Casting/Filming

Merchant captain cast for Game of Thrones season 5

Posted on by Sue the Fury

Gary PillaiThere’s one name we can check off the list of new Game of Thrones characters leaked in July.

According to his CV, Gary Pillai will be taking on the role of the merchant captain.

The original casting writeup for the Merchant Captain mentioned he would be appearing for two episodes in a small role, and interacting with main cast. We understand that Pillai has been filming recently, which makes his captain most likely the one rumored to be smuggling some notable characters into a dangerous region.

Spoilers below the cut

As the actor’s CV notes, he’s being directed by Mark Mylod, who is handling episodes 3 and 4 of the new season. Given the sea- and boat-related scenes being filmed at the moment, it’s no surprise there would be a ship’s captain on hand to bring Jaime and Bronn into Dorne. After all, they didn’t row all the way there. (Make your own Gendry joke.)

Sue the Fury: Nice to see all the parts filling out! The beach shoot is helping uncover lots of info this week.

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

77 Comments

  1. So E3, they get on the boat in King’s Landing and E4 they arrive in Dorne. Seems about right. As demonstrated on the show, boat travel in Westeros can go as fast or slow as the plot requirements allow. It also means they’ll be able to get Jaime back to King’s Landing early enough for Cersei and him to have their tiff and for him to take off before she gets arrested.

  2. Aha. So when the call sheet said 4 it did mean ep. 4. Everything’s piecing together. I love it.

  3. Hmm, curious why casting a captain would be important for this storyline. Unless he is some agent for Dorne later on.

  4. Fuelpagan,

    Remember when the Obara audition leaked? If the dialogue from it was legit, I can see why you’d need to show that someone saw Jaime.

    “A ship’s captain came to me in Plankytown claiming to have information to sell. I paid. He told me he smuggled Jaime Lannister into Dorne.”

  5. Mmmmh, Jaime only arriving in episode 4 in Dorne means no chance at all for the Riverrun arc.

    And I would have prefered embark ep 1, arriving ep 2, since I think Dorne’s players should be introduced as early as possible.

    In other news, I was in Sevilla this afternoon and the Real Alcazar is just gorgeous ! Cant wait to see its places, gardens, allyers, walls and fountains on screen !

  7. I can’t remember if it was reported here or not but a while ago Maisie Williams tweeted that Ben Hawkey (Hot Pie) was back (either the actor told her or she read it in a script I presume).

    This would lead to the assumption that the Crossroads Inn would be back in play again this season and it would stand to reason that the only major character who would be in that area would be Brienne. There was also that tidbit about Brienne getting help from some older woman which could possibly be someone from the Inn itself (a Masha Heddle type for instance).

  9. King Tommen,

    Hmmm. That’s weird. Because there’s a thread on Reddit, discussing how someone met Ben Hawkey and he talked in detail about how he was not in season 5.

    edit: Oh yeah, when she said just “Hot Pie’s back” she meant back on Twitter, not on the show.

  11. Aw man, I miss Gendry. I wonder if we’ll ever see him again, or if we’re just supposed to draw our own conclusions as to where he rowed off to?

    Ooh. We should do a Choose-Your-Own Adventure with him.

  12. There was someone on the Westeros forums claiming they met Joe Dempsie at a bar a year ago and he said he’d be back for season five, but idk if its true.

  13. Interesting..
    A small part of me wanted the leaked mysterious role of ship’s captain to be transporting Young Griff, but I assumed it was Tyrion or Jaime. Nice to have some confirmation.

    Is this another nail in the coffin of Young Griff making the show?

  15. I also think in that same alleged conversation Dempsie said when he came back, he wouldn’t be doing what book fans thought Gendry would be doing so take that for what it’s worth.

    I wonder if he could end up in King’s Landing (his original destination) as a new follower of the High Sparrow (taking on Lancel’s spot more or less).

  16. Patchy Face,

    I think that could still happen.. I hope!

    Of all the new arcs introduced in AFFC and ADWD it feels to me like Sam going to The Citadel could be one of the most important. That still does not guarantee it makes the TV series I guess! XD

  17. Darquemode,

    No. Dinklage has yet to start shooting, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out about Young Griff then. He may well be out, but this news here doesn’t mean that he is.

