Yahoo News Lord of the Rings series casts Game of Thrones star as villain
The Lord of the Rings TV series hasn't even been made yet and it's already gaining comparisons to Game of Thrones.
Well, alongside the fantasy TV element and a series consultant, the Amazon Prime series now has another thing in common with the blockbuster HBO series as it has recruited one of its stars.
Joseph Mawle – aka Benjen Stark – has signed up for the Tolkien adaptation as the show's main villain, according to Deadline.
Related: Game of Thrones boss joins Lord of the Rings TV series
The site claims that he will play the role of Oren opposite Will Poulter's hero, apparently called Beldor, and Markella Kavenagh's Tyra.
Also signing up for the series is Years and Years and former Hollyoaks star Maxim Baldry, though it is unclear who he will play.
The new series is due to begin production in the coming months in New Zealand – where the original film trilogy was made – with events taking place during the Second Age.
Buy the Books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings boxed set
Meanwhile, one of the stars of the original movies has argued that Gandalf should be gender-swapped in the new series.
"Those old legends, those old mystical stories, they're so based within a patriarchal landscape," Robyn Malcolm, who played Morwen in The Two Towers, said.
"Why not look at the magic of a matrilineal world where the magical powerhouses are women?"
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