Veteran actor JJ Murphy died this past weekend just four days into filming his first scenes for the upcoming season of Game Of Thrones, according to The Guardian. No cause of death has been released at this time. He was 86.

The Belfast actor was cast in the HBO series for the fifth season as Ser Denys Mallister, the oldest member of the Night’s Watch, and had only shot a few scenes before his death.

Murphy collapsed and died on Friday, August 8, 2014, in North Ireland, where the fifth season of the series is being filmed. The actor, who was not mentioned in the recent Season 5 casting announcements, was scheduled to shoot more scenes for the show. The actor reportedly told friends he was excited to be working on Game Of Thrones.

At this time, it is not known whether Murphy’s role will be recast or if his scenes will be rewritten. The Ser Denys Mallister character is an elder member of the Night’s Watch, the men who guard the Wall in Westeros, who has commanded the Shadow Tower for 33 years and has been a candidate for Lord Commander.

A veteran theater actor, Murphy had small roles on the big screen in 1999’s Angela’s Ashes and last year’s Faraway, and can be seen later this year as a village elder in Universal’s upcoming film Dracula Untold, which also stars Game Of Throne actors Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Art Parkinson (Rickon Stark).

RIP JJ Murphy

[Source: The Guardian | Belfast Telegraph; Photo Credit: Photograph: Youcef Boubetnikh/Independent Agency Belfast]