Not-so-wee Hodor actor Kristian Nairn playing Wee John in Taika Waititi pirate comedy, Our Flag Means Death

Kristian Nairn is best known for playing Hodor, Brandon Stark's gigantic means of transport on HBO’s Game of Thrones. One cannot Hodor forever, sadly (we all saw that heartbreaking GoT episode). The good news for Nairn, however, is that he’s been cast in the upcoming HBO Max pirate comedy, Our Flag Means Death. 

Our Flag Means Death is roughly based on the life and adventures of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a well-to-do aristocrat who left his fancy pants life to become a pirate. The show is executive produced by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do In The Shadows) who will also play the infamous pirate Blackbeard and direct the first episode. David Jenkins (People of Earth) is the series' creator and showrunner, and is also executive producing.

Nairn, who is also a world-renowned DJ, will be joining the cast as Wee John Feeney. We don’t know much more than that about his role, but given this is a show about pirates and “Wee John” has a pirate ring to it, it’s likely that Nairn’s character will be deep in the swashbuckling action. We're also guessing that "wee" will be used ironically, considering Nairn says he's actually 6'10" in real life.

HBO Max didn’t just announce Nairn’s casting today. In addition to Nairn, Waititi and Darby, the cast now includes Nathan Foad (Bloods) as “Lucius,” Samson Kayo (Truth Seekers) as “Oluwande,” Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful) as “Captain Nigel Badminton” and “Chauncey Badminton” — perhaps they’re twins? — Con O’Neill (Chernobyl) as “Izzy,” and Vico Ortiz (American Horror Story: 1984) as “Bonifacia.”

What sort of pirate exploits will this crew get up to? Given the comedic powerhouse behind the series, there is sure to be some funny plundering going on. There's no news yet on when the show will go into production, much less make it to HBO Max, however, so we’ll have to wait a while to walk that plank.