Season 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones will not premiere for at least another eight months, but fans will take any scrap of information available. So far, we have seen a fascinating VFX reel and deleted scene from last season, learned that "Blackwater" director Neil Marshall will return to helm episode 9 of next season, and now we add to the ever-growing cast.

Joseph Gatt, (The Albino in Cinemax's Banshee) will join the Season 4 cast as Styr, the Magnar of Thenn. Gatt's IMDb page lists him as appearing in just next season's premiere, but given the show's propensity for changing characters to suit the show's narrative, there's a chance that Gatt's role could be expanded.

Styr first appears in A Storm of Swords, which is the third book of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. As a member of Mance Rayder's wildlings, Styr is the leader (or "magnar") of the Thenn, one of the many clans populating the King Beyond the Wall's army. WARNING - Game of Thrones book (and therefore, show) SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!!

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Game of Thrones - Jon Snow

In the book, the Magnar is part of the wildling raiding party that Jon Snow is embedded in - Jon of course betrays them after they scale the Wall. Later, the Magnar is part of the wildling force which attacks Castle Black.

In the series continuity, Jon Snow has already left the wildlings by the end of the Season 3 and is back with the Night's Watch, while the Magnar had yet to be introduced. This could point toward Gatt's character taking on the aspects of other wildling leaders and may yet live beyond the first episode of Season 4.

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END OF SPOILERS

game-of-thrones-Everyone

As far as the character description goes, the casting of Gatt is pretty spot-on. The Magnar of Thenn is described as tall, lean yet physically imposing, clean-shaven... and missing his ears. Gatt, an experienced motion-capture and voice actor (the God of War and Metal Gear Solid video game franchises), is a striking figure and had a brief but weirdly memorable part in Star Trek Into Darkness as a (bionic?) science officer on the Enterprise bridge, among many other roles in addition to his fan-favorite turn on Banshee.

Gatt joins GoT newcomers like Pedro Pascal (The Good Wife) as Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne; Rome's Indira Varma as Martell's lover Ellaria Sand; and Roger Ashton-Griffiths (The Tudors) as Queen Margaery's father, Mace Tyrell. Given the remaining story threads of Book 3, expect to see more of such characters as Ser Allister Thorne (Owen Teale), Lady Lysa Arryn of the Vale (Kate Dickie), and the former commander of the City Watch of Kings Landing, Janos Slynt (Dominic Carter).

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Game of Thrones season 4 premieres in Spring 2014 on HBO.

Source: Malta Today