HBO’s slowly doling out a few new casting notes, which is always exciting! This time around, we’ve got a look at another Qartheen character to join Nonso Anozi in that part of Daenerys’s story on the continent of Essos: actor Ian Hanmore will play Pyat Pree (HBO writes Pyatt, which may be the official spelling for the series, but we’ll go with his book spelling). Pyat Pree is one of the warlocks of Qarth, who legend claims wield great powers thanks to a sorcerous potion they drink called the shade of the evening. Holding their colloquies in the House of the Undying, the warlocks join the Pureborn and the merchants in determining the fate of the ancient, proud city… and the fate of those who enter it.
In other significant news, Winter is Coming has the scoop that veteran English actor Patrick Malahide has been cast as Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands and father to Theon Greyjoy. Having launched a failed rebellion years ago in which his eldest sons were killed and his youngest son was taken away by Ned Stark as a hostage and ward, Lord Balon has brooded these last years only to see a war spread across the Seven Kingdoms, a war that offers opportunities. Malahide has many credits to his name (including the 1994 BBC production of Middlemarch, and before that the ground-breaking The Singing Detective [widely hailed as one of the greatest television productions ever aired]). He can be seen below in an interview presiding British Equity:
Unfortunately, we’ve no clips of Hanmore, whose roles have included the Doctor Who episode “Tooth and Claw” as a murderous monk can be found here.
ADDENDUM: Access Hollywood has just revealed that Podrick Payne has been cast, played by young (Scottish?) actor Daniel Portman. As the article notes, Podrick (or Pod, as he’s often known) appears briefly in the first novel as a young squire assigned to Tyrion Lannister, but did not appear in the first season of the show. Also as noted, Podrick is a young boy whereas it appears Portman is well into his teens.