A Game Of Thrones Actor Is The New Lord Of The Rings Villain

A Game Of Thrones Actor Is The New Lord Of The Rings Villain

Actor Joseph Mawle is going from one epic fantasy franchise to the other.

Deadline reports Mawle, best known for playing Benjen Stark on Game of Thrones, has been cast as the lead villain of Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

According to the trade, he’ll play Oren, who’ll face off with the show’s heroes, Beldor (Will Poulter) and Tyra (Markella Kavenagh).

Mawle isn’t the first Game of Thrones alum to make the jump from Westeros to Middle-earth, though. Some of his behind-the-scenes brethren, such as executive producers Bryan Cogman and Bruce Richmond, are also joining the new series, as was previously reported.

The show takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Little is known about specifics, outside of the creatives, where it’s shooting, and now some of the actors. In a world with such unlimited possibilities, we may not know more for some time, right up until the show drops on Amazon in a few years.