6'3" actress Gwendoline Christie is joining the cast of Game of Thrones for the second series as Brienne, the Blue Knight of Tarth.
HBO says of the character: "Brienne Tarth is the only daughter and heiress of Lord Selwyn Tarth of Evenfall Hall; she had three siblings, none of which survived childhood.
"Larger and stronger than most men, Brienne is a skilled warrior and longs to be a knight. She has an awkward personality, but is also honest and stubborn. She holds a naïvely idealized notion of knighthood despite the insults she receives from many knights, who call her 'Brienne the Beauty' to mock her ugliness.
"She is also known as 'Brienne, the Maid of Tarth', but her most common and neutral nickname is 'Brienne of Tarth', as she is both from the House and island of Tarth."
Writing on his blog about Christie's casting, Game of Thrones writer and co-executive producer George RR Martin said: "This was another one of those cases where there was hardly any debate. The day the first batch of auditions went up for the role, we looked at a dozen actresses who were reading for Brienne and one actress who WAS Brienne. Gwendoline gave a great reading, and her look was just perfect."
The second series of Game of Thrones begins filming in Belfast this month and will premiere in Spring 2012.
