Published Friday, 17 August 2012
Ciarán Hinds will appear in season three of Game of Thrones (© Getty)
Hinds will appear in the third season of Game of Thrones as wilding leader and 'King beyond the Wall' Mance Rayder, Entertainment Weekly reports.
Plenty of other local connections can be found in the HBO show, which is based on an as yet uncompleted series of novels by George RR Martin.
Coleraine actress Michelle Fairley stars as Catelyn Stark, widow of Lord of Winterfell Ned Stark (formerly played by Sean Bean) and mother of the King in the North Rob Stark (Richard Madden).
A host of home-grown extras have also made their way onto screens around the world, thanks to Game of Thrones.
The writers have decided to divide Book Three into two seasons.
Frank Doelger, HBO
It has been reported that Dominic West - best known for his role in The Wire - had previously turned down the role of Mance Rayder, paving the way for Hinds to be drafted in.
He'll now be joined by numerous other new faces, as more characters from the books are introduced to fans of the television adaptation.
Among them are Pirates of the Caribbean star Mackenzie Crook as the wildling Orell and Diana Rigg of Avengers fame as 'Queen of Thorns' Olenna Tyrell.
One of the executive producers of Game of Thrones, Frank Doelger, previously revealed to UTV that the show's writers have decided to divide Book Three into two seasons.
While the series of novels is unfinished, he added: "I know George (RR Martin) is a huge fan of the series and I think he has a lot more stories to be told, so I'm confident that he'll keep up."
It's understood that season three of the show will cover about the first half of Book Three: A Storm of Swords. It's due on screens in March next year.