Angela Lansbury, of Murder, She Wrote fame, is rumored to have a role in Game of Thrones Season 7. Though HBO has yet to officially confirm it, outlets like The Independent and Screenrant are reporting that Lansbury will spend four days on set and appear in two episodes. Although the plot is dark and full of terrors, as the seven-episode Season 7 will stride beyond book territory, we can still step into our Maester shoes and parse out the three most likely possibilities for roles Lansbury might play.
1. Maggy the Frog
Season 5 began with a rare flashback, as we watched the teenage Cersei visit a creepy, witchy woman who foretold the deaths of her children. “Gold will be their crowns and gold their shrouds,” she sneered. It took nearly two seasons, but those words had a payoff: Sure enough, when Tommen jumped out a window at the end of Season 6, he was the last Lannister child to predecease his mother and earn himself a gold shroud.
In the book, that prophecy has a second part that predicts Cersei’s death at the hands of her “little brother.” Man fans believe this will be Jaime, since Tyrion might be too obvious a choice and Jaime is technically the younger twin. It seems odd the show skipped that part, unless the writers thought that was too much of an information-dump and decided to save it for a later season. If Cersei makes a repeat visit to Maggy in Season 7, it stands to reason that Lansbury might portray an older version of the character. After all, we don’t see her wearing a Melisandre-style necklace, so she should look older if we meet her again.
2. The Greyjoy Matriarch
Remember Theon and Yara’s uncle who arrived in Season 6 to kill their father and talk about his dick? The Greyjoys are just a blast.
Season 6 might have botched the expansion of the Greyjoy clan, but unlike Dorne, the show isn’t likely to shove that plot line under the rug after writers took the time to linger on it. Though Theon and Yara are allied with Daenerys, their uncle Euron is still out there and so is their half-mad mother. Presumably Euron will continue making trouble in Season 7 — and if he’s looking for allies, he could pay his sister-in-law a visit. After all, going off the Tarly family dinner scene in “Blood of My Blood” Game of Thrones does love its awkward family reunions.
3. An Ian McShane-esque role
Perhaps the most likely possibility for Lansbury is to play a role akin to Ian McShane’s in Season 6. Ray the reformed-warrior-turned-hippie was not in the books, but he commanded the few scenes he was in and paved the way for the Hound’s return.
Re-introducing Sandor Clegane could have been clunky, but because McShane is such a magnetic actor, it worked like a charm. As a similarly commanding actress, Lansbury could pave the way for all manner of plot developments. She could help Bran and Meera out, since the undead-Benjen Stark unceremoniously ditched them without a mode of transportation (not cool, Benjen!). She could play an innkeeper Arya encounters on her travels. She could play someone Sam and Gilly encounter in Oldtown. Hell, she could even be a Faceless Man. Perhaps Tom Wlaschiha couldn’t make it back for Season 7 and Jaqen H’ghar has one more cryptic message to impart.
Game of Thrones Season 7 will consist of seven episodes and air in summer 2017.