    Darquemode,

    I think they’ll at least have Sam go to Braavos and meet Arya briefly. He can show up in Oldtown for s6.

  18. Greenjones: No. Dinklage has yet to start shooting, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out about Young Griff then.

    Exactly my thoughts I guess…
    I can’t rule out the idea of YG and company making the show until those regions start filming. I remain skeptical, but hopeful.

    Re: Sam
    Agreed.

    I’m hoping we could see Sam set off from Braavos for Oldtown in the finale, but it could be held back for Season 6 easily enough. As long as he makes the journey I will be happy.

  19. Darquemode,

    People have suggested that, since Jaqen will be the Kindly Man, that he could board Sam’s ship then and go with him at the end of the season. Arya’s lessons could either be finished or deferred to the Waif by then, I think. That would create adequate interest in Sam’s s6 storyline, which might bore people otherwise unless they make the intrigue at the Citadel with the Faceless Men and everything more obvious.

  21. on another post there was a blur image about Dragon crew .

    is that for meereen and Danny scenes .when and where will be those filmings will take place

  22. dragonbringer,

    The crew names don’t necessarily correspond with which characters they are shooting, they just have separate names. The Dragon Crew is the name of the one that was shooting at that location, which is Portstewart. Supposedly the Wolf Crew was shooting on a river in Toome today as well.

  23. Morgan

    thanks for clearing that .

    any news on when will Danny and her arc starts because it will involve that pit scene and everything ..i am looking forward to it

  24. dragonbringer,
    You’re welcome!

    Supposedly, they are filming in Split, Croatia from September 8-16, that’s where the they filmed the exterior scenes for Meereen last season. If they do film the Daznak’s Pit stuff in the bull ring, that won’t be until later when they go to Spain, which is looking to be in late October.

  25. Morgan

    thank you ,

    hmm i hope we will get photos and information on that set like we are getting here in portstewart.

    many believed that the merchant captain will be the one who ships tyrion and young griif and jon con …hope this casting clear those theories

  26. Arkash,

    Agreed resp. Jaime and the Riverlands. His being in Dorne will be the reason he’s not in King’s Landing when

    Cersei is arrested. Shame about the Blackfish and those weird Freys. But I guess Tyrion’s “I am your son. I’ve always been your son” in The Children will have to take the place of Tywin’s sister asserting that Tyrion, not Jaime, is Tywin’s truest son (i.e. most similar to Tywin in terms of intellect and personality). Maybe that line there was the first hint that Riverrun wasn’t going to happen.

  27. Darquemode,

    Arya’s ship captain to Braavos is supposedly a recurring character in season 5 and has various directors (according to his CV) which means he has multiple appearances. So I think he’ll take someone else on his ship from Braavos to Oldtown before the end of the season. And yeah I think a certain faceless man might join them too, if his being in Oldtown is important to that storyline (which I think it will be).

  28. dizzy,

    I hear you brother/sister!

    Glad it takes an episode or so for Jaime & Bronn to get to Dorne. He needs to be in KL to stand vigil over Tywin and deal with the fallout from last season. I think some folks are a little too keen to launch into Dorne when the story would suffer for it.
    Hoping Obara shakes down the Captain for information and her payment is actually something quite violent. Would be an interesting way to introduce her and work better than a predictable fight scene. Which means when she crosses swords with Jaime/Bronn/whoever she doesn’t have to win to establish her character at the expense of theirs.

  29. jentario,

    Last year quite a few CVs said “various” under directors early on only to clarify which director specifically months later. I wouldn’t be surprised if his CV is updated to read only “Michael Slovis” in that same section.

    TheTouchOfFrost,

    I think Obara will kill our Merchant Captain. In the audition scene she says, “I paid” as in she bribed him for the info but then later says “he paid”. That, to me, implies that she offs him for helping the Lannisters.

  30. jentario,

    Yep, I wrote something like that in the thread where that actor’s CV was brought up…. or maybe at SpoilerTV. It gets hard to recall what comment is in which post on which site! XD

    I guess technically he could be seen transporting her to Braavos and dropping her off in separate episodes, or taking her to Braavos in one episode and then in a later episode encounter her again if/ when she goes back to the docks during her training. I want to think he transports Arya in an early episode and then Sam in a late episode is the most likely scenario though!

