We’ve reached a fabulous time of the year- Game of Thrones casting time! Can we glean anything about the final season of GoT from the hints that leak out from casting notices? Perhaps!

Our sources tell us a casting is taking place this week in the UK, and they were wonderful enough to share with us two new Game of Thrones season 8 role descriptions.

Both of the new roles are for children!

The first role we’ve learned about is for a Northern Girl. The character will be around age 8, but they are open to seeing actresses older than this, up to age 10. The role is described as being a straight-talking Northern-accented girl, someone remarkable for her dauntlessness and integrity. According to the write-up, she’s been brought up in a family of soldiers and shares their fearlessness. The part is said to be a “very nice stand-out part for a strong-minded young girl with a fighting spirit.”

The role of the Northern Girl is currently set to shoot during the week commencing November 17th.

Game of Thrones is also searching for a Boy aged 8 – 12, with a physically fit and agile look, someone with a good, distinctive face. He’s described as being from a poor background, a boy who has to fight to make his way in the world. The description we saw mentions that they need an actor who can “completely own the scenes that he appears in,” hinting at multiple scenes. No coloring or height was noted, for what it’s worth.

The young actor is currently scheduled for filming the last week of November and the last week of December, but as always with Game of Thrones, things can change.

What do we make of these new roles? The top role sounds remarkably like other Northern girls we already know, doesn’t she- especially Lyanna Mormont. Is this new character possibly another member of the same family? There are other Northern houses though, and presumably as the White Walkers’ army moves south and devastates the North, we’re going to see some of them fall, most likely. Perhaps this girl is a member of one of these falling houses.

The other possibility, one we can never rule out with these child casting calls, is the idea of another flashback-vision sequence. We saw Lyanna Stark before as a child, and she fits this description well enough. This could be her at an even younger age.

As for the boy, no accent or coloring was specified, which points away from the North. A poor child indicates to me that he’s more likely to pop up in King’s Landing, or even Essos should the show venture back there for some reason. The Westerosi capital is a more likely bet, since the place is crawling with poor children- especially little birds!

What do you all think?