The voice cast for Bethesda Softworks’ upcoming mega–game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, has been officially announced, and it includes some very interesting names.

The first and already known actor is of course Max von Sydow, who gave us an early sample of his work in the game’s announcement trailer back in December. Sydow is an Oscar–nominated actor (for Pelle the Conqueror) who’s many films have included The Exorcist, Minority Report, Shutter Island, Robin Hood, and of course, Ghostbusters II as the voice of Vigo!

He’s joined by the great Christopher Plummer, another Oscar–nominated actor (for The Last Station) who’s best known for roles in films like The Sound of Music, The Man Who Would Be King, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Twelve Monkeys, A Beautiful Mind, and Disney*Pixar’s Up, just to name a few.

Also among the voice cast is Joan Allen, a THREE–time Oscar nominee (Nixon, The Crucible, The Contender) who’s known for Face/Off, The Notebook, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, and Lynda Carter, who is, of course, Wonder Woman!

Rounding out the cast is Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica, Fallout: New Vegas), Vladimir Kulich (The 13th Warrior, Smokin’ Aces), Claudia Christian (Babylon 5), Diane Louise Salinger (Carnivale), Renee Victor (Weeds), and Saturday Night Live–vet George Coe (Transformers: Dark of the Moon).

And who will these actors be voicing? Well, behold! A rundown of their characters:

* Sydow voices the role of Esbern, a “chronicler and agent of the Blades who has survived in hiding. Long obsessed with the foretold return of the dragon Alduin, the World Eater, Esbern will teach you how to confront this epic evil.”

* Allen is Delphine, “one of the last remaining members of the Blades – an ancient warrior society once sworn to protect the Emperor. Like you, Delphine is trying to unravel the mystery of the dragons’ return.”

* Carter””who actually was the voice of the female Nord race in both The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion“”voices Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, one of the Nord heroes who overthrew the dragons in ancient times.

* Hogan voices Imperial General Tullius, who’s “in charge of crushing the Stormcloak rebellion,” while Kulich plays his arch–nemesis Ulfric Stormcloak, the “Jarl of Windhelm and charismatic leader of the Stormcloaks, who aims to make Skyrim independent of the Empire.” Christian is also involved in this conflict, playing Legate Rikke, “General Tullius’s chief lieutenant, a loyal Imperial officer as well as a Nord who firmly believes Skyrim must remain part of the Empire.”

These actors are just a few of the 70 different voice actors who were cast to read over 60,000 lines of dialogue for the game. This is big news because one of the few complaints of the previous installment in the series, Oblivion, was that the voice acting was incredibly repetitive. The hope of fans everywhere was that many different people would provide many different voices for the many different characters of Skyrim instead of having one person do the voice for every single Orc or Argonian in the game, and it looks as if that wish will be coming true.

Skyrim will be released on 11/11/11, and it simply cannot get here soon enough.