'Game of Thrones' alum Richard Dormer to star in 'The Watch' series

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Game of Thrones alum Richard Dormer has joined the cast of the new series The Watch.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Wednesday the 49-year-old British actor will star in the BBC America series, which is based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

The Watch is based on the "City Watch" subset of the Discworld series. The story follows a group of misfit cops living in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, where crime has been legalized.

Dormer will play Sam Vimes, captain of the Watch, whose department's jurisdiction has been reduced to almost nothing.

"I'm so thrilled to be part of this brilliant madness and mayhem," Dormer said in a statement. "I was immediately drawn to the multitude of layers to Sam Vimes, and I find the dynamic between him and his band of disenfranchised comrades very compelling."

Dormer will co-star with Adam Hugill, Jo Eaton-Kent, Marama Corlett, Lara Rossi and Sam Adewunmi. Hugill plays Constable Carrot, with Eaton-Kent as Constable Cheery, Corlett as Corporal Angua, Rossi as Lady Sybil Ramkin and Adewunmi as Carcer Dun.

Deadline said The Watch will be an eight-part series co-produced by BBC Studios and Narrativia, the production company Pratchett founded in 2012. Simon Allen, Catherine Tregenna, Amrou Al-Khadi and Ed Hime will write the script, with Johann Knobel as series producer and Hilary Salmon, Ben Donald and Rob Wilkins as executive producers.

"The Watch will be a very BBC America show," Sarah Barnett, who commissioned the series, said. "As with Killing Eve, we don't go straight at an adaptation -- we blur genres, undercut with humor, and hire the most genius writers and actors to create stories and characters that are both entertaining and contemporary, that say something new."

Pratchett died at age 66 in March 2015. His Discworld novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is being adapted as an animated film.

Dormer played Beric Dondarrion on Game of Thrones, which ended in May after an eight-season run on HBO. He also portrayed Sheriff Dan Anderssen in the Nick Jr. series Driftwood Bay.