If you thought you felt a slight shift in the Earth’s axis last night, it wasn’t just the wine talking. That was the planet righting itself from the inequity that had weighed it down since May when Lena Headey left our televisions screens. But now, all is right with the world because the actress has landed a starring role in the new HBO series Game of Thrones.
Lena has been cast in the pilot as Cersei Lannister in the adaptation of the first book in the fantasy series by novelist George R.R. Martin.
The acclaimed, epic A Song of Ice and Fire series is set in a magical kingdom filled with kings, queens, knights, rogues, mercenaries and more in a struggle for love, power and everything in between. Martin has been called “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine.
Lena’s character Cersei is described as “a woman of royal blood who is every bit as smart, cunning and devious as the powerful men around her.”
Fans know that Lena can play royalty (300), stoic (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and floral (Imagine Me & You). So this sounds like the kind of role that will really let her shine.
Joining her in the cast are Peter Dinklage as Cersei’s brother Tyrion, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Cersei’s twin, Jaime, Sean Bean as aristocrat Ned Stark, Jennifer Ehle as his wife Catelyn Stark and Mark Addy as King Robert. Lena and Jennifer have co-starred together before, as the doomed lovers in the 2002 film Possession.
The pilot begins shooting in October, but HBO has yet to pick up the series. If it does, it will mean both Lena and her T:SCC co-star Summer Glau will be back on our television where they belong and the world can keep spinning happily about its axis.
