Normally, the season premiere for Game of Thrones would be a matter of days from now. The world is ready for dragons, bloodshed, shagging, really pleasant scenic shots of Croatia and dragons. WE ARE READY.
...But as you’re no doubt aware, Season 7 is still months away, so rather than awaiting the imminent first episode, we’re getting unnecessarily excited about every new slither of information that emerges.
Like this: Mark Gatiss is coming back. Yeah? YEAH.
The Sherlock actor has appeared sporadically in the show so far – just twice, to be precise – and will reprise his role as Tycho Nestoris the Iron Banker for two more episodes in Season 7, bringing his total to four.
Speaking to The Express at London’s BFI & Radio Times Festival, the 50-year-old actor said of his contribution: “Yes, I did it in Belfast last year. I can’t tell you anything more obviously, mostly because I don’t know anything.
“It was lovely. What I love about it is that I don’t have any stake in it.”
Keeping very quiet about plot specifics, Gatiss added that he thinks he will film an additional two episodes, presumably in the eighth, and final (wipes solitary tear), series.
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Tycho Nestoris made his GoT debut way back in Season 4, helping Stannis Baratheon (RIP) with a loan. His role in the upcoming run of episodes could be significant, with a lot of the names involved in that royal rumble for The Iron Throne owing large sums of money to Braavos. After all, someone needs to make sure the Lannisters live up to that family motto of theirs.
Matt Tate is a freelance journalist and contributor at for Shortlist. Formerly Stuff Magazine’s news editor and based in the UK, he’s been writing about consumer tech for around eight years, with a particular focus on gaming.
For his sins, Matt is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan and unfortunately spends a lot of his time scanning his published work for Spurs-related digs that may have been slyly inserted by editors. Otherwise, he’s often buying Lego sets he can no longer accommodate and trying to perfect his carbonara recipe. He can be found tweeting (mostly about football and video games) at @MattWTate.