Harry Strickland Cast for Season 8 of Game of Thrones! 

big batch of season 8 roles with you all a few weeks back, and now, we’re happy to reveal the first casting for the final season of

According to his Spotlight CV and his agency, German actor Marc Rissmann will “join the cast of

in the 8th and final season of the show.” The actor’s resume helpfully tells us exactly which role he’ll be playing in the season, and it will ring a bell with readers of George R.R. Martin’s books: Harry Strickland, leader of the mercenary group known as the Golden Company! Last month’s casting notices held a role for a “mercenary” that we speculated might be the show’s loose rendition of Harry Strickland and it looks like we were right.

Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) took off in the season 7 finale to collect the Golden Company, on Cersei’s behest. With the confirmation of Strickland’s presence, it seems like Euron’s mission will probably be a success, though you can never quite predict Euron’s next move.

According to the original posted casting notice, this role is for two episodes.

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I’m unreasonably excited about this casting news. This is probably the last named book character casting we’re ever gonna get, unless they bring in Howland Reed. Strickland is someone I would have been hard-pressed to identify by name until recently, and yet, it’s cool that we’re still getting book characters at this point in the story. So I’m looking forward to it!

Sure, it’ll be a small role, but he’s named and will appear in two episodes (and the actor is filming a lot more than two appearances suggest, so we’ll likely see him in battle, which makes sense.) This wouldn’t have been a big deal in earlier seasons, but at this point it is. For example, Stannis’ general during the march to Winterfell was credited as… “Baratheon General.” Would it have been so difficult to pick a Florent out of a hat? 😛 This Strickland thing is more like that; a face for the Golden Company and a nice nod for hardcore book readers.

so the bitch Cercei has already her fuckin Golden Mercenaries ..Very well..she will fucked soon because will they will join Aegon/Daenerys forces and Euron will betray/kill her taking the Throne for himself ..This guy Harry Strickland look sexy as fuck..Im wonder if also Daario Naharis will is with them…propably perhaps

Amazing news, itching to see the Golden company in action, along with their elephants if I remember correctly. I’m very interested to see how he and the Golden company with be utilized in the last season.

This guy looks fierce, different of how the character is in the book but is nice they use the name.

The name Harry Strickland doesn’t sound like it belongs in GoT… I hate it

It could sound more old-timey! “Hariwald Stercaland”? Fixed it for you 😛

The best thing about this news is it means the Dario will be leading the GC theories can be put safely to rest

I know! Its been a while since I read ADWD, and when I saw the news I thought, “the name sounds very familiar, who is this guy?” (I had assumed it was the name of the actor)

I really hope Theon beats Euron and brings back the GC for Jon and Dany.

That would be redemption for the character since it all started going south for him when he was sent to bring back a navy for Robb and betrayed him. Having him come back with reinforcements for Jon like he wasn’t able to for Robb sounds like a nice move for Theon.

Of course that would mean Cersei would be weak and her end would be fairly pathetic so can see them not going in that direction.

Great to get our first new casting for Season 8. Marc Rissmann looks like a suitably intense performer – perfect for the leader of a formidable mercenary company (apparently he had a role on The Last Kingdom, which bears some similarities to GOT). He should fill the role of a lower-tier antagonist for the final season quite nicely.

Back when the casting calls revealed the “Mercenary” role, I speculated that the commander of the Golden Company would be a new composite character because Harry Strickland, the leader of the Golden Company in the novels, was pretty generic. But to be honest, that’s not a bad thing – the Golden Company and ADWD in general are overflowing with characters who are a little too ridiculous for my taste, so at point in the story, I welcomed “generic” with open arms. Still, I thought the show might mix in elements of characters like Connington, Black Balloq, or Marq Mandrake and give the amalgamated commander a new name. But upon reflection, simply taking the name and character of Harry Strickland and giving him a personality upgrade is a simpler and far better choice. So this is the best of both worlds.

Preach. While I don’t believe that we’ll see Daario again, I wouldn’t necessarily mind if he were to return for the final season, as I like Michiel Huisman in the role. But the rumors of him being the leader of the Golden Company never made any sense (an undercover member, perhaps, but not the leader). If the show were going that route, they would have just had Cersei hire the Second Sons. Glad those rumors can be put to rest.

So… we will be getting Jon Connington.. right? I sure hope so if we are getting Harry..

The show hasn’t particularly been super successful lately w/ new additions. Not enough time to build them up.

Hope they don’t try to overcompensate like they did with Euron. Its ok if the character is not super interesting or a super standout, just hope he fills his role nicely the way they did with Randyll Tarly,

Geez…. the entire Golden Company come and gone in two episodes…. can you say accelerated plot?

Geez…. the entire Golden Company come and gone in two episodes…. can you say accelerated plot?

Who says they will stay for 2 episodes and not more?

And 2 episodes isn’t that fast, look back at season 1, many “storylines” were 2/3 episodes. Remember the Mirri Maz Duur storyline? that was episode 8 and 10 in season 1, and not so many scenes either. And it felt better than the Corin Halfhand storyline, that felled strangely paced.

Sometimes less is more storywise. Better have a character in 2 episodes where he or she will be remembered, than stretched over multiple episodes and that we don’t remember that character. I still remember the wildling woman from hardhome and she was in for only a half an episode.

And don’t forget season 8 will have longer episodes.

Cnn is reporting that Joe Jonas is engaged to Sophie Turner!!!

We know, but we don’t report on the cast’s personal life here.

I don’t remember this site being TMZ,like Sue said if it’s not relevant to the production of the show or the books it shouldn’t be important .

