There's another 'Game of Thrones' star with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in '3 Body Problem'

• "3 Body Problem" is helmed by Alexander Woo and "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
• The show features a number of "Game of Thrones" alums like John Bradley and Liam Cunningham.
• Benioff and Weiss also enlisted Conleth Hill, who played Lord Varys, to play the Pope.

If you're a "Game of Thrones" fan, you certainly clocked a few notable alums in the creators' next series, "3 Body Problem."

The show, helmed by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo ("True Blood"), is a far cry from Westeros. Adapted from Liu Cixin's "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy, the show catalogs humanity's preparation for an alien invasion. While generally lighter on the violence and nudity than "Thrones," the cast still has some familiar elements.

But while you might have recognized John Bradley, who played Samwell Tarly in "Game of Thrones," or Liam Cunningham, who played Ser Davos Seaworth, there's one cast member that might have escaped your notice: Conleth Hill, who played Lord Varys in "Game of Thrones." You might also remember Hill as the "Thrones" cast member who confessed to leaving the infamous coffee cup that showed up in the show's final season.

This time around, Benioff and Weiss enlisted him to play a bit role in the virtual reality world within "3 Body Problem." Hill briefly appears as Pope Gregory in episode three, where he hears arguments from scientists about the disasters that befall the virtual world. It's a small role and one that mostly requires Hill to sit in ornate garments on a throne, with the odd wry line reading.

"Conleth is Catholic, so we thought having him play the Pope would be either very funny to him or not funny at all," Weiss told Entertainment Weekly. "Obviously, he thought it was fine."

Benioff told Entertainment Weekly that Hill would always find a church to attend services on Sundays while they were filming "Game of Thrones" and was rather serious about his religion. Still, he said, the show's Pope wasn't anything approaching the actual figure.

"We had a role for the Pope," he said. "It's quite the earthly Pope. We were like, 'This isn't sacrilegious. It's a fake Pope on an alien planet. It's got nothing to do with the actual Catholic church."

"3 Body Problem" is streaming now on Netflix.