  31. Greenjones,

    I wondered about that too…
    Could the “various” directors be a generic term they use for actors appearing in multiple episodes on shows that use multiple directors over the season? In which case he could be in back-to-back episodes by the same director or in two episodes with different directors. I’m not overly concerned frankly. We will find out as production moves along

  32. Greenjones,

    That’s the feeling I was getting too. Would fit more with her book character who came over to me as a bit of a bully and angry all the time!

  35. How many ship captins do we have this season ? The titan daughter’s captin we already seen in the finale

    A captin for Jaime and Bronn’s ship to Dorne

    A captin for Sam’s

    If and I doubt that a captin for the griffs

    In Obara’s addution she said

    the captin asked her to pay her for his informatin and now he pays. Is this mean she might kill the captin for smuglung the two of them !

  37. This whole thing does strike me as a good way to keep primary characters invested in the story and improve an ongoing, interesting relationship (Jaime and Bronn) now that the best pairing on the show for years (Tyrion and Bronn) is no more.

    Given the mentions of Falyse Stokeworth, though,

    I’d imagine we might see the characters split later in the season – Cersei’s paranoia continues to assert itself and that bit plays out pretty much as it did in ASoS, and plus it gives you more chances for some creeptastic stuff out of Qyburn.

  38. Lollys is in S5 (for how much is uncertain) so we are either going to see her very briefly at the beginning of the season in King’s Landing before Bronn leaves for Dorne or she’ll be involved with him after he returns. My guess it’s going to be more of a “Fat Walda” cameo situation right at the start of the season when Jaime approaches Bronn to accompany him to Dorne.

  39. Yawn. Please wake me when they cast the Captain of the Iron Fleet and his dusky woman.

    And when Jason Isaacs is cast as Mads Mikkelsen as Euron.

  40. Mine is the Furry,

    You mean that ship delivery guy from AFFC and his barely-living blowup doll?Dany already has ship, no need to ever see these two

    Euron maybe. I hope he gets cast.

  41. Darquemode:
    Patchy Face,

    I think that could still happen.. I hope!

    Exactly. IMO, Sam’s adventures in Oldtown are the beginning of the endgame. These guys can pull a lot of the various story threads together and tie nicely in to all of the magic elements. Seems crazy that we’re getting it next season already! Only 3 seasons left…:'(

    Edit: Well, it didn’t quote what I wanted to quote, but you get my drift.

  44. I’m pretty sure the greyjoy masterplan can’t just be thrown away, as you recall we saw Danny lose control over her dragons past season,

    what happens when someone like Euron is in the posession of an object that can control them? to me this is a bigger game than the one being played at Dorne… If it doesn’t make it in season 5, maybe in season 6, but they would have to intruduce Euron at some point in season 5, maybe in the finale, how long will they keep us in the dark about Balon’s death?

  45. King Tommen:
    Lollys is in S5 (for how much is uncertain) so we are either going to see her very briefly at the beginning of the season in King’s Landing before Bronn leaves for Dorne or she’ll be involved with him after he returns. My guess it’s going to be more of a “Fat Walda” cameo situation right at the start of the season when Jaime approaches Bronn to accompany him to Dorne.

    Maybe. But the mention of her sister makes me think they’ll carry that plot line through.

  48. Hugo,

    what happens when someone like Euron is in the posession of an object that can control them?

    I think there are a lot of assumptions behind that question.

    We can’t assume that the horn that supposedly controls dragons actually does. We also can’t assume that it will play a role in the endgame. GRRM likes to turn tropes on their head and a magical object that serves as deus ex machina is that in spades. Take the Horn of Joramun for example. It’s highlighted in the books but in the show it’s not even been discussed. The only horn we’ve even seen was the one found at the Fist of the First Men with the dragonglass cache. They didn’t name it at the time and they haven’t mentioned it again. We’re going into the 5th season now and if they don’t mention the Horn of Joramun in S5, they probably won’t. Which means IMO that it won’t make a difference to the endgame. I mean, does anyone think that GRRM will all of sudden pull out one or both of the Horns at the last minute to help save the day? I will be VERY disappointed if he resorts to such a cheap trick.

