Game of Thrones recasts a villain from Season 3

One of the most frustrating aspects of Game of Thrones‘ lockdown on any and all Season 6 information was the near-total lack of casting confirmations during the off season. Many times, it felt like HBO and the production had to be backed into a corner before they would admit to who was being cast as whom. In some cases, they announced the actor because it wasn’t worth hiding (like Ian McShane joining the cast) but then refused to admit who he was playing. (Don’t worry, McShane blabbed all of it.) In other cases, they announced the casting after it had leaked (as with Sam Tarly’s mother, sister, and father).

But some casting calls never got confirmed, and are still out there, dangling like unresolved plot threads. Now, one of those has been tied up.

Months ago, we reported on a casting call for a “hapless sly son to cruel father.” According to Watchers on the Wall, this character is, as we suspected, one of the many, many sons of Walder Frey. He’s just not the one we though he was.

We’d assumed that this part was for Merrett Frey, a character we haven’t seen on the show yet, but who appears in the books. In A Storm of Swords, he runs into Lady Stoneheart and dies, and members of the Lady Stoneheart Truther Movement™ hoped his presence meant we would finally see her onscreen. Instead, it looks like the casting call was to recast a part we’d already seen: Lothar Frey, who you may remember stabbed Talisa Stark in her pregnant belly during the Red Wedding.

Lothar was played by Tom Brooke in Season 3. He’s now listed as being played by actor Daniel Tuite on his Spotlight CV.

Daniel Tuite

It should be noted it’s listed as a “reoccurring role” and that he’s worked under “various” directors, so we can be sure that he’s in at least in two episodes of Season 6. You can even see him in the latest Season 6 trailer: he’s in that image of Walder Frey lifting his cup, on the elder’s Frey’s right.

So although we are sorry that it looks like we won’t see Merrett, this is a casting that makes sense, at least in terms of streamlining characters. There are, after all, a huge amount of Freys wandering around Westeros. Spotlighting one who’s already been introduced is the more sensible, not to mention easier, option.

Whether or not Lothar will find himself hanging from a noose later on is yet to be seen.