Casting/Speculation

Derek Lord joins Game of Thrones cast

Posted on by Cian

LordBelfast actor Derek Lord has been cast in Game of Thrones season 5.

The information became more publicly known today when the Greenock Telegraph published an article about the Northern Irish actor unfortunately breaking his wrist on set. The Telegraph also notes that Lord will be playing a “military officer”. However, his Spotlight CV has contained the news of his casting for a few months already.

Speculative spoilers below the cut.

Lord’s Spotlight CV was updated with the Game of Thrones information around the same time as the late J.J. Murphy‘s. We know that Murphy was cast as Denys Mallister of the Night’s Watch.

Adding this to the “military officer” information and the fact that Carice van Houten and (presumably) Kit Harington are currently filming in Belfast, it is not too much of a stretch to assume that Lord may be portraying another member of the Night’s Watch.

Note that this is all speculation, and Lord’s role may not amount to more than a featured extra.

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Cian

62 Comments

  5. Fookin Nights Watch. We had a real good thing going until that bastard Lord Snow showed up. The legend of gin alley done in by a wildling cunt and highborn fancy bastard. Fookin cunts!!!

  8. Wyman Manderly. Alert me when he is cast. I’ve given up on the Griffs and Greyjoys, but I still have hope for Manderly.

    He is a single season role that would be very entertaining. I just don’t see how he gets cut.

  9. Tyrion Pimpslap:
    Wyman Manderly. Alert me when he is cast. I’ve given up on the Griffs and Greyjoys, but I still have hope for Manderly.

    Well…. considering that Rickon and Osha could be with the Umbers, maybe Manderly will be merged with Greatjon

  12. Simonerys,

    I hope not. I want

    “The North Remembers!” I want Frey Pies. D&D can’t continue to let the Freys get off easy on the show.

    Wyman Manderly should be an obvious and easy inclusion.

  13. I agree with the general speculation here. It appears that they’re filming the Night’s Watch storyline in Northern Ireland at this time, Lord’s character description is that of a “military officer”, and the actor’s CV was first updated around the same time as J.J. Murphy’s. Furthermore, he’s an older gentleman with a hard/tough look about him, and he mentions he successfully filmed “all of my dialogue” in the article cited here, so he’s at least a featured extra, if not more prominent than that. Based on all that, my guess would be that Derek Lord is most likely playing Cotter Pyke – or an equivalent character.

  16. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    Agree 100% with you.

    Good to know that some of these smaller roles are being cast. Necessary disclaimer: I am well-aware that casting Derek Lord has nothing to do with casting Wyman Manderly. However, I am beginning to lose hope that we will ever see him.

  19. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    I don’t see why they bothered casting an actor to play someone named specifically as Wendel Manderly and with a very distinctive look to him if they had no intention of having Wyman involved, so reckon he’s a safe bet.

    Then again, I would have said Arianne was a sure bet to be involved, Stoneheart likewise, also the Griffs, and unless they’re keeping their cards close to their chest, none of that is happening.

  20. Greenjones,

    Nice find! If anything, we need more Targaryen flags, the one on the Great Pyramid was the only one we’ve seen on screen, or am I wrong?
    On a related note: will Daenerys ever wear her dragon crown? Queens need crowns, right?

  21. Gravemaster,

    That’s another great find!
    Is there a picture of him anywhere?

    I google “Matt McArdle” but google is showing me a singer or something like that…
    And in his IMDb says nothing about him being a singer..

  26. Referring to him as a military officer makes me think he’ll more likely be someone in Stannis’s army. The men of the Night’s Watch aren’t really referred to as ‘officers’.

  29. So actors playing Night’s Watch officers are falling like flies? Death, wrist, ankle… They must be doing mean stunts on set! 😉

    (With all due respect to RIP JJ Murphy)

  33. Gravemaster,

    We are aware of the addition of McArdle but the info is sparse….where he’s filming? any idea if he has lines? Any other reports of him from any of the sets? Basically, not enough to go on at this point. But we’re keeping our noses to the ground! We always appreciate how great you guys are at sniffing out GoT news.