  49. Ms. D. Ranged in AZ,

    I doubt the horns will be used to save the day and more likely are going to cause bigger problems. I’m pretty sure the Horn of Joramun is the one found on the Fist of the First Men, and the Wall will not be standing by the end of the series. The Show just waits to explain some of this stuff until right before it is important. Like the idea of Jon and Arya also being wargs. The most we can predict is it may not be important for Victarion to have the horn, he may simply be GRRM’s way of delivering it to someone else. It may simply be D&D are delaying their introduction a year like they did with the Reeds.

  50. As alluded to by other commenters, it will be interesting to see how Jamie’s journey to Dorne plays out with

    his “break-up” with Cersei and how he will not be back to defend her during her trial

    .

    Lastly, I’ve always suspected the the maesters were not as benevolent as they seem and so

    Sam’s story arc at the Citadel seems important if this theory is to play out. I recently re-read Dance and noticed the numerous times the maesters are described with suspicion by other characters (Lady Dustin for example who calls them “gray rats” who whisper in their lords’ ears and read their letters). During my re-read I began to wonder whether Doran’s maester may be poisoning him and causing his gout, in order to prevent Dorne from challenging the Iron Throne.

  51. Ms. D. Ranged in AZ,

    I understand that, and I don’t mean it’s going to be the ultimate weapon at the endgame, no… I just think it would be a very dangerous an chalenging game to see even if it didn’t succeed in the end.

  52. amaryllis,

    Oooooh. Hadn’t thought about maester and Doran…gotta look for that on my next re-read.
    Clearly the maesters and their objection to magical learning is central to the magic v nonmagic theme. I think that one of the messages of the story is that those that refuse to see the magic in the world–those that attend to the acquisition of power and wealth rather than humanity and decency–are doomed to be destroyed by it. Balance is key.

  53. So no new glimpses of the filming today? Supposedly today they shoot a big scene on that beach…but nothing yet, I guess.

  56. Greenjones,

    Public access of the beach is supposed to be completely restricted today so I won’t be surprised if we don’t get anything at all.

  60. fuelpagan,

    I agree.

    The show did what it needed to do with the horn Sam found at the Fist. It got the horn on screen. It is meant to be seen as something innocuous. When and if they decide to make it significant (if it is actually the Horn of Joramun) they can show that scene in the “previously on” to remind the viewers.

    Does anyone have any theories on HOW the horn of winter thing is going to play out in the books and/or show? Many people believe the wall will come down at some point. But how exactly? White Walker magic? Do the White Walkers somehow end up with horn and use it themselves? If so, how do they get it? Could a human with an agenda steal it and give it to them?

    I hope this happens partly for the sheer spectacle of a 700 ft wall of ice cracking and falling but also for the sense of doom which would accompany such an epic event. Really need Winds of Winter sometime soon…

  61. This is probably nothing, but assuming that Cersei’s method of smuggling Jaime and Bronn into Dorne is the ship she wanted to send to Myrcella as a gift, would that be a ‘merchant’ captain who sails it there? Although it seemed like she was asking Oberyn to organise that it got there, so who knows?

    Also, given the speculation that Trystane is going to take over

    Quentyn’s role in the second half of the season, what is the likelihood that somehow he and Tyrion end up on the same boat to Meereen. I don’t know whether that would mean he gets enslaved too, but manages to convince Yezzan to let him have an audience with Daenerys, but it would help cut down on the number of storylines. Only started thinking of Quentyn, because his first chapter is called the Merchant’s Man.

  62. Ashara D,

    “Clearly the maesters and their objection to magical learning is central to the magic v nonmagic theme. I think that one of the messages of the story is that those that refuse to see the magic in the world–those that attend to the acquisition of power and wealth rather than humanity and decency–are doomed to be destroyed by it. Balance is key.”

    I think that the maesters have always represented empirical knowledge, science and rational thinking in a medieval world, contrasted to those such as Melisandre who believe in a god(s), magic and the power of prophecy. Aemon Targaryen, a maester himself, criticizes the maesters’ knowledge when discussing a book about the wildings and the lands beyond the wall. He says that the maester author claims to be the authority on wildings, but never got particularly close to one.

