IAN MCSHANE is joining “Game of Thrones,” HBO confirmed Saturday morning.

    The “Deadwood” alum is returning to the network for the hit fantasy series’ sixth season. Who exactly the British actor will play in the drama is shrouded in secrecy, however, with the network staying mum on any character details.

    In previous years, HBO typically had announced numerous castmembers by this time, but McShane is the first name to be confirmed for the upcoming season. The plot of season six is the most unknown one yet, as the show has largely caught up with the five books George R. R. Martin has published so far in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, which is planned to run for seven books. No release date has been set for the sixth installment, “The Winds of Winter.”

    McShane, known for portraying bad guys, scoundrels and thieves onscreen, is currently guesting in the third season of “Ray Donovan.” Next, he can be seen as a corrupt judge in “Bolden” and opposite Patrick Wilson in “The Man on Carrion Road.” His credits include “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Hercules,” “Cuban Fury,” “Jack and the Giant Slayer,” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and “American Horror Story: Asylum.”

    On Thursday, HBO programing president Michael Lombardo revealed the network was eyeing at least eight seasons for “Game of Thrones.”

    “Seven-seasons-and-out has never been the conversation,” Lombardo said at the Television Critics Association press tour. “The question is how much beyond seven are we going to do.” Season six is in production and is expected to premiere in spring 2016.

    Meanwhile, PBS is saying goodbye to “Downton Abbey.” The sixth and final season is set to bow Jan. 3. Executive producer Gareth Neame felt that ending after the fifth season would have short-changed the audience, while stretching it out to seven or even eight seasons would have had his team struggling to find story ideas. “There is this speculation about whether we’d make a Downton movie, and we might. It’s something we’ve talked about,” he said Saturday, adding that there is currently no script or firm plans in place at the moment. (SD-Agencies)