Guy Pearce and Carice van Houten expecting baby

Australian actor Guy Pearce is expecting his first child with new girlfriend Carice Van Houten.

The Game of Thrones actress took to Twitter.com on Saturday (19Mar16) to confirm the good news, which comes just months after Pearce announced he had split from his wife of 18 years.

"Thanks for all your lovely wishes," Van Houten wrote. The Dutch beauty, who plays priestess Melisandre in the hit fantasy series, also cracked a joke about her bundle of joy, adding, "Yes. It's true. Let the shadow baby jokes begin."

The quip was aimed at Game of Thrones fans, as in season two, her character famously gave birth to a shadow which assassinated Renly, the brother of her lover Stannis, to take control of his rival army.

Pearce, who has reportedly been dating Van Houten since January, 2015, also took to social media to share his girlfriend's joke confirming the pregnancy.

"Nothing like the prospect of a shadowbaby (sic) to change your mind about becoming a Father!!" he wrote.

Van Houten's TV co-star, Liam Cunningham, who played Stannis' right-hand man Davos and witnessed Melisandre's childbirth scene in the series, also replied to the actress' good news with a funny response of his own.

"I just might babysit this one!" he tweeted on Saturday.

Pearce, 48, and Van Houten, 39, have been fueling romance rumors since the actor announced he had parted ways with his wife, Kate Mestitz, back in October (15). He said at the time, "Kate and I will always love and support one another and be the best of friends."

He later took to Twitter and added, "Rumors r true I'm afraid - Kate and I parted ways back in Jan. Sorry 2 be boring but we couldn't be closer. We'll love each other 4 ever xx (sic)."