It’s been quiet on Thrones news the past few weeks. I like to think of it as the calm before the casting storm. We know they are auditioning a lot of roles now, with decisions to be made at the end of June, so we should get more announcements within a months time. In the meantime, casting speculation across the internet is heating up.
First we have the original Geocities website dedicated to ASOIAF casting. This one has been around even before the HBO series was ever announced. It is also the dream cast of all dream casts. While it can be fun to speculate which big name would fit into certain roles, having a big name in every single role is obviously not going to happen. There are a few decent picks in here though. The nice thing about this site is it is very thorough as it has speculated an actor for just about every major and minor character in the series.
Another over-the-top dream cast comes from a website called Story Casting. At this site users can vote on who they think should be cast in certain major roles. Right now their cast for Game of Thrones is small and filled with huge A list actors. If you don’t agree with it though, you could always sign up for an account and vote yourself.
Lastly, we have a somewhat more plausible cast list from a TV news blog called TV Casualties. This cast list is, I think, the first from a general TV news blog. So it’s good to see that the show is starting to get some recognition from the general TV watching public. They have a lot of actors that have been talked about already, but they also bring a few new names to the table.
Yeah, all three of these lists are littered with big name actors and non-Equity members. But when did speculating fans ever concern themselves with these small details? In the end, it is just something to chew on while we wait for the real cast list.
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64 Comments
Some of those lists have some actual good ideas for the casting. I just hope they post some resume' head shots when they announce the cast because I'm sure we will not have heard of most of them. I'm gearing up for True Blood in the meantime.
dizzyQuote Reply
Wow. TVCasualties has the best list I've seen, including some things I've never heard discussed or thought of myself!
TomQuote Reply
@ post above ^
What bothers me is that sometimes there is total disregard for the character's hair and eye color. You can't have a fair-haired, blue-eyed Jon! Same with Arya.
AnonymousQuote Reply
They can dye their hair and wear colored contact lens. I'm far more bothered by the disparity in ages. Ned, Robert, Catelyn, Cersei, Jaime, the Cleganes, etc. are all from the same generation. It bugs me to see people suggesting twenty-something year olds for some roles and sixty year olds for other roles.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Brad Pitt would be a perfect Jaime. And Helen Mirren for Cat.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I'm not so concerned about eye color or age difference.
I am about how they would look in a bathing suit.
I think the lists totally missed the mark except for the geocities site which obviously enjoys the occasional skinny dip.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Rachel Hurd-Wood everywhere for Sansa… Perfume was shot 5 years ago and Rachel has since gained some pounds, but she still looks like a big old princess, specially with that tiara.
Bilbo Baggins the HobbitQuote Reply
God, I hope they can get Garrett Dillahunt to play a role. They've been taping his shoulder, so maybe he'll accept a part (whatever it is!).
AnonymousQuote Reply
I'm not worried about hair or eye colour, but age is actually important. I mean, the actress TVCasualties have listed for Arya Stark is actually nearly 20. Come on … a 13/14 year old could get away with playing an 11 year old, but not a 20 year old!
AnonymousQuote Reply
Keep that equity card in mind.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Thanks for the heads up Winter….interesting sites ….I'm now sold on Rachel -Hurd Wood as Sansa and yes everyone I understand the age concerns but I see Sansa when I look at her photos …..ummmm I'm still holding out hope for Swedish actress Lina Leanderson for the role of Arya(she stars in the Swedish vampire classic " let the right one in", best vampire movie of all time in my humble opinion!!!)…….I see Arya when I look at her …she's absolutely perfect!!!
coltaine777Quote Reply
TVCasualties' list sounds good, but they seem to have forgotten that most of the actors will be British or Irish…
AnonymousQuote Reply
brad pitt is too old for jamie. he's meant to be in his prime so i dont see that at all. oh and the sand vipers on the geocities site? HOT!!! i mean monica bellucci, liv tyler and sophia myles? yes please!
