Celeb roundup: Robb Stark goes to space, Tormund Giantsbane goes Disney, and more

ROME, ITALY – NOVEMBER 14:  Richard Madden attends the ‘Medici. Master of Florence e il Rinascimento italiano’ photocall during the 9th Roma Fiction Fest at Cinema Adriano on November 14, 2015 in Rome, Italy.  (Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images)

With so much time off from Game of Thrones, two actors who have left the show are touting new projects. Meanwhile, a third, who was thankfully too quick to to be killed off this season, takes another part.

Let’s start with the quick. Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane, who was too fast this past season be murdered by SmallJon Umber (and then bit his throat out, direwolf style) has apparently gotten a taste for the animal life. His newest role, as revealed on his Instagram account, is a lizard. (Cue Brienne: Heeeeeeere lizard, lizard, lizard.)

Specifically, Hivju will play a lizard on The Lion Guard, Disney Junior’s follow-up series to The Lion King. It is, as he notes, a guest role. Just a little something to scurry into the gaps between shoots for Game of Thrones Season 7. He’ll be back to filming in Westeros quick as you please.

Meanwhile, in the land of the dead, Richard Madden, who has been off the show since the events at the Twins at the end of Season 3, has left cable television for Amazon. According to TV Line, he’ll play the lead role in a brand new series called Strange New Things. (Not to be confused with Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things. Completely unrelated.) According to the website, the show is an “ambitious drama pilot set in outer space.” Here’s the synopsis:

"Based on Michel Faber’s celebrated 2014 novel The Book Of Strange New Things, project — which is being eyed as a 10-episode event series — centers on a soulful, intense priest (Madden) who leaves his wife book-of-strange-new-things to travel to a distant planet/colony to preach to the native population."

Sounds like a perfect job for a true believer in honor like Robb Stark, no?

And finally, in news from the newly deceased, Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell, recently blown to bits with the rest of his family and hundreds of bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the Sept of Baelor), has a mixtape out. So move over, Hodor! You’re not the only one spinning tunes in Westerosi heaven.

Check out the newest track, which he posted to his Soundcloud.

In all seriousness, Jones credits actor Kristian Nairn (Hodor) for pushing him to embrace his DJ career. Last year, he told Vulture that he was just a hobbiest until Nairn put him in touch with a promoter.

"And then one day, Kristian says to me, “I could get you some gigs, if you’d like.” And I’m like, [disbelieving] “Yeah, yeah, right, okay.” But he put me in contact with this promoter, and this promoter came back to me with like a 20-date tour around the U.K.! So I went from DJing in my bedroom or at small parties for friends, just kind of intimate, small, nice, to suddenly going on this tour around the U.K. DJing to thousands of people. Kristian was my friend before, but he’s definitely helped me out in that respect, and becoming more confident to playing to a crowd. He pretty much forced me to go out there, and I love it. It’s such a cool pastime to have."

A cool pastime, and a great fallback position, at least until work in the afterlife comes along.