Richard Madden has a new pelt!

Here’s a first look at the former Game of Thrones actor in his upcoming Discovery channel miniseries Klondike. The adventure stars Madden and Augustus Prew (The Borgias) as “childhood best friends Bill Haskell and Byron Epstein, who head west in 1897 to seek their fortune in the Yukon Territories during the gold rush, where they face a harrowing journey of adventure, excitement and danger at every turn.”

Madden, who played King in the North Robb Stark on the HBO hit, says he had watched Discovery’s reality show Gold Rush and was impressed by the Klondike script. “It’s epic, and ‘epic’ is a word I use rarely to describe something,” the actor told EW. “It’s a story that’s not really been told. [The character’s] situations are so extreme physically and emotionally. I’ve done lots of different [projects] and I’ve never been so excited.”

Madden says the demanding role required mountaineering in bitter cold in Alberta and, during one scene, throwing himself into Grade 4 river rapids. “I tried to convince myself that it’s just a big set and they can turn off these river rapids whenever they wanted,” he said.

Klondike debuts next year. Madden’s next project after Klondike marks a return to the fantasy genre; playing Prince Charming in Disney’s reboot of Cinderella.

(source)