Speculation around fantasy drama Game of Thrones' third season, set to premiere next March, abounds, but we finally have some confirmed casting choices for new roles in the series. The latest addition is Belfast-born Ciáran Hinds, who has appeared in films such as Munich and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and is perhaps most well-known for playing Julius Caesar in the HBO hit Rome. Hinds will play Wildling leader Mance Rayder, the King Beyond The Wall who is planning to unite the clans of the Far North to attack the Wall, and who Night's Watchman Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is being carted off to meet in the second season finale. Although Rayder is often referenced in the first two seasons, and fans have been bandying about actors' names for months in anticipation, this will be the first we actually see of him, fittingly embodied in veteran Hinds.

The shooting, which is currently taking place in Northern Ireland, will bring the Paris transplant home to be reunited with fellow Irish actors Richard Dormer (Good Vibrations), Conleth Hill (Whatever Works), Ian McElhinney (The Fall), and Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. Other confirmed additions to the cast include Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Tobias Menzies, who co-starred with Hinds as Brutus in Rome, to play the role of Edmure Tully the new Lord of Riverrun and younger brother of Catelyn Stark.

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