Back in August, when Jim Broadbent was announced as the newest addition to the Season 7 cast of Game of Thrones, the increasingly secretive series decided to keep his character’s identity under wraps—only calling the part “significant.” But fan sites—brimming as they are with obsessive book readers—were quick to zero in on a likely suspect: Maester Marwyn, a character who features in not only Samwell’s adventures at the Citadel, but also potentially intersects with Daenerys’s plot. Now, in the grand tradition of Ian “Tits and Dragons” McShane, Broadbent himself is letting the cat out of the bag.

In a recent interview, Erin Whitney of Screencrush flat out asked Broadbent who he would be playing. Though the actor demurred at first, he finally admitted: “I’m a maester, an archmaester. I’m an old professor character.” He also confirmed how significant his role is. Don’t expect a one-off appearance, a la McShane: as Broadbent said, “I did five episodes. I did sort of one major scene in each episode.” Given that there are only seven episodes in the upcoming season, that is very significant indeed. Watchers on the Wall has some added intel that Broadbent might be playing a different archmaester—or, perhaps, an amalgamation of the two. But Broadbent cemented the Citadel rumors, at least, by revealing to Screencrush that he shares his scenes with John Bradley’s Samwell Tarly.

While some outlets have dismissed fan site casting reports as inaccurate, here’s what the unerringly accurate Watchers on the Wall had to say about this character in the past: “In his 60s. He’s a venerable priest with moral authority and gravitas. The show is seeking a white actor, using an RP accent, with characterful face for this part.”

When last we left Sam, he was staring, slack-jawed, at the stacks of books available in the Citadel of Oldtown, waiting for the archmaester to arrive. In George R.R. Martin’s book, A Feast for Crows, it’s Marwyn who fills Sam in on all the fuzzy details about what’s going on north of the Wall. He also goes off to find Daenerys—potentially to recruit her for the fight up North. If it’s up to Broadbent to deliver pages of exposition to Bradley and maybe even Emilia Clarke this season, we can hardly think of a better candidate.

HBO declined to comment on this article.