Massive Comic-Con Casting Reveals

San Diego Comic-Con is going strong, and the Game of Thrones panel has just now wrapped—and we have the press release, which is utterly massive. Find out who’s playing the Queen of Thorns, Tormund Giantsbane, Edmure Tully, the Blackfish, Meera and Jojen Reed, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and much, much more!

SAN DIEGO, July 13, 2012 – HBO has confirmed some of the new cast members for the third season of the hit series GAME OF THRONES, with many of the actors appearing in a video that is being unveiled today at Comic-Con 2012.

%09Among the new actors and the characters they will portray are:

%09Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell. Also known as “The Queen of Thorns,” Lady Olenna is the grandmother of Margaery and Loras Tyrell and is, in many ways, the true leader of their powerful family.

%09Mackenzie Crook as Orell. A wildling raider, Orell is a “warg” or “skinchanger,” with the ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions.

%09Clive Russell as Bryndon “The Blackfish” Tully. Known far and wide as “The Blackfish,” Brynden is a famous knight and the uncle of Catelyn Stark. He quarreled bitterly with his brother, Lord Hoster Tully, and the two were estranged for many years.

%09Nathalie Emannuel as Missandei. Originally from the peaceful island of Naath, Missandei was sold into slavery as a child, along with her brother. She received education in various languages and became a translator to the slave trader Kraznys in Astapor.

%09Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon, the only child of Stannis Baratheon. An avid reader, she escapes her lonely life through myths and stories – her books are her most treasured possessions.

%09Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr. A key member of the outlaw band known as the Brotherhood Without Banners, he is a Red Priest, in service of the Lord of Light, and originally hails from the Free City of Myr, in Essos.

%09Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed, a mysterious and enigmatic young man who becomes an important ally to Bran Stark.

%09Ellie Kendirck as Meera Reed. The eldest daughter of Howland Reed and a staunch Stark loyalist, Meera and her younger brother Jojen seek out Bran Stark to protect him on his hard journey north.

%09Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion. Once the lord of Blackhaven and a celebrated warrior, Lord Beric has now become the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, a band of vigilante outlaws.

%09Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. A famed wildling warrior and chief lieutenant of the “King Beyond the Wall,” Mance Rayder, Tormund is fearsome and strong, with a large build and a beard to match.

%09Philip McGinley as Anguy, an extremely skilled archer and key member of the outlaw band known as the Brotherhood Without Banners.

%09Tara Fitzgerald as Selyse Baratheon. The wife of Stannis Baratheon, Selyse spends much of her life in seclusion, shut away in a gloomy tower.

%09Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully. The younger brother of Catelyn Stark, Edmure has recently become Lord of Riverrun in the wake of his father’s death.

%09Anton Lesser as Qyburn, a former maester of the Citadel, who was stripped of his chain many years ago.

%09Links to view the GAME OF THRONES Comic-Con video can be found at: http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones; http://www.youtube.com/user/GameofThrones; and https://www.facebook.com/GameOfThrones.

%09The embed code for this video is: http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/about/video/season-3-new-cast-members.html?autoplay=true.

%09Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic drama set in the world of Westeros, where ambitious men and women of both honor and ill-repute live in a land whose summers and winters can last years. The Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning fantasy series concluded its ten-episode second season in June, with the third season scheduled to launch in 2013.

%09Season two cast members included: Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson and Alfie Allen.

%09Season three credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor, Alan Taylor, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis; produced by Christopher Newman and Greg Spence.

More details to come as we start collecting information on this bevy of new additions to the cast!