Rich Johnston (formerly of Newsarama’s Lying in the Gutters and currently at Bleeding Cool) is reporting that Brian Blessed has been cast as Odin, the All-Father, ruler of Asgard, and most importantly Thor’s father.

I’m terribly delighted by this. His small contribution to the Star Wars movies always delighted me and his dialect in that film even created some lingo in a small circle of friends I find creeping out to this day.

Also, he was King of the Hawkmen.

But this is really good news. He’s a classically trained Shakespearean actor under the deft direction of Kenneth Branagh. This bodes well.