    However, when you speak of balance, Melisandre is also in danger of going too far and being “burned” – no pun intended – by her unyielding beliefs.

  65. Sunfyre,

    :Does anyone have any theories on HOW

    My theory is that

    the Wall will probably come down near the end of book 6, so that the White Walkers can have a whole book invading Westeros. Recently GRRM has said that the books will be going even further North (presumably to the WW headquarters) and I assume that means we’ll be finding out more about the Others and their motivations/intentions.
    Here’s the thing. The White Walkers don’t speak the common tongue. They have their own language which I believe is described as a sounding like ice crackling. I sincerely doubt we’re going to have a chapter where this is translated or we just get the inner thought processes of a White Walker; that seems too alien. So that means we’re going to need a human surrogate POV up there with them to explain what’s going on. Now that’s probably not going to be any of the current POV characters, which implies it may need to be the epilogue character.

    Now, here are some ‘what ifs’ –

    What if even if the White Walkers get there hands on the Horn of Joramun, they need a human to blow it? That means they’d need to capture a human rather than just kill everyone they encounter.
    What if it needs to be a human with Stark blood, because Bran the Builder built the Wall? And the Night’s King knows this because he was once a Stark himself, as has been suggested.
    Some of you should have picked what I’m theorising by now, so here it is.
    The AWOW epilogue chapter will be from the POV of Benjen Stark, whom the WWs captured, rather than killed, a while back. He’s been with them all this time observing them as a prisoner, wondering why they kept him alive. They’ve been waiting until they can get the horn and now force him to blow it and the book ends with the Wall coming down. The act of blowing the horn might even kill Benjen, like how the dragon horn works, which would fit the trend of epilogue character’s dying.
    Alternatively he has become Dark Benjen for some reason and is helping them voluntarily. Or the WWs manage to get Bran somehow and make him blow the horn, which is kind of appropriate – one Bran Stark built the wall, another Bran Stark brought it down.

  66. I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I dislike all these new low characters coming to life. I think we need vip characters! Greyjoys, Blackstar, Idk

  67. Khamûl:
    I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I dislike all these new low characters coming to life. I think we need vip characters! Greyjoys, Blackstar, Idk

    Even if we had that we would still need some unimportant background characters…

  69. Schrödinger’s Cat,

    Love your ideas. I would be happy with a lot of that.

    The Benjen speculation is awesome. I’m just thinking of how incredible it would be to turn the page and see the header “Benjen” and be plunged right into White Walker HQ. As you said this would be a great organic way to learn more about the WW’s and it is through the eyes of someone we actually care about. Benjen is still out there somewhere. He’s bound to show up again and this wouldn’t be as some afterthought. And I really like the reasoning for why they would keep him alive (Stark blood). I wouldn’t be surprised if things play out in a very similar way to what you wrote.

    Thanks!

  72. I tend to think the Wall doesn’t need to come down for the WW to invade. In Sam’s research he finds that the magic in the Wall holds as long as the Wall stands and the Night’s Watch stays true (emphasis mine)

    The mutiny against LC Mormont in addition to the stabbing of Jon is hardly the NW staying true

    That’s why I think the horn of Joramun is a bit of a red herring. It’s the magic keeping the WW away. Not the Wall itself. I also wonder if Melisandre is sucking away some of he magic from the Wall since she seems to draw power from it.

    On another topic, is there any word that Charles Dance will return to play Tywin’s corpse? I can understand why he wouldn’t but it would be cool if he did.

  74. Schrödinger’s Cat,

    My theory on the wall is…

    that it will be coming down. The FM in Oldtown will steal the horn from Sam and truck it up north. Who ends up blowing the horn I’m not sure. I tend to think it will be the Night King. The Wall likely contains a huge Ice Dragon. That is why Mel’s power is stronger at the Wall. Blowing the horn will allow the dragon to be freed tearing the wall apart. This is where I think Cold Hands will be important eventually in stealing control of the Ice Dragon away from the White Walkers.. Ice Dragon riders can’t have warm hands. 😉

  76. H. Stark,

    think if young griff is in this season it will remain a mistery character until the very end just like they did with Ramsay

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