'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Cast & Trailer: 8 New Characters Join Series, Including Prince Doran Martell

"Game of Thrones" Season 5 will be televised in April of next year, but already, the show's appearance at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con has revealed so many new nuggets of information that 2015 is making fans feel like it's so darn far away.

Season 4 ended with so many deaths, and who could forget the jaw-dropping, ghastly end of Oberyn Martell. This can only mean that the next season will feature a deeper look into the Martells' lives -- and, yes, including new members of the already gargantuan cast. In a report by IGN, the big reveal happened at the GOT panel during a special casting video shown to fans.

The panel was attended by Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Rory McCann (Sandor "The Hound" Clegane), Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell) and Rose Leslie (Ygritte), as well as show runners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and series author, George R.R. Martin.

According to WinterIsComing.net, many of the new cast members will be of the Martell family, led by Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell, the lord of Dorne and Oberyn's older brother. He is joined by Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell, Doran's son and heir to the throne, who is also betrothed to Myrcella Baratheon.

Myrcella is not really a Baratheon but technically, she is the eldest child of siblings, Cersei and Jamie Lannister. The role of Myrcella, which was originally played by Aimee Richardson, will now be portrayed by Nell Tiger Free.

Other members of the Martell family include Oberyn's three bastard daughters who are, incidentally, very adept with weapons. They are Obara Sand, played by Keisha Castle-Hughes, Nymeria Sand, to be played by Jessica Henwick, and Tyrene Sand, the youngest daughter to be portrayed by Rosabell Laurenti Sellers.

Veteran actor, Jonathan Pryce, is also joining as the High Sparrow, or the High Septon of the Faith of the Seven religion in Westeros. In its description of the role, Mashable writes that the High Sparrow is different from the High Septons before him because he is very much against material things.

Accoriding to TV Guide, the High Sparrow's pro-poor activities had amassed him a huge following in the downtrodden King's Landing community. Fans are excited to see how long Pryce's character will stay, given that he is bringing this kind of simplistic thinking to the heart of the Lannister turf, where appearances and money are paramount.

Other new characters include DeObia Oparei as Aero Hotah, the personal guard of Doran Martell, and Enzo Cilenti as Yezzan, the wealthy slave owner in Yunkai, who's city was defeated by Daenerys Targaryen and the unsullied.

Christian Today reports that filming for Season 5 has already begun in July and will likely end in November. It also cited rumors that most of the scenes will be shot in Northern Ireland. We can't really know for sure if this is confirmed and if other new locations are being eyed beause the stars have received a gag order from HBO. This means that anybody who is part of the production who will breathe one word about the filming will be out of job, and worse, sued. But just to whet the fans' appetite for speculation, some of the places that have emerged include The Plaza de Toros, The Canteras de Osuna and the Alcazar of Seville.

Here's the casting video every GOT fan is raving about.