And the rest: Game of Thrones, #Wookieeleaks, Legend of Korra and more…

A familiar face joins HBO’s Game of Thrones. Julian Glover, who you’ll remember as General Veers from Empire Strikes Back and Walter Donovan from his face-melting turn in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, has joined the cast of HBO’s adaption as Grand Maester Pycelle. He replaces Roy Dotrice, who had to step out for health reasons.

Torn from the headlines. NPR gives some love to #Wookieeleaks, the hashtag that took Twitter by storm last week.

Airbender successor series won’t be ongoing. UGO snatched some time with co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at SDCC to bend a few new details on the upcoming Legend of Korra. Chief among them: It’s mini-series. But that does mean that DiMartino and Konietzko are writing each episode. This has done very little to temper my excitement. Maybe because I keep running into stuff like this.

Your moment of zen. Kate Beaton has produced the best Wolverine comic ever.

And the rest: Game of Thrones, Razzies, poor King Arthur and Futurama

Winter is actually coming. HBO must have liked the pilot for A Game of Thrones, because they ordered nine more episodes: By cable standards, that’s pretty much an entire season. Filming starts in June, and we can expect the series to debut next spring.

Shocker! Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took the Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. As for actual entertainment value, Sandra Bullock showed up in person to accept Worst Actress for All About Steve: If she gets an Academy Award tonight (for The Blind Side) she’ll become the first actress to win both a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year.

Nothing new under the sun. Guy Ritchie wants to remake Excalibur “in the tone of Star Wars.” There’s also something going down with Warren Ellis, and didn’t Showtime have The Tudors team signed to do a Camelot series? To all this I say: Haven’t the Arthurian legends suffered enough?

Good news, everyone! Futurama returns to its rightly place as a half-hour show in June.

TV news: Doctor Who gets a logo makeover and Dollhouse is in trouble. Again.

Tardis, or birthday candle? YOU DECIDE.The Doctor gets spiffed up for new season. As if Flopsy McEmohair wasn’t enough of a change, the BBC has unveiled a new logo/branding for Doctor Who. It’s a tad sophomore-year design project, but I kinda dig it.

Second verse, same as the first. Dollhouse is in trouble! How novel! The campaign is thataway.

Ride into Westeros. Horse-riding extras are needed in Northern Ireland for HBO’s A Game of Thrones later this month.

TV news: HBO’s A Game of Thrones gets their queen(s)

Lena Headey in 'The Brothers Grim'HBO’s A Game of Thrones adaption has announced casting for many of the major roles since we last checked in. But the one making the most waves online since Sean Bean is the news that Lena Headey will play Cersai Lannister, the ambitious wife of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) and a main foil of the series. Headey is plenty familiar to genre fans from her turn as the title character in The Sarah Conner Chronicles and as Queen Gorgo in 300. (Or maybe even 2005’s The Brothers Grimm, as seen at right.) Here’s hoping she can pull it off.

Other familiar faces include Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice ’95) as Catelyn Stark, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (New Amsterdam, Virtuality) as Cersei’s brother Jaime Lannister, Iain Glen (Kingdom of Heaven) as Ser Jorah Mormont, and Tamzin Merchant (The Tudors) as Daenerys Targaryen. Check out George R. R. Martin’s blog for more on the younger actors.

  • SyFy. Warehouse 13 is setting records for the recently remonikered network; the show’s sixth episode was the most-watched series telecast in the channel’s history. It beat out… Episode five of the same series! Huh. In less hopeful rumors, they’re reportedly considering a cooking show. ‘Imagine greater’ indeed.
  • MTV. Their Rocky Horror remake is “on hold,” (phew) but they are looking to reinvent Teen Wolf. Okay…
  • Disney/Marvel. Has the New Mouse Order claimed its first victim?
  • Supernatural. Creator Eric Kripke hedges around ending the series. Err, story. Err… Buffy lives?
  • The Vampire Diaries. The CW is promoting their upcoming vampire drama with blood drives around the country.
  • Just for fun. io9 has captured many of 30 Rock’s salutes to the genre.

Sean Bean is Ned and more Games of Thrones casting

The one pic on the internet where Sean Bean Boromir doesn't look like a psychopath!George R.R. Martin himself has good news from the first round of casting for HBO’s Game of Thrones adaption: Getting-killed-in-fantasy movies vet Sean Bean has, as rumored, signed on to play the role of Lord Eddard Stark. Martin says:

For the movie fans out there, Sean Bean needs no introduction. I mean, what the hell, he was Boromir and he was Sharpe, he was terrific in both roles, and in a hundred other parts besides. I can’t imagine a better Ned. The deal took some doing, so my fingers have been crossed for a month now (and boy, that made it hard to type), but now it’s done, and I’m thrilled.

And for the role of Robert Baratheon, Mark Addy, who you may recognize from A Knight’s Tale. There’s also news on some of the younger roles – including Jon Snow. Head on over to his Livejournal for the details!