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Welsh-born thespian Ciaran Hinds has been cast as the King-Beyond-the-Wall, aka Mance Rayder, in Game of Thrones' third season.

The 57-year-old Hinds has appeared on HBO before playing Julius Caesar in Rome, the big-budgeted historial drama. He's also appeared in There Will Be Blood, the recent Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, John Carter and Steven Spielberg's Munich.

The character of Mance Rayder is an importance one in George R.R. Martin's intricate fantasy epic. Rayder was a former Night's Watchman, one of the guards assigned to hold vigil at The Wall, the ice barrier that keeps the Wildlings and Wights out of the lands of Westeros. Jon Snow (played by Kit Harrington in the HBO series) has been sent undercover by the Watch to infiltrate the Wildlings. At the conclusion of the second season Snow was being taken to meet Rayder.

Filming on Game of Thrones third season is underway in Ireland, Iceland, Morocco and Croatia. While HBO hasn't announced a broadcast date for the new series, if it follows the past two seasons you should expect the first new episode to air sometime in the early spring of 2013.