Michael McElhatton has joined the cast of Game of Thrones.
The Irish actor, who shot to fame as Rats in the satirical TV drama Paths to Freedom, will play Roose Bolton in the second series of the epic HBO fantasy drama which is being shot on location in Belfast and Malta.
McElhatton’s character sounds like quite a nasty piece of work – not unusual in a show stuffed with sinister backstabbers. Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort, is a hard nut whose allegiance is to Winterfell even though his family was once sworn enemies of the Starks.
Dubliner McElhatton is more usually best known for his comic work with the iconic working-class layabout of Rats (which he reprised in the film, Spin the Bottle) one of the most recognisable faces on Irish TV in recent times.
