New Cast Details for ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 2

After a brilliant first season and with a second on the way HBO’s Emmy-nominated fantasy drama Game of Thrones continues to expand its already huge cast and we noticed that it’s a veritable Brit fest! I was half expecting to get a call myself there’s that many Brits arriving in season 2.

With loads of new faces from British TV and film we have pulled together a list of all the new cast members featuring character names and a brief bio of each. Take a look below for details and to see who you recognize. The second season of George R.R. Martins Game of Thrones will air on HBO sometime in spring 2012, we can’t wait.

Stephen Dillane will play Stannis Baratheon the younger brother of the late King Robert and the older brother of the self-declared King Renly.

Dillane appeared in the British movie 44″ Chest and most recently appeared in the movie Perfect Sense alongside Ewan McGregor. He also appeared as Thomas Jefferson in the TV mini-series John Adams.

Gwendoline Christie will play Brienne of Tarth who arrives to serve Lord Renly as a member of his Rainbow Guard.

Christie is somewhat of a newcomer to the world of acting having previously only made a brief appearance in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and popping up in a BBC documentary called The Seven Ages of Britain.

Nonso Anonzie will play Xaro Xhoan Daxos. Hailing from Qarth he is a merchant who owns the ships that Daenerys needs to return to Westeros.

Anonzie appeared in the Guy Ritchie movie RocknRolla and also starred in Atonement alongside Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. He can currently be seen on the big screen in the remake of Conan the Barbarian.

Karl Davies will play Alton Lannister who doesn’t actually appear in any of the books! The best guess seems to be that Alton will fill the Cleos Frey role, the result of the Lannister/Frey Marriage.

Davies is fairly well known in the UK as he played a regular character in the ITV soap Emmerdale from 2001 -2005 as well as appearing in the TV series Kingdom and Midsomer Murders.

Oona Chaplin will play Jeyne Westerling, the love interest of Robb Stark who meets her when she tends to his wounds after a battle.

Chaplin shouldn’t technically be in this list as she is actually Spanish but seeing as she is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter we thought we’d include her as a honorary Brit (whether she wants to be or not). Also she has just appeared in the British TV series The Hour alongside Dominic West (The Wire) and she had a small role in the last Bond outing Quantum of Solace.

Liam Cunningham will play Davos Seaworth aka “The Onion Knight” and one of Stannis’s most loyal followers and trusted advisors. It’s through Davos’s eyes that we’ll see the storylines of Stannis and Lady Melisandre.

The Dubliner was most recently seen in The Guard alongside Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle as well as appearing in the short lived Starz series Camelot and the BBC series Outcasts. Cunningham also appeared in Harry Brown with Michael Caine and starred in Clash of The Titans alongside Liam Neeson.

Gemma Whelan will play Yara Greyjoy who in the books is actually called Asha Greyjoy, the long-lost sister of Theon Greyjoy.

Whelan is not particularly well known in the UK and she is recognised more as a stand up comedian than an actress (she won the 2010 Funny Women Variety award), despite having appeared in Benecio del Toro’s The Wolfman and Gulliver’s Travels.

Natalie Dormer will play Margaery Tyrell, the bride of the self-proclaimed King Renly Baratheon who is actually having an affair with Margaery’s brother Loras, “The Knight of Flowers.

Viewers may recognise Dormer from the Showtime series The Tudors where she played Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII’s wife’s and she also appeared in two British TV series, Silk and The Fades (coming to BBC America later this year). More recently she had a small part in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Michael McElhatton will play Roose Bolton aka The Leech Lord, a liege lord of the King in the North. He’s a ruthless and cunning individual and has a bastard son, Ramsay, who’s even more ruthless than he is.

McElhatton was most recently seen in The BBC detective show Zen that was aired on Masterpiece Mystery and he has also appeared in the recent British TV shows Your Bad Self and Father and Son.

Robert Pugh plays Craster who is possibly the most unpleasant character we’ll meet on Game of Thrones. Craster is a wildling that lives north of the wall, he has nineteen wives of which many are also his daughters!

Pugh is a stalwart of the British TV show, he’s appeared in Prime Suspect, Marple, New Tricks, Shameless, Midsomer Murders, Robin Hood, Accused, Waking the Dead and Doctor Who. Pugh also appeared on the big screen in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Hannah Murray will play Gilly who is one of Craster’s Daughters that just happens to be carrying his child. Gilly is scared that her father will kill the child if it turns out to be a son so she recruits the help of Samwell Tarly.

Viewers of the British teen drama Skins will recognise Hannah as she played Cassie in the controversial series. There are rumours that she was close to being cast as the new Doctor Who assistant before Karen Gillan was offered the role.

