Max von Sydow joins cast of 'Game of Thrones'

Veteran actor Max von Sydow has been recruited to appear on "Game of Thrones" in its sixth season and play the part of the Three-Eyed Raven, HBO said.

Von Sydow, an 86-year-old Franco-Swede, is known for myriad films going back to "The Exorcist" and including "Minority Report."

He will also appear in "Star Wars: Episode VII," due out in late December.

Von Sydow is already on set for filming "Game of Thrones," Entertainment Weekly said in a report confirmed by HBO.

The series has been nominated for 24 Emmys. The sixth season starts next spring. And it will last at least eight seasons rather than seven as frequently reported, HBO's programming president Michael Lombardo disclosed last week.

"Game of Thrones" is the TV adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire," a series of fantasy novels by American writer George R. R. Martin. They started coming out in 1996 and continue to this day. Martin is now working on No. 6.

The last season of the show drew nearly seven million viewers per episode in the United States, plus eight million illegal downloads.