Game of Thrones teaser tells of war

HBO has posted a quick release date teaser for the third season of Game of Thrones.

Clearly, Game of Thrones is one of the best shows on television these days – fantasy or otherwise. The only drawback? There are currently only 10 episodes per year. Nevertheless, HBO has poured a lot of resources into the show, and with great performances, a huge production budget, and skilled directing, not to mention the fantastic world-building in the source material, it quickly became, and has remained, a favorite of fantasy fans.

The third season is coming up this spring. I don’t want to discuss what stories from the books will be present in this season due to concern over spoilers, but we do have the teaser below which etches in stone the season premiere date that was announced a couple months ago.

Similar to the teaser released last year about this time, the video consists mostly of an announcement of the premiere date with an in-character voice over from the upcoming new episode.

What is safe to tell you about the upcoming season is who will be in it. As you probably may have already realized, the season will require numerous new actors to cover the fresh characters, including:

* Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed

* Mackenzie Crook as Orell the Warg

* Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion

* Nathalie Emannuel as Missandei

* Tara Fitzgerald as Selyse Baratheon

* Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane

* Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon

* Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr

* Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed

* Anton Lesser will play Qyburn 

* Philip McGinley as Anguy

*Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully

* Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna “The Queen of Thorns” Tyrell

* Clive Russell as Bryndon “The Blackfish” Tully

Of particular note in this list are Rigg, who played Emma Peel in the 1960’s spy serial The Avengers; Cook who plays, Ragetti, the pirate with the frequently escaping glass eye in the Disney Pirates films; and Russell who has played roles all over genre film and television on both sides of the pond for decades. Usually he’s one of the tough henchmen in the background that you know you’ve seen in a dozen other films, but who rarely stars in anything.

You can check out quick introductions to the new actors in this video released after this year’s Comic-Con.

The third season of Game of Thrones, which covers the events of the first half of book three of George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy novel series, Song of Ice and Fire, kicks off March 31, 2013 on HBO.