Oliver Ford-Davies will play Maester Cressen, an advisor to King Stannis and through whose eyes we’ll be introduced to Stannis Baratheon, Lady Melisandre and Davos Seaworth.

While not instantly recognisable to everyone Ford-Davies has popped up in many successful British TV shows over the past 40 years including Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders and Spooks. He played Polonius in the 2009 Hamlet movie starring David Tennant. He has written several plays, appeared in Star Wars (The Phantom Menace) and most impressively was in the 1994 MacGyver TV movie, Lost Treasure of Atlantis!

Roy Dotrice will play Hallyne the Pyromancer who is employed by Tyrion Lannister to create a secret weapon that will turn the tide of battle should it ever come to be used. As head of the Alchemist’s Guild, Hallyne agrees to help Tyrion with this new weapon, which, as you guessed from Hallyne’s title, will involve fire.

Fans of the audio books of the Song of Ice and Fire series will recognise Dotrice’s voice as he narrated them. The actor previously appeared in the Beauty and the Beast TV series on which George R.R. Martin was a writer. We haven’t seen Dotrice on the big or small screen since he was in 2008′s Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Ben Crompton will play “Dolorous Edd” Tollett, a member of the Night’s Watch who ventures north of the wall with Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and Jon Snow.

Crompton will be best known to viewers in the UK for the comedy drama Clocking Off and the sketch show Man Stroke Woman in which he appeared alongside Nick Frost (Attack The Block). He also appeared in the British TV movie of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal (out on DVD in the US next month).

Just yesterday Patrick Malahide was added to the cast as Lord Balon Greyjoy, the head of the house of Greyjoy. Balon is the ruler of the Iron Islands and father to Theon and Yara.

A veteran of British TV and film you will may recognize Malahide from his movie work in Quills and Billy Elliot or more recently for his TV work. He has featured in Survivors, Law and Order: UK and The 39 Steps.

Daniel Portman will play Podrick Payne, the squire of Tyrion. Podrick was in the first ‘A Song of Ice and Fire‘ book but did not make appearance in season one of Game of Thrones.

Portman is a bit of a newcomer with only two projects under his belt, one of which is currently filming. He was in the 2010 horror movie ‘Outcast‘ and has a small role in ‘The Angel’s Share‘ due out in 2012.

Ian Hanmore will play Pyat Pree, one of the warlocks of Qarth and a resident of the enigmatic House of the Undying. Alongside Quaithe and Xaro Xhoan Daxos, he acts a spokesman for the Undying in the dealings between the city of Qarth and Daenerys Targaryen.

Hanmore has had small roles in several popular British TV shows such as Doctor Who, Waking The Dead and Life on Mars.

Lucian Msamati will play Salladhor Saan, a mercenary pirate pledged to the late King Robert Baratheon’s brother Stannis.

Msamati has made appearances in several hit British TV shows including Doctor Who, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Ultimate Force, Ashes to Ashes, The Knock and Spooks/MI5

Andy Beckwith will play Rorge, the vicious villain that has no nose. The character was seen briefly in the last episode of season one but was played by a different actor.

Beckwith was in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and has appeared in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He often pops up on British TV and has appeared in Eastenders, Trial & Retribution and Whitechapel. He often plays nasty cockney ‘geezers’ and should be a good fit for Rorge.

Ralph Ineson will play Dagmer Cleftjaw, an ironborn warrior who serves as master-at-arms for the Greyjoys at the Iron Islands.

Ineson should be instantly recognisable to fans of the original British version of The Office as he played Chris Finch (Finchy) the crude tormentor-in-chief of Ricky Gervais’s David Brent. He has appeared in some of the Harry Potter movies as Amycus Carrow and has been in many British TV shows over the last ten years.

Not only is there numerous Brits joining the the cast of the second season, but now British director Neil Marshall (The Descent) has been recruited to direct two episodes. Having come to prominence in the movie world thanks to his cult classic horror film Dog Soldiers, Game of Thrones will mark Marshall’s TV directing debut. But he is no stranger to sword play having recently directed the Roman epic Centurion, starring Michael Fassbender, and so should be extremely well suited to the show.

Tony Way has just landed the part of Dontos Hollard, a knight of King’s Landing. Despite a minor part in the first novel, Dontos did not appear in season one. He should have a more significant role in season two, as he features in the novel Clash of Kings, which the second season is based around. Dontos has a bit of a drinking problem and opted to stay behind at King’s Landing instead of participating in the War of the Five Kings. Tony Way has had numerous roles in British TV and film in recent years so you may recognize him from TV’s Dick and Dom’s Funny Business or the movies Down Terrace, London Boulevard and Ali G Indahouse.

If you want to make yourself familiar with all the British cast members from season one of the show then take a look at our previous post here and check out our full coverage of Game of Thrones here.

Sources: tvovermind & The Hollywood Reporter