  35. Gravemaster,

    Too young. Euron’s meant to be Balon’s younger brother, and the actor playing Balon, Patrick Malahide, has to be in his seventies by now (he was middle-aged when I remember watching him in “Minder” during the 80’s!), so a younger brother could at the least be late forties/early fifties.

  36. Yeah, I’d say he’s most likely going to be a Night’s Watch officer, Cotter Pyke perhaps, as many have said above. But he could be playing one of Stannis’ men… maybe one of the

    Queen’s men that stay behind at the Wall when Stannis marches South… if he’s filming now, which I don’t think is clear, alongside Carice and Kit.

    I vaguely remember him from Take the High Road, his character’s name more than his face, admittedly. Can’t recall his accent or that though, so whether it’d suit a bastard from the Iron Islands or a Knight/Lord from the Stormlands, I couldn’t say.

  37. Fall_Of_Byzantium,

    It’s feeling more and more like they’re just keeping their cards close to their chest so far. It’s now mid-September, well into shooting season, and the casting news we have falls into the following categories:

    1. Eight actors from the big comic-con video that were publicly put out there
    2. People who were in the “incomplete” list of roles they were *looking* to cast – none of which, other than those in #1, have been since confirmed as having been cast by a real-live person
    3. Confirmations or rumors of actors who have already been on the show coming back (Charlotte Hope, for instance, the prostitute Lhara, et al)
    4. People who have been sleuthed out through people trolling Twitter or random actor CVs, most of whom are *really* minor.
    5. A nice old man who died a few days after he started filming.

    Seriously, that’s not that much. At all.

    While there are a few obvious characters that by now are more than likely gone (Arianne) or delayed at best (Euron or Victarion), there’s still plenty of room for a lot of other minor names, one-episode wonders, that sort of thing. They really may be keeping things as tight-lipped as possible.

  38. My money is on Ser Justin Massey. As someone said above Crows are not generally called officers and the show needs a military foil for Stannis now Davos is elsewhere. Could be any of them of course, but Massey is the most interesting, in my book, on account of his chats with Asha.

  40. thremnir,

    Davos is not elsewhere in the show. He goes with Stannis to the Wall. He’ll probably be sent away, just as he already had been in the books, but I imagine he’ll be there for as many episodes as possible.

  41. Greatjon of Slumber,

    Brian is perfect!

    He can be the jovial host serving his Manderly Pies. I can almost see him serving up pies now, with a big smile on his face, encouraging the guests to eat more.

    His delivery of “The North remembers” would be a speech that would send chills down the spines of sullied and unsullied alike.

  42. Pretty much a repeat of what I said in the other thread but…

    When I first saw the pic I thought Cavil from BSG!
    For casting, I thought he might be Mors Umber or Arnolf Karstark but if it says Military Commander then it’s surely got to be Cotter Pike? Not that I mind him being cast as he was one of the better minor characters IMO but aren’t things getting a little busy up at the Wall? We’ve got an awful lot of characters up there now! Although I suppose they lost a lot of numbers last time. Be happy to see Cotter at Hardhome and find out what actually went on there!
    Matt McArdle is a bit harder to speculate over. Possibly just an extended extra although, more through hope than expectation, could this be Victarion? Certainly has the look and build for it ( a less expensive Ray Stevenson?!). Relative unknown though, although I’m not sure if that’s a particularly bad thing. The age thing initially made me question him but there’s no reason Vic can’t be 45 which is in the guy’s range. With the right make-up and styling he could easily pull it off. I guess we shall see.

    Also like to throw my support behind the Brian Blessed for Wyman movement. It really needs to happen!

  44. Littleflowerfarm: Oh please God, THIS.

    Brian Blessed has always felt a bit too… aggressive for Wyman Manderly, for me. He could do the jovial bear thing, with the booming laugh, but it’d be a joviality one step away from murderous rage, and not the ineffectual, amiable blob of a man I picture Wyman to be. He’d be too much of the physical threat, which Wyman isn’t at all. Too much the Northman/First Man type, when the Manderlys are more Andal. He’d make a great Umber though.

