Despite my dearest wish that Mads Mikkelsen (now freed up from Hannibal … all the tears …) would be cast as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, he’s been a little busy with Star Wars and Doctor Strange. Fine. So instead, the production has brought aboard another Dane, Pilou Asbæk (Lucy) to play Theon/Reek’s (Alfie Allen) uncle.

Game of Thrones has largely skipped over the Iron Island storylines of the Greyjoys, which appear at length in the book A Feast for Crows. There, readers were introduced to Balon’s brothers (Balon is Theon’s father), Victarion and Euron. While Victarion is known as being very religious (and fairly boring), Euron, a.k.a. the Crow’s Eye, is a handsome and fearsome warrior (with an eyepatch!) Cunning and hateful towards his brothers, Euron is vicious wild card among the already largely unstable Greyjoys, and should be an intriguing addition to the cast. (Though I wasn’t a huge fan of the Greyjoy chapters in the book series, I think this is one area where the show could make them a lot more interesting).

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Variety has indeed confirmed Asbæk’s casting in the role, and it’s worth noting that he looks a lot like Alfie Allen (especially in the photo Variety uses), although he also is basically the same age as Allen, which I’m not sure makes much sense. Though Season 6 has been set as the point where the books and the show will completely diverge (since George R. R. Martin’s book series does not extend past that point … yet …), returning to the skipped Greyjoy storyline suggests that not everything in Season 6 will be completely new (or from the minds of showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff). And it begs the question of what other book plots the show might return to more in depth in the coming season.

Speaking of an in-depth look at the Greyjoy plot, you can hop over to Winter Is Coming for their detailed breakdown of the filming location, and everything that has been spotted there. But for now, book readers, how do you feel about the casting of Euron? I respect the fact that Asbæk looks so much like Allen (lending some credence to the family ties), but my head-canon Euron was definitely more akin to Mads (and older, since he’s close in age to Balon). What say you, followers of the Drowned God?

Game of Thrones will return to HBO in 2016.

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Image via HBO