Many may recognize her as the ass kicking Brienne of Tarth on HBO’s Game of Thrones, but now Gwendoline Christie has been cast as Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. Christie has been signed on to replace Lily Rabe, and you can learn more about the decision after the break. 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 has already been in production for some time. Part 1 and Part 2 have been filming back-to-back and it is a bit last minute for Christie to get the casting notice. As it turns out, Variety is reporting that Rabe has dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict. She is set to perform in Much Ado About Nothing in Shakespeare in the Park this summer and would not be able to fit Mockingjay Part 2 as a part of her time. She may be returning to American Horror Story as well.

I have only just started Game of Thrones Season 2 and was just introduced to Gwendoline’s Brienne of Tarth, and I’ve got to say she will make a more convincing Commander than Lily Rabe would. I read Mockingjay last summer, but I can’t recall the character standing out too much because the book is such a slog to endure. I must have wanted to strip it from my memory.

According to The Hunger Games Wikia: Lyme was a past victor of an unknown Hunger Games, a Commander of the rebellion in District 2, and a strong independent woman. She was willing to do anything for District 2 to become aligned with the other districts against the Capitol.

Here’s a brief plot synopsis of Mockingjay for those uninitiated with the series:

Katniss Everdeen reluctantly leads the districts of Panem in a rebellion against the tyrannical and corrupt Capitol. As the war that will determine the fate of Panem escalates to the point of destruction of the other districts by the Capitol, Katniss must decide for herself who she can trust and what needs to be done, while all she holds dear hangs in the balance.

Director of Catching Fire, Francis Lawrence, returns to for Mockingjay Part 1 and 2, which began shooting in Atlanta last fall and is scheduled to shoot in Paris and Berlin soon. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 will star Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, and many more.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 opens November 21, 2014; Part 2 premieres on November 20, 2015.

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