Even after seven years of death and destruction, the cast of Game of Thrones is still very large, with new characters being introduced as late as last year. The actor behind one of those characters was recently spotted at the Belfast City Airport (coincidentally enough, the nearby Belfast International Airport was temporarily renamed the Westeros airport in honor of the season 7 home boxset release). Since the show films so much material in and around Belfast, odds are good that this actor will appear in season 8, as well.
So who is it? Read on, and beware very minor SPOILERS.
This news comes via Wiki of Thrones. One of their sources snapped a picture of actor Harry Grasby getting off (or on — hard to tell) a plane in Belfast.
You may remember Grasby as the actor who played young Ned Umber in season 7. In the premiere episode, “Dragonstone,” Sansa wanted to dispossess the surviving Umbers of their lands and give them to Northerners who had supported Jon Snow in the fight against the Boltons. (Ned’s father, Smalljon Umber, fought with Ramsay.) But Jon was of a different mind, and summoned young Ned, along with the young Alys Karstark, to swear him an oath of fealty in Winterfell’s great hall. (He’s also seen briefly in “Stormborn.”)
That means that Ned Umber is now the head of the Umber family and the keeper of the Last Hearth, that family’s castle, which is located closer to the Wall than any other in the Seven Kingdoms. If Ned went back to the Last Hearth, he’s in a precarious position, since the White Walkers have now broken through the Wall. In that case, we may see him just long enough to see him die.
Or he could have stayed at Winterfell, in which case he could join his strength to Jon’s when the White Walkers inevitably try and take the stronghold. Whatever happens, I don’t expect him to play a huge role (Lyanna Mormont has the badass young leader thing covered), but it’s nice to see the production preserving continuity when it comes to the details of the story.
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