We’ve previously reported that Sons Of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter had cast Katey Sagal—who also happens to be his wife—in his upcoming FX project The Bastard Executioner, and now (via Variety) he has hired someone he knows even better than her: himself. The series will be about a retired knight who gets back into the knight game “when violence finds him again,” and Sutter will be playing someone called The Dark Mute Mate, the “guardian” of Sagal’s character—the “prescient, mystical, and beautiful” Annora. Variety says The Dark Mute Mate “speaks rarely and no one’s ever seen his face.” So, basically, Sutter is probably giving himself the easiest part in the whole show.
Also joining Bastard Executioner is True Blood’s Stephen Moyer. He’ll be playing Milus Corbett, a “street-smart and noble savvy” former soldier guy who now works as a “chamberlain, chancellor, and justiciar” for someone named Ventris. But who is Ventris? We have no idea, because Variety doesn’t say. Apparently we’re supposed to be deeply familiar with the lore of this made-up universe already, even though it hasn’t even started filming yet.
The series will star Australian actor Lee Jones as Wilkin Brattle, which confirms that every character on this show will have a weird name like that. Case in point: Flora Spencer-Longhurst will play Baroness Lowry “Love” Aberffray Ventris, the wife of whoever the fuck Ventris is. Other character names on Bastard Executioner include Toran Prichard (a “fierce and tenacious archer”), Ash y Goedwig (“an orphan of the woods”), Isiabel Kiffin (a “tall, awkward, and innocent” handmaiden), Berber the Moor (“a large and educated man”), Jessamy Maddox (“the executioner’s wife”) and Father Ruskin (his first name is probably Brengdorff or something). The Americans’ Matthew Rhys will also guest star on the show, and if you guessed that his character will be named Gruffudd y Blaidd, then you nailed it. Fun fact: If The A.V. Club were a character on Bastard Executioner, its name would be Avvar Clubulonn.