AnonymousQuote Reply
Sean Connery can play Ned
Anonymous RomanticQuote Reply
Sean Connery would be great, if he was 30yrs younger….way too old and way too out of shape….isn't he like 70
coltaine777Quote Reply
Totally agree about Arya in tvcasualties list. She looks the part, could act it beautifully… but is wayyy to old…
And besides there is that whole eqity-clause.
Plus even though its the most realistic list of the three – even that one is wayy to optimistic.
But todays stars are not the only option – we'll MAKE the next stars with HBO's AGOT… Suck on that one like a fishermans for a minute.. ;)
But like WIC says: this IS just to keep us occupied while the doers do their job – looking forward to seeing the actual list… Mouthwateringly looking forward to it…
LivveyQuote Reply
God, I just saw a commercial for that new Merlin series. The effects looked so bad! And the acting is horrendously fake. I just hope that HBO people don't get any ideas from that show or worse get turned off on picking up AGOT because of that crap's short-lived (most likely) existence.
ThorQuote Reply
Ohhh. Michael Hogan (Saul Tighe from BSG) as Tywin Lannister. That would be amazing.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Just to say, the call backs from the original auditions for the younger parts have just happened….you may believe me at your will…
AnonymousQuote Reply
Anon: Cool, thanks for the info! Getting closer now…
WinterIsComingQuote Reply
Screenterrier has joined in the casting speculation…
ScreenTerrierQuote Reply
Happy to help
AnonymousQuote Reply
by the way since gregor is a character who has specific (more than others) physique requirements i was thinking it would be easy to find any equity actors over lets say 6'5 at least. is there a list of equity actors somewhere with their profiles?
JoshQuote Reply
ScreenTerrier: Thanks for the heads up. I will add you guys to the post.
Josh: Check out this post of mine from a couple weeks back.
WinterIsComingQuote Reply
ScreenTerrier, Nice blog. As for your picks, I am wondering if you have read Game of Thrones.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Just wanted to say that the pilot is one day closer to being produced than it was yesterday…..you don't have to believe this if you don't want to…
AnonymousQuote Reply
Doesn't that happen everyday regardless?
AnonymousQuote Reply
No, dude. This is exclusive inside information.
AnonymousQuote Reply
kids
AnonymousQuote Reply
@Screenterrier…. Finally someone else agrees with me about Lina Leandersson….Trust me everyone, if you watch that film , you will see Arya in her performance … 'let the right one in'…is the film….forgive me for beating a dead horse but I am convinced she can handle this role….again..I think she is perfect and can pull it off…Screenterrier has a link to her IMBD page….check her out and better yet watch the film …you'll be convinced too …trust me
coltaine777Quote Reply
I'm praying that Benioff and Weiss are aware of her…
coltaine777Quote Reply
Hello all,
You may remember me as 'silverstar', for that was the nom the plume I used on this website.
Though everyone has the right to have his, and dare I say her godawful opinion, the truth is I don't have to agree with them. And that is why I left. I agree to disagree. TTFN.
However, if you were kind enough to remove the geek-gauge aka "Top Commenters" (I guess the creator meant commentator, but I digress)… err, if you were kind enough to remove it, I may start using my silvery-star handle yet again, so that I will not show up as the #1 fanboy of things-that-shall-come-to-pass.
Best regards,
barda– err, that is, "silverstar"…
AnonymousQuote Reply
Arya is supposed to look like a Northerner, which Lina clearly doesn't. She is Iranian in descent by the way. I believe this is important as the family origins and appearances are major factors in this story.
AnonymousQuote Reply
Lina is 14, there is no way she could play Arya, in a year she'll look even older while Arya is still supposed to be ten-eleven in second book.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I like, based on visuals alone, screenterrier's picks for Holly Bromeade as Sansa Stark, their second pick for Joffery, and their pick for Theon Greyjoy.