Uhm,no,they are not going to cast a character like that for the final season especially when his whole plot has been either cut or given to someone else(Jorah) . I assume they just given him the name so it could be something from the books but most likely this character doesn’t even resemble the one in the books,this was most likely a Cogman decision as he is known to be the most book nerd out of the writers .

How the hell are they going to get the elephants across the narrow sea?

In Euron’s ships. Elephants can be transported in ships, if they’re big enough.

Two episodes for a season of only six means much more than before . Besides we don’t know his exact screentime, but seriously did you honestly expect such a peripheral character like this to appear in all the episodes including the series finale,come on now !

Raenarys: The name Harry Strickland doesn’t sound like it belongs in GoT

Yay! The Golden Company! “Homeless” Harry Strickland! Will we see elephants?

That promo pic of Marc Rissmann in this article doesn’t match my mental image of Harry Strickland from the books, he looks too young, handsome and heroic (HS isn’t any of those things, he’s a cautious, mercenary older man). But the link to his some previous work shows he can look old and haggard enough. Also, being an exile of several generations, he’d speak the Common Tongue (English) with an accent.

OK, now I’m picturing a fake German accent a la ‘Allo ‘Allo: “Ve haf ze elefantz und ve vill deztroi yoo, yoo Vezterozi schkum, yoo bazturtz!”

It won’t be like that. I think the Golden Company will be Cersei’s last line of defence, but they might turn… Their role will be totally different from their book role up to now and likely role in the next books, if they ever get published.

Book purists will howl at the Golden Company being used differently in the show, but I think it’s a nice nod to the books to include them. Especially if we get the elephants!

Your policy deserves respect, but IMO you could make an exception for weddings. After all it’s a public event (sort of) and the fandom would be earger to send their best wishes to the people who brought us so much joy with their performance.

I see the reason for not dealing with any cast personal news (and, honestly, who cares), but why be rude to Old Nan?

I have seen Marc Rissman in The Last Kingdom, and he is a scary guy. I would more easily picture him as Tormund’s younger brother, but I have faith in the casting directors. Harry Strickland is an awful name though. Somehow reminds me of a Woody Allen film.

If you read some of the subs on Reddit people are ruthless when it comes to the actors personal lives. I wanted to cry for rose Leslie, how belittling they were to her when she and kit announced the engagement. It’s sad how judgemental we can be of people we really don’t know. I think it’s smart to avoid that kind of drama exploding in the comments.

The name Harry Strickland doesn’t sound like it belongs in GoT… I hate it

The name is directly from GRRM’s book. Maybe you feel GRRM faltered and gave a “not belonging” name to one of his characters?

I have a feeling that the company that has never broken a contract, will break a contract mid way through, and turn on Cersei.

We know, but we don’t report on the cast’s personal life here.

Quite right. The actors delight us with their work but their private lives are nothing to do with the show. Or us.

Kit and Rose, and now Sophie and her boyfriend have chosen to make their engagements public. We should congratulate them and wish them well, but WotW isn’t a celebrity gossip site. They play our much beloved characters but they’re not Jon or Sansa or Ygritte, they’re real people who deserve privacy and their own lives.

“Harry Strickland is an awful name though. Somehow reminds me of a Woody Allen film.”

Nah. That would be Harold Shapiro of The Golden Co., Inc., Mercenaries and Catering.

I don’t think most of us would be surprised if they combined some aspects of Jon Connington into Harry’s character in the show.

talvikorppi: The name is directly from GRRM’s book. Maybe you feel GRRM faltered and gave a “not belonging” name to one of his characters?

Well, possibly! GRRM has included anachronistic references / names of contemporary people in some other cases. Maybe he knows someone IRL named Harry Strickland? Or it’s a football coach he likes or something?

True, some people are really nasty (that’s why I never read anything about the private life of the celebrities. But in this particular case is a rare exception (at least for me personally) and the WotW community has always been more or less civilized, so IDN… It’s up to Sue to decide, but IMO it would be really great if the fandom could somehow send its regards (not the Lannister regards) to the people who gave us so much pleasure and simply tell that we are really happy for them and wish the very best. Sorry for the off-topic.

I think your right. Curious what the context of it all will be when it goes down.

Would be rather ironic to have the golden company turning on the golden lion after the lannisters literally paid their debts.

I’m holding out for Howland Reed…and a cameo by Sean Bean 🙂

The show hasn’t particularly been super successful lately w/ new additions.Not enough time to build them up.

Hope they don’t try to overcompensate like they did with Euron.Its ok if the character is not super interesting or a super standout, just hope he fills his role nicely the way they did with Randyll Tarly,

Generally, I’d agree. But last season both Jim Broadbent as Maester Ebrose and Tom Hopper as Dickon Tarly were very effective in a few brief appearances. In S6 Ian McShane blew us away as Brother Ray. And the clueless guards at Winterfell and Kings Landing were okay. This guy sounds more in Dickon mode.

How would the Lannisters figuratively pay their debts to the Iron Bank? Did you mean to imply something like blowing up the Iron Bank HQ in Braavos as “payback” for supporting the One True King?

2 episodes ? thats nothing. He will appear in episode and in another just to die, like small Jon umber, só much potential for nothing.

The books always be better for things like that

Yes. Harry Strickland. Such a deep character butchered in the adaptation.

You do realise you are basically a talking parody with this comment right ? This is the type of stuff that people joke about book purists but in a over the top joke way not in a omg someone actually made a real comment like this way !

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