Hiya kids, hiya, hiya, hiya.

This time we have two lords and a knight.

The first never says a word in the books. The second gave up one lordship and received another. The third birthed a monkey, a pimple, and a loon.

The first flew by night to find the truth. The second is a merry man from the god of war. The third was a supervillain, and once ambled amongst oak trees and hollies, where he might have come across a golden rose.

Who are they?

EVENING UPDATE: Not bad, not bad. But I’m glad that I’ve been able to stump you for longer than it takes for my webpage to refresh. For a change. At of this moment (about 7:45 PM Santa Fe time), you’ve got the sword but not the lords. A few of you may be sniffing on the trail of another. The last… well, mea culpa, the clue there is really obscure.

Look for big casting news on the morrow. Lots of parts, not necessarily including these.

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The ranks are filling out on HBO’s GAME OF THRONES.

Ser Barristan Selmy, Barristan the Bold, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, will be played by Ulsterman IAN MCELHINNEY, Belfast born and bred.

Ser Barristan is a veteran of tournament and battle, and McElhinney a veteran of stage and screen who has been acting professionally since 1981. He was a pope on THE TUDORS, a captain on HORATIO HORNBLOWER, a priest, a doctor, a detective… though I believe this is his first turn as a knight. He’s no stranger to the Paint Hall, though; the huge shipyard soundstage where we’ll be doing much of our filming was also the place where they built the CITY OF EMBER, in which he had a role.

McElhinney is another terrific addition to our cast. He’s a splendid actor, and his readings captured all of Ser Barristan’s dignity and nobility. I can’t wait to see him in his Kingsguard armor and long white cloak.

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The big casting news I was hinting about yesterday broke even before I finished hinting, in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/07/game-of-thrones-casts-wire-veteran.html

So there you have it. Petyr Baelish, master of coin for the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, will be played by the amazing Irish actor AIDAN GILLEN. ((“Big news about a small digit,” get it?))

Gillen is best known to American audiences for his superb turn on THE WIRE, where he played Tommy Carcetti, an ambitious city councilman who runs for mayor for Baltimore… and loses most of his ideals along the way. Carcetti was a brilliantly written character, and Gillen played him brilliantly, painting a vivid picture of a charming, intelligent, well intentioned man slowly seduced by power. And he did it all with a Baltimore accent that was so convincing that I never doubted for a moment that he was American… and was startled to learn, when he first came in to read for Littlefinger, that he was actually Dublin born and presently lives in London.

British audiences knew him first for his role as Stuart Alan Jones in QUEER AS FOLK, but he has extensive credits in both television and stage. He’s a winner of the IFTA (Irish Film and Television Award), and has been nominated for a BAFTA and a Tony.

He should make for a perfect Littlefinger, and I look forward eagerly to seeing what he does with the role.

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I can also confirm that we have cast Arya’s dancing partner. Playing Syrio Forel, former First Sword of Braavos, will be MILTOS YEROMELOU.

The London-based Yeromelou has done a lot of stage work, including Shakespearian turns at the Globe and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He’s played a hunchback, a panther, a clown, and a Beast (not Vincent), he’s familiar with TinTin and Narnia and neanderthals, and he knows which end of the sword you stick ’em with. Some of that would have been used as hints, no doubt, but his name got out before I could start hinting.

I hear that Miltos and Maisie are already sparring on Twitter.

Just so.

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The ranks of the black brothers are beginning to fill up.

The part of Rast, one of the nastier of Yoren’s recruits, will be played by a young British actor named LUKE MC EWAN, a 2009 graduate from the Oxford School of Drama.

More information about Luke can be found at http://www.spotlight.com/6697-3497-3183

And as SAMWELL TARLY, we’ve cast a very talented newcomer named JOHN BRADLEY-WEST:

The side used in the auditions for Sam featured the scene where Sam tells Jon Snow how his father Lord Randyll dispatched him to the Wall. A difficult scene, but Bradley-West did an amazing job with it in his reading. This was one of the toughest calls, at least for me, since there was another talented candidate who was also very strong, but in the end JB-W’s heartbreaking performance could not be denied.

Bradley-West will be graduating from the School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University on July 16. I am told this was his first professional audition, and I imagine it is his first professional role as well. Going straight from graduation to a pretty significant part in an HBO series… hey, it doesn’t get much better than that. He’ll make a great Sam. (And if the show lasts till season four, he may even get a sex scene!)

Expect four more black brothers to be joining them soon.

And now their watch begins. Let’s hope it lasts seven seasons.

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… continued whirling madly while I was off in San Diego, offline and out of touch.

Names have been leaking out all over the place, I discovered last night on my return. (Some are a little premature, since no deal is yet in place). In this age of Twitter and Facebook and social gaming, the days of managing and controlling the flow of information may be behind us. I could give you hints about new cast members… but what’s the point, when their names and vitae are already up on half a dozen other sites and blogs?

So only one hint for today. Expect big news about a small digit, very very soon. But not here. Look for that somewhere else.

Meanwhile, I’ll confirm a few of the actors whose names have already leaked, for the six of you who maybe haven’t heard yet.

Back soon.

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