'Game Of Thrones' Brings Danish Actor Pilou Asbaek Into House Greyjoy

Here's some Game of Thrones news that isn't a fan theory or a wild supposition about where the upcoming sixth season will take the story as it ventures further afield from the novels written by George R.R. Martin. Danish actor Pilou Asbaek (Lucy, The Borgias, the upcoming Ben-Hur) has been cast as Euron Greyjoy, uncle to Theon Greyjoy, aka Reek, and he is surmised to have a big role in the upcoming season.

The Wrap reports that Asbaek has been confirmed as a member of the cast; he was rumored to be joining the show in the past day or so. (Watchers on the Wall wrote "the actor was spotted shooting today with the cast around Ballintoy Harbour in a scene that involved a crowd cheering for Euron.") HBO confirmed the casting.

Despite the actor looking all cheery above in a scene from Lucy (he's talking to Scarlett Johansson there, after all) his Game of Thrones character will be a pretty serious guy.

Euron Greyjoy has the imposing nickname Crow's Eye, and captains a ship called Silence, so named because its entire crew is unable to speak. They can't speak because they have no tongues, and they lack tongues because Euron ripped them out. Euro is exiled from the Greyjoy home in the Iron Islands, and roams the seas on Silence. Still, he is all the things you'd expect a Greyjoy to be: unpredictable, cunning, and given to great malice. He's not a guy you want to cross.

Game of Thrones will feature some other new additions for the sixth season, such as legend Max von Sydow, who plays the Three-Eyed Raven, and Ian McShane, who plays an as-yet unknown role.Game of Thrones returns to HBO in 2016. We'll also see Asbæk in Ben-Hur, in which he plays Pontius Pilate. His series Borgen just hit iTunes in the US, so you can also catch up on that.