Who will Jim Broadbent play on Game of Thrones Season 7?

Game of Thrones fans received an unexpected surprise when Entertainment Weekly announced that Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent will appear in Season 7. At this time, the only thing we know for sure is that Broadbent’s role will be “significant.” That doesn’t give us much to work with, but let’s see if we can’t guess at what character he might play.

Lord Leyton Hightower 

The Hightower in Oldtown, as seen by Sam and Gilly in “The Winds of Winter.”

Lord Leyton Hightower is the head of House Hightower, from the Reach. He is often called the Old Man of Oldtown by its citizens. He’s been married four times, and his current wife is a Florent. His daughter, Alerie, is married to Mace Tyrell, and is the mother of Loras and Margaery. (Rest in peace.)

Lord Leyton has not come down from the Hightower, which is exactly exactly what it sounds like, in Oldtown in more than 10 years. He is joined in his seclusion by his daughter Malora, called the Mad Maid. She’s known to be interested spells, so they probably get up to some strange stuff in that tower. When the Ironborn attack the Reach in the books, Lord Leyton prefers to stay safely ensconced in the Hightower, and leaves the duties of his House to his sons.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Jim Broadbent played Horace Slughorn, a cowardly old man who hides from combatants on both sides of the wizard’s war. Sound familiar? With Sam in Oldtown and Euron possibly on the way, it could be time to meet more of the city’s citizens. If we’re meeting Leyton Hightower, Broadbent would be perfect.

Archmaester Marwyn

Image Credit: Fantasy Flight Games

Here’s another guy from Oldtown. Marwyn is an Archmaester of the Citadel, which trains maesters. He is a short man with large hands, a strong jaw, a thick neck, and an “ale-belly.” Also he has white hair sprouting out of his nose and ears. Arachmaesters are scholars, but Marwyn is gruffer than most.

Around the Citadel, Marwyn is known as the Mage because of his travels in the east, where he spent time with the warlocks and shadowbinders of Asshai. He wears a Valyrian ring and carries a Valyrian rod and mask—the art of Valyrian steel is his specialty. Marwyn also shares a connection with Mirri Maz Duur, the witch woman who poisoned Khal Drogo and cursed Daenerys’ womb back in Season 1. She met Marwyn during his travels and he taught her about human anatomy.

This is another great role for Broadbent, at least in the looks department—as Professor Digory Kirke in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he had white hair sprouting from all over his face. However, Broadbent tends to play characters of a mild temperament, so he might not be a good fit for the fiery Marwyn. I also don’t know if Jim Broadbent is large or robust enough to play the role.

Staying at the Citadel, Broadbent may be a better fit for Archmaester Walgrave, a senile maester who specializes in ravencraft. But is that role “significant” enough? Alternatively, he may just play a generalized archmaester who interacts with Sam. Broadbent does have a scholarly look about him.

Priest

Jim Broadbent in War and Peace Image Credit: BBC

A couple of weeks ago, casting calls for new roles turned up on fansite Watchers on the Wall. One of them sounds like a good fit for Broadbent:

Priest, in his 60s. “He’s a venerable priest with moral authority and gravitas. The show is seeking a white actor, using an RP accent, with characterful face for this part. He’s scheduled to shoot one week, from September 22nd.”

This has Jim Broadbent written all over it. Look at the photo above, of Broadbent from BBC’s production War and Peace, and tell me that face isn’t characterful.

I studied the comments section of our post on this topic yesterday to see what you had to say, and if we had the same ideas. My thoughts on some of the suggestions not covered above:

• Howland Reed: If Howland Reed and Ned Stark are approximately the same age, it seems to me that Broadbent, at 67, is too old.
• Jon Arryn or Hoster Tully in a flashback/Bran vision: Intriguing. Jon Arryn was approximately 80 years old when he died. Hoster Tully was around 60. Broadbent could probably pull off either of them, assuming we check in on them later in life.
• Wyman Manderly recast: Too thin. Also, why? They have a guy.

There you have it: my best guesses as to who Jim Broadbent will portray in Game of Thrones Season 7. Of course, there’s always the possibility that he could be playing someone else entirely. Or he could make like Ian McShane in Season 6 and play an amalgam of several characters from the books. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

• Published on 09/01/2016 at 3:13 PM CDT
• Last updated on 09/01/2016 at 3:17 PM CDT