Many distinguished actors have appeared in both the Harry Potter films and Game of Thrones — including David Bradley (Argus Filch/Walder Frey), Natalia Tena (Tonks/Osha), and Ciaran Hinds (Aberforth Dumbledore/Mance Rayder) — but Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and a Doctor Who parody? Congratulations Jim Broadbent, you’ve hit the British trifecta.
Best known for portraying Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn and Harold Zidler in Moulin Rogue!, Broadbent, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Iris, joined the cast of Game of Thrones in a “significant” role for season seven. Or at least it was mysterious, until he spilled the beans to ScreenCrush. “I’m a maester, an archmaester,” he revealed. “I’m an old professor character.” (Broadbent has probably played as many old professor characters as Octavia Spencer has fed-up nurses.)
Book readers recognize that Broadbent is likely referring to Maester Marwyn, or as he’s known as, “Marwyn the Mage.” In A Feast for Crows, Samwell tells Marwyn about the horrors he’s seen north of the Wall after arriving at the Citadel. From there, the archmaester travels to meet Daenerys (and her dragons) in Meereen. That’s not how it will happen on the show — Dany has already left Meereen, for instance — but the broad strokes are similar. Especially as season six ended with Sam waiting to the meet archmaester.
Broadbent will appear in five out of the season’s seven episodes, and he confirmed that he shares his scenes with Samwell. As ScreenCrush notes, it’s unlikely Marwyn will be “meeting up with Daenerys just yet [as Broadbent] shot all of his scenes in the studio in Belfast,” but with his knowledge of and fascination with magic (and, again, dragons), unlike other members of the Citadel, he could come in handy for the Mother of the Dragons.
Game of Thrones will likely return in July.
(Via ScreenCrush)
