Taika Waititi is well known for casting the best in his often eccentric but always hilarious productions, even if the best is occasionally himself. So for his new HBO Max project, it might be a bit weird to see a Game of Thrones alum joining the party, but still somehow not unexpected. Looks like there will be a bit of door holding in Waititi's upcoming pirate-themed comedy series. What, too soon?
Kristian Nairn, known for playing beloved character with a simple vocabulary Hodor in HBO's Game of Thrones, has joined the series titled Our Flag Means Death and will play a character known as "Wee John Feeney." He'll be joined by fellow talent such as Penny Dreadful's Rory Kinnear, Chernobyl's Con O'Neill, and actor/writer Nathan Foad in the HBO Max limited series, making it rather appropriate that his next big role stays in the same general company.
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Our Flag Means Death will loosely follow the life of Stede Bonnet, a wealthy aristocrat who grew tired of his comfortably numb life and decided to become a privateer. Bonnet will be played by New Zealand actor and longtime Waititi collaborator Rhys Darby, while Waititi will take on the role of Blackbeard, one of the most famous and feared pirates of all time. Given how he played the character of Hitler in Jojo Rabbit, it seems fairly likely that Blackbeard will sport a good bit of wackiness in this particular portrayal.
Nairn's John Feeney may well be a completely original character, given the series' rather fast and loose take on historical events. In fact, odds are the whole series will simply use the basic story to go wildly off the rails in its own comedic directions. As a side note, however, sharp-eared gamers out there might recognize the name Stede Bonnet from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, seen as one of the best pirate games of all time by many. So this may be one of the first times where a video game version of a historical figure ends up being the most true to life take on the individual's tale.
While Nairn has mostly kept a relatively lower profile since the finale of Game of Thrones, he hasn't slowed down completely. Aside from appearing in projects like Nathan Fillion series The Rookie, he also regularly performs as a DJ. So maybe rather than pulling in some subtle Hodor jokes, Our Flag Means Death can bring on some anachronistic trance music for Wee John Feeney to jam out to. Hey, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing a pirate story has done, just ask Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life.
Our Flag Means Death is, of course, still in production, and has no release date to speak of. But hopefully this casting news gives intrigued potential viewers plenty of reasons to keep an eye on it in the meantime.
Our Flag Means Death is set to air on HBO Max.
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Source: WarnerMedia