Kristian Nairn (The Ripper), known around the world as Hodor in Game of Thrones, has come aboard the HBO Max comedy series Our Flag Means Death. In addition to Nairn, the series has also cast Nathan Foad (Listen to Bapou), Samson Kayo (Truth Seekers), Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful), Con O’Neill (Chernobyl) and Vico Ortiz (American Horror Story: 1984), via The Hollywood Reporter.  

Nairn will be playing the pirate Wee John Feeney. This marks Nairn’s return to HBO, as his last major role was in their epic fantasy series Game of Thrones. He portrayed the loyal Hodor, and had a recurring role throughout the first six seasons. Regarding his fellow cast-mates, Foad will be featured as Lucius, Kayo as Oluwande, O’Neil as Izzy, Ortiz as Bonifacia, and Kinnear will be playing both Captain Nigel Badminton and Chauncey Badminton.

Our Flag Means Death tells the stories of criminals and thieves sailing the high seas, inspired in part by the true life adventures of the famed pirate Stede Bonnet. Bonnet was an aristocrat living a life of ease in the eighteenth century when he decided to ditch dry land and ride the ocean waves instead, searching for danger and excitement. Rhys Darby (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) will be portraying Bonnet in the series. 

Bonnet is not the only well known pirate Our Flag Means Death will feature. Blackbeard, one of the most notorious pirates of all time, will serve as the series villain, and he will be played by none other than Oscar winner Taika Waititi (Jo Jo Rabbit). In addition to starring, Waititi will also be directing the pilot and executive producing the series. David Jenkins (People of Earth) serves as creator and showrunner of the series. He will also co-executive produce alongside Waititi, Garrett Basch (What We Do in the Shadows), and Dan Halstead (Garden State).

Nairn took to Twitter on Monday to confirm his role in the upcoming comedy series. He wrote: “The news is out! It’s such an honour to finally be able to tell you that I’ll be in the brand new @hbomax series ‘Our Flag Means Death’ It’s been an amazing experience to work with @TaikaWaititi on this, and a pleasure to be working with HBO again! More news/details soon….” 

See Nairn’s full tweet below:

The news is out! It’s such an honour to finally be able to tell you that I’ll be in the brand new @hbomax series ‘Our Flag Means Death’ 🏴‍☠️ It’s been an amazing experience to work with @TaikaWaititi on this, and a pleasure to be working with HBO again! More news/details soon… pic.twitter.com/sF5JLItdBC

— Kristian Nairn (@KristianNairn) June 21, 2021