Sean Bean loves him some fantasy medieval type projects. THR reports that the former “Lord of the Rings” star has been cast as the lead in HBO’s new TV series, Game of Thrones, based on the series of George R. R. Martin fantasy novels called “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Bean will play Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, the honorable Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, and who becomes closest adviser to King Robert, set to be played by Mark Addy.

More about the novels from Amazon.com:

Martin’s Seven Kingdoms resemble England during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families and their struggle to control the Iron Throne dominates the foreground; in the background is a huge, ancient wall marking the northern border, beyond which barbarians, ice vampires, and direwolves menace the south as years-long winter advances. Abroad, a dragon princess lives among horse nomads and dreams of fiery reconquest.

Also joining the HBO production, Kit Harrington as Jon Snow, Bean’s bastard son, Jack Gleeson as Joffrey, King Robert’s son, and Harry Lloyd as Viserys, a powerless ruler who seeks to marry off his sister to a powerful king. Peter Dinklage was previously cast as Tyrion Lannister, a sarcastic and cynical dwarf.

Tom McCarthy will direct the pilot, while David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who wrote the pilot script, will act as executive producers on the show. Word is, the pilot and the show itself will be very faithful to the novels by George R. R. Martin.