The others at this site didn't impress me based on the visuals.
world_dancerQuote Reply
good points Anon and Anon…..she might be too old….some children appear older than they are , some appear younger than they are….they develop at different rates …..as for her appearance (Iranian ancestry?)….a good performance will overwhelm any appearance or age issues…. Unfortunately I think for many including the producers she will be too old…. Based purely on talent she can do it…
coltaine777Quote Reply
@Anonymous, thank you and you are correct in your wondering. No, I am ashamed to admit, I haven't read it, all casting suggestions are purely based on information gleaned on here and the westeros forum and from reading the script!
ScreenTerrierQuote Reply
I think Lina Leandersson would be great for Arya in terms of talent and appearance (at least she looked perfect for the part in "Let the Right One In"). However, besides possible age problems, she probably has a Swedish accent which would rule her out. Also, her voice was dubbed in "Let the Right One In", so we have no clue what she actually sounds like.
izakmoQuote Reply
@Izakmo….I'm aware her voice was dubbed….In the movie they wanted her too sound older(in the book you learn her age is around 212 yrs old)….her
Real voice is apparently too high for what the director wanted….however despite that her performance was incredible . The Swedish accent however might be problematic…..it's too bad …she was born to play this role
coltaine777Quote Reply
It is my hope they will unearth to the rest of the world the next wave of really good British actors and actresses. I would personally like fresh new faces that no one has ever seen before possessing a swath of talent ready to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting public.
(Is that too much to hope for? If they can one day say, "You know, XXX was little known until she made her debut in that brilliant Game of Thrones series, and now look at all her success…" then even better.)
If the kids are brilliant in this series, it's going the distance. I personally believe it hinges on the kids, and possibly on the casting of Jaime Lannister.
On that note, a name that has yet to surface for Jaime: Max Brown, who played Edward Seymour in The Tudors. Someone noted on the Westeros forums that he had a "Lannister look about him," and that is so true. He certainly seems a deeper actor than the roles he's had up through now; scratch beneath the surface, get that man a mane of Golden hair, and I think we have a Kingslayer in the making.
Back to the kids: if they're auditioning Irish lads and lasses for the Stark children, does that put the Winterfell accent at Irish? Minors would be the least likely able to change their accents, so I'd think the adults, if not Irish, would be the ones to adapt.
Just putting that thought out there.
Yea
About Yea HighQuote Reply
I agree with you Yea High about getting new actors into these roles.
I don't really care to get a typecast actor to fit into a soiaf role–that would ruin my suspension of disbelief, cheapen it in a way. I get the feeling a lot of fans out there are rooting for their fave actors.
I just want to be pleasantly surprised, but I am not an actor's fan. I am just a fan of the books.
I'm guessing that the people planning this series won't 100% adhere to the "must be British actors equity" rule which personally I think is only mostly true and somewhat a rumor as well, especially the part about local-only casting for minors.
It makes sense that they will use predominantly Irish locals for extras. And it makes sense to get a majority BAE actors for budgeting reasons.
Considering shows like The Tudors, I welcome as many UK actors as they can pack. Tudors is a quasi British history, so it makes sense to use purely UK actors, and the results weren't bad so maybe HBO learned a lesson from their competitor Showtime which airs the show.
But in LOTR, they made an effort to use some US actors in it as to not "alienate American audiences". Mostly they used a ton of NZ actors.
Just my little speculation.
anonymuffQuote Reply
I think a lot of these actors/actresses are too old, especially for the kids.
I also think some of them are too pretty.
Do you think they will use real wolves, CG wolves, or a little of both?
AnonymousQuote Reply
I heard they were going to glue antlers on mice for this production. On Christmas.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I also heard that they were casting minors in England
AnonymousQuote Reply
I think it would be best if they cast unknowns for the major roles, kinda like the harry potter movies, with a couple of familiar more experienced actors like Dinklage.
AnonymousQuote Reply
How about Dinara Safina for Brienne?
AthenