Season 4 Cast Updates

Greetings, my fellow fanatics! I’m frantically working on finishing my Top 100 posts before the Season 4 premiere, but in the meantime I have some casting updates for us to feast upon! This paragraph was brought to you by the letter F.

Cast biographies are provided by STARZ. Warning: Season 4 spoilers ahead. Enjoy!

Updated 12/6/18:

Oliver Finnegan: Lord William

It seems they have recast an older actor to play William, Viscount Ashness, ninth Earl of Ellesmere. And what a cutie pie he is! I’m pretty sure he’s pictured here in this screengrab from the trailer:

From the press bio:

“14 year old Oliver attends the Sylvia Young Theatre School on the Andrew Lloyd Webber full scholarship. His debut in the theatre was playing Eric in Matilda the Musical – 2012-2013. He then won the role of Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane directed by Sam Mendes. He acted in Husbands and Sons at the National, and The Ferryman at the Gielgud Theatre again with Sam Mendes.”

Well done, Oliver! Welcome aboard!

Urs Rechn: Gerhard Meuller

This looks about right.

From the bio:

“German Urs Rechn is known for his roles in Son of Saul, The Kings Surrender, and Insturment of War and his first English speaking part was in Strike Back.”

Kyle Rees: John Quincy Meyers

Hello, Blue Eyes! This is a very handsome man, indeed. I’m not usually one to hem and haw over television versus book character portrayals, but I admit the John Quincy Myers of my mind looked quite a bit different. I had a sort of Abraham Lincoln-in-buckskins sort of image going on. No matter! This man seems lovely and I’m sure he’ll be great.

Interestingly, this press release gives the surname of this character as “Meyers” instead of Myers, as it is in the novel. Not sure if this is an accident, but it maybe changes the name from English to Jewish or German…which may or may not be of any importance.

Edited to add: Fellow Twitter fan @bluemoonjules informs me that Mr. Rees is using his own Welsh accent for the role, and that Meyers can also be a Welsh surname, as that spelling is also quite common in the UK. Thank you! 

The deets:

“Kyle, who is from Port Talbot, Wales – the town where both Antony Hopkins and Michael Sheen hail from, graduated The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2010. His focus has been in theatre and key roles have included The Passion directed by Michael Sheen, Land of our Fathers at the Trafalgar Studios and The Radicalization of Bradley Manning at the National Theatre Wales. Film credits include: The Gospel of Us, Pride and Romans.”

Welcome, Kyle! I eagerly await your character’s inguinal hernia adventures.

With regard to actors playing Native Americans, I’m sure most of us already knew about the exciting additions of Tantoo Cardinal and Flint Eagle. Some other new cast members include:

Trevor Carroll: Otter Tooth

This also looks about right, although it’s hard to say without black paint, silver fillings, and a forest fire.

“Trevor Carroll is an award-winning Ojibway Director, Actor and Artist from Garson, Ontario. Trevor is currently based out of Vancouver, BC and has over 20 acting credits with recurring characters on Blackstone, Stargate Universe, and Blade: the Series. His most recent credits include Amazon’s Man in the High Castle, Murdoch Mysteries, and Haters Back Off!”

Haters Back Off! is fun to say and I’m planning on using it all weekend.

Wesley French: Chief Nawohali

Gorgeous Man Alert! Move over, Ian, I’m going to adopt myself into this tribe.

“Wesley French was born on Good Friday April 13th, 1979 in London, Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Chippewas of the Thames 1st Nation reservation [sic] in Southwestern Ontario. He is an actor known for Cashing In (2009-2014), Skinwalkers (2006) and In Einem Wilden Land /Wild Land (2013). He resides in Toronto, Canada.”

Tom Jackson: Tehwahsehkwe

“Tom just completed shooting Season 3 of the highly acclaimed CTV series Cardinal, opposite Billy Campbell and Karine Vanasse. Prior to that he starred in the upcoming feature Hard Powder opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Dern, directed by award winning Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland. Other recent credits include Sidney Furie’s feature Pride of Lions, Lionsgate’s action feature Skinwalkers and John Henderson’s Mee-Shee: The Water Giant. Tom is best known to most Canadians for 6 seasons as Chief Peter Kenidi in CBC’s inspired view into the lives of a First Nation community North of 60. He has a small role in Star Trek The Next Generation and played Billy Twofeathers in PBS series Shining Time Station.”

LATE BREAKING NEWS!

If you’ve been wondering who this actor is (as I very much have been since the trailer dropped), Twitter fan @KarenGovan informs me it is Will Strongheart:

Here is the link to his IMDb. I’ve been reassured that he did not shave all his gorgeous hair for this role.

Also, if you’re wondering why the names of these Native American characters seem unfamiliar, it is my understanding that the writers made these characters Cherokee instead of Tuscarora; per various sources, it was incredibly hard to find enough visual references about the Tuscarora tribes of eighteenth century North Carolina in order to portray them accurately. To which I say: Bravo…better to get it right rather than guess.

That’s it for now! Happy Weekend, more to come later.

One more photo of Wesley French. You’re welcome.

Slàinte

Photos: IMDb