Ciarán Hinds (Mance Rayder) joins the Justice League movie as a villain, and more actor news
By Dan Selcke
It usually pays to follow the careers of former Game of Thrones actors, as they’re often up to interesting stuff. Case-in-point: Ciarán Hinds, best known to Game of Thrones fans as wildling leader Mance Rayder, will play the villain in Justice League, Warner Bros’ blockbuster superhero movie coming in 2017. Hinds, will play an alien being named Steppenwolf. The character actually showed up in a deleted scene from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as you can see below.
Obviously, Hinds’ performance will be heavily augmented by motion capure and CGI. This won’t be an alien bodysuit kind of deal.
In the movie, Steppenwolf will be on the hunt for three Mother Boxes, portable supercomputers used by his people. There are three on Earth—one on Atlantis (where Aquaman lives), one on Themyscira (where Wonder Woman lives), and one elsewhere. Steppenwolf wants them all. “So that allows us to get into some of those environments,” said producer Charles Roven.
In the comics, Steppenwolf is a lieutenant of Darkseid, a major DC baddie. Given Hinds ability, I’m sure he’ll make the role memorable.
Hinds isn’t the only Game of Thrones alumnus appearing in Justice League. Jason Momoa, who unforgettably played Khal Drogo back in Season 1, is playing Aquaman. He also found time to star in Frontier, a Canadian-American co-production about the Candian fur trade in the 1700s. It just debuted on Discovery Canada and is due to appear on Netflix. Momoa plays Declan Harp, a ruthless trader driven by lust and revenge. He shows up around 0:33 in the trailer below, grunting and chucking knives at people. Sounds about right.
And finally, Noah Taylor is starring in Deep Water, a miniseries that aired on Australian multicultural public broadcaster SBS last month. Game of Thrones fans may remember Taylor as Locke, aka the guy who cut off Jaime Lannister’s hand back in Season 3.
In Deep Water, Taylor stars alongside Orange is the New Black’s Yael Stone as a cop who investigates the brutal death of a gay man and finds that it’s linked to a series of unsolved murders that happened decades ago. The miniseries has proven popular, and a deal with a US broadcaster is pending.
Sure, Taylor’s role isn’t as high-profile as Hinds’, but it’d good to see the supporting cast members of Game of Thrones finding success, rather than just the huge names. The show is popular enough for everybody.