Seven new roles being cast for Game of Thrones season 8!

Game of Thrones is ramping up to begin filming on the eighth and final season (pause for sobs) in October, and fan site Watchers on the Wall has information on several new roles being cast for the occasion. Let’s look them over.

Let’s go through them one by one. First up:

• Mercenary, aged 35-50. This guy is “an authoritative, fit, cool and charismatic military type.” He needs to to be able to ride a horse and will appear in two episodes of season 8. Since there are only six episodes to go around this year, every one counts.

Watchers thinks this character will be a member of the Golden Company, which sounds like a good bet. But perhaps the most notable thing about this character is that he’ll be filming the week of December 11, and then again in May and June of 2018. Why is that important? Because it tells us that HBO will be filming season 8 through June at least, meaning that the shoot will last, at minimum, for eight months, which is longer than usual. If The Hollywood Reporter can be believed, it’ll run all the way through August, which is much longer than usual. There may only be six episodes, but if HBO is taking this much time to make them, they promise to be pretty spectacular.

The last time we saw Euron Greyjoy, he was heading across the Narrow Sea to pick up the Golden Company.

Okay, on to the rest:

• Northern farmer, aged 25 – 35. This guy is a “straightforward honest man of simple tastes.” He’s just folk, y’all. He’ll shoot the week of November 17th.
• Sassy and attractive girl, aged 18 – 25. This is another small Northern role; this character will film the week of November 6 and play opposite leading cast members in a “memorable” scene. This is the only female role on the list, although there’s another casting call for a younger Northern girl out there, too.
• Northern sentry, aged 18 – 25. This is another role with scenes opposite leading cast members. HBO wants “a characterful young Northern actor with great timing.” He’ll shoot in the first week December. Let’s see if he (I’m assuming it’s a he) lives up to the example set up by the Northern sentries we met in season 7:

• Sailor, aged 35- 50. “He’s a rough-and ready sea-faring type with a weathered face and strong presence.” This character will film scenes the week of December 11. With Euron still in the mix, odds are he’s a member of the Ironborn.
• Finally, we have a pair of guards. Guard #1 is is a physically fit 20-something who’s good in a fight. He’ll be shooting the first week of December. Guard #2 is a tall, athletic 30-something. He’s professional, dependable and has one line opposite leading cast members. He’ll shoot on November 1 and 2 in Spain, which is notable because it lets us know that the production will return to Spain.

Other than specifying that Guard #2 is white, the calls don’t describe the guard characters, so we’re not sure where they’ll turn up — the North, King’s Landing, among the Golden Company, whatever. Although we can expect a lot of action in the North, now that the army of the dead has broken through the Wall.

We should get yet more clues once the cameras start rolling next month!

Next: Video: HBO takes us behind Jon Snow’s big moment with Drogon

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