA is shining a light on the craft of casting. Throughout my career, I have been privileged to work on an array of fantastic programs, in partnership with many wonderfully talented directors and actors. I feel honored that my contribution has been recognized.”

Speaking of Sophie Turner, yesterday the latest X-Men: Apocalypse trailer dropped. Turner doesn’t have any speaking lines in this one, but she’s been front and center in the earlier glimpses of the film. Here she’s more presented as part of the ensemble of “The Next Generation” of X-Men students at Xavier’s School.

And finally, after weeks of refusing to confirm or deny the (heavily accepted as true) rumors that Finn Jones will indeed play the title role in their upcoming Iron Fist series, yesterday, someone at Marvel accidentally did so by tagging him in this tweet:

Within an hour Marvel had put out a statement confirming what everyone already basically knew anyway:

As a billionaire turned Buddhist monk/martial arts expert, “Danny Rand is a very complicated character,” showrunner Scott Buck said in a statement to Marvel.com. “Finn is able to play all these levels in such an honest, revelatory way that as soon as I saw him I knew he was our Danny.”

“Finn wonderfully blends confidence with vulnerability, making him the perfect choice as he struggles to find his place in the world,” adds Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb. “Now that we’ve found our Danny Rand, we’ve completed our principal cast for the upcoming Defenders on Netflix and we are thrilled to continue to show audiences unexplored corners of the Marvel Universe.”

I found it very interesting that Marvel was initially hesitant to confirm Jones as the lead, and only did so once it was basically out. Since Jones’ character on Game of Thrones Loras Tyrell was alive, last we checked, it’s interesting to see that he’s now been cast as a lead in another show. As any student of TV will tell you, that doesn’t usually happen unless those in casting are confident that the show the actor is currently going off the air (see also: Hayley Atwell getting cast as the lead in a new ABC show after Agent Carter‘s abysmal ratings this past winter), or the character is confirmed as off the show. And since we’re all pretty sure Game of Thrones is going to be renewed for not one, but two more years in the near future, that suggests only one option for the fate of poor Loras this coming season. Sorry Margaery.