Game of Thrones News: Carice van Houten is Melisandre

Casting announcements for Season 2 of Game of Thrones are finally here!  These are the actual people HBO has hired to play the parts, not to be confused with the speculation posts I've been doing up to now.  I'll start each post with the character description (which may be recycled from a speculation post), and then we'll examine the actor who's been announced.  Let's take a look at some of the new players we'll meet in 2012:

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Melisandre

Art by Amok

Mel is a Red Priestess of R'hllor from Asshai, a land in the far, far, far east of the GoT world.  She claims to receive prophetic visions from her fire god, and travels to Westeros to serve King Stannis Baratheon, who she has seen in her visions.  Mel is the second of the major new characters for S2, and will quickly become one of King Stannis' most trusted advisors.  She is described as "beautiful, with a slender figure, full breasts, and a heart-shaped face. He hair is burnished copper, her eyes are fed, and her skin is pale. She always wears red." - (from Tower of the Hand)






















Carice van Houten

Well, we didn't get Christina Hendricks, but she's got a pretty good thing going with Mad Men.  I haven't seen Carice act yet, but this casting has moved Black Death up to the top of my viewing queue.  Carice is Dutch, and has won four "Dutch Oscars".  She came to the attention of American viewers as the lead in Black Book.  That led to a role in Valkyrie with Tom Cruise, and Repo Men with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker.  She also has the horror film Intruders coming out this October.  She's the right age, and I think she has the right look.  I like that she's not British, and I hope they let her use her native accent to lend a sense of "other" to her performance. As far as I'm concerned, HBO has done well for themselves yet again.

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Season 2 Cast Additions:

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell

Gwendoline Christie as Brienne Tarth

Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon

Carice van Houten as Melisandre