The sixth season of Game of Thrones is growing more robust by the week, which is good since the series has been known to, um, drop characters rather suddenly. But today, Variety reports that Australian actress Essie Davis, who gave a fantastic performance in the horror hit The Babadook, has signed on for a role in the upcoming season. Davis will be playing an actress who stars in a play called The Bloody Hand, which is meant to reflect the world of Westeros. And this being a fact-based play and all, Davis gets the juicy role of playing a version of Cersei Lannister—though one imagines the real Cersei won’t be too happy about that.

It’s unclear if Davis’ role is simply a guest spot or more of a recurring thing, but Vanity Fair adds that recently cast Richard E. Grant will be playing the leader of the theater troupe that is staging The Bloody Hand. While Game of Thrones’ sixth season will be delving into uncharted territory since there are no more published books, this subplot actually comes from author George R.R. Martin himself as it was alluded to in a previously released chapter from the forthcoming (we think) book The Winds of Winter.


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Image via IFC Films

I’m not sure how I feel about Game of Thrones going meta, but with Grant and Davis onboard to play the actors, my interest is sufficiently piqued. If that wasn’t enough, Max von Sydow is also onboard as the Three-Eyed-Raven who trains Bran, while Deadwood actor Ian MacShane is making his HBO debut in an unspecified role.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are currently planning to wind Game of Thrones down towards its conclusion, with HBO president Michael Lombardo recently (and reluctantly) confirming that right now Benioff and Weiss are planning for the show to conclude with its eighth season. But that means there's still three more seasons worth of story to tell—and three more seasons worth of time for Jon Snow to return.

Production is currently underway on Game of Thrones’ sixth season, which will begin airing on HBO in April.

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Image via HBO