Game of Thrones viewers have heard plenty of stories about Sam’s terrible father over the years, and now they can finally put a (scowling) face to the (mean-sounding) name: According to Watchers on the Wall, British actor James Faulkner has been cast as Randyll Tarly for Thrones’ sixth season, a role described in leaked casting notices as “a humorless martinet, severe and intimidating.” Faulkner has a long history of portraying dickish aristocrats, having recently played the stern Lord Sinderby in season five of Downton Abbey, though he also played the charmingly perverted Uncle Geoffrey in the Bridget Jones movies. He joins the cast alongside Samantha Spiro as Sam’s “sweet, plump, and adoring mother,” and Rebecca Benson as his “friendly, and unpretentious” sister, while unREAL’s Freddie Stroma has already been cast as hunky brother Dickon. The Tarlys will reportedly begin filming in Spain shortly, lending credence to the theory that a castle there will “play” the family homestead of Horn Hill.