    Myself, for Wyman, I’ve always pictured Timothy Spall. He could do the amiable but useless facáde that Manderly has, with the real cunning underneath. Or, if they could bring him back, Ian McNeice, who played Illyrio Mopatis in the unaired pilot.

  46. Carne,

    In a Slovis episode.

    That’s too early for the street toughs to be harassing Sam so I guess they’ll be bugging Arya then.

    Carne,

    Great finds all around!

  51. Ser Florian,

    Watch him as Augustus in “I, Claudius”. He seems utterly ineffectual, childlike and under the thumb of his wife Livia until the scene where he gathers together the senators who he suspects have been sleeping with his daughter. When he’s questioning them he’s seriously threatening and very, very quiet. I think he’d be perfect, but..he’s 77 or around it, and I’m not sure they’d take the risk if he’s needed to be around for a while.

  52. Fall_Of_Byzantium:
    Gravemaster,

    Too young.Euron’s meant to be Balon’s younger brother, and the actor playing Balon, Patrick Malahide, has to be in his seventies by now (he was middle-aged when I remember watching him in “Minder” during the 80’s!), so a younger brother could at the least be late forties/early fifties.

    Close. Malahide is 69.

  53. Fall_Of_Byzantium,

    Yeah, he was great and (mostly) against type in that.

    One reason I like Blessed is that he has a “plummy” accent which fits how the Manderlys are different/more “cultured” than the other Northern Houses, due to their Southron roots. And it’s a nice parallel to how in the show Roose and Ramsay don’t have Northern accents, and are more cultured- basically, they are the British version of the British villain in American films.

  54. if he is Cotter pyke is that mean he will come to castle black or finally we are going to see east watch in the show ??? hahah just remembered the letters he sends to jon snow and all the terrible talk in it about Queen selyes

  56. Greenjones,

    There were also no John Bradley sightings in the Braavos set. Either there is more Braavos or the whole Oldtown thing could get the ax (at least until very late in the season- as in the last few episodes)… I doubt they’d miss out on the Arya-Sam meet up if Sam was passing by in season 5, it’s right up their ally with random characters meeting and not really affecting eachother’s’ storylines).

  57. Annara Snow,

    I wasn’t that far off then. He doesn’t actually look much different, except he had shorter hair, obviously.

    So realistically a younger brother to a man who’s clearly elderly can only be late forties at the youngest, so that actor can’t possibly play Euron.

  58. Varamyr Sixskins has been confirmed as a featured character so my guess is that Derek Lord would portray either him, or a Night’s Watch Officer.

  59. Taylor Iosefo,

    Forgot all all about Varymar. Perhaps McKee for him? Quite curious as to what they’re going to do with the Wildings. Any sign of Rattleshirt returning?

  60. The_Ghost_of_Karl_Tanner,

    Why does everybody spell it “fookin”? with two “o”? the letter “o” is NOT the pronounced letter in the word. The pronounced letter is “K”, as in “fokkin”.

    The annunciation of the “fo” part of the word is SHORT, not long and drawn out like how it pronounced when you spell it “fookin”. think of words like “fool”, long, drawn out, and sounding NOTHING like how it is pronounced on the show (or in real life).

    Please, this is a public service announcement: Please fucking spell it correctly:

    F O K K I N.

    Thank you

  61. Who fookin’ cares?! 😛
    Can’t speak for anyone else but there could be two explanations. One is that in some places in the north (Newcastle, Yorkshire) and some West Midlands (Stoke) in England and in Scotland the accents mean that it is pronounced slightly differently and sounds more like oo. Other people around the country tend to overpronounce it this way or just not pronounce the u properly to take the edge off using it/make it less aggressive. May also be to further distance themselves from Southerners who tend to pronounce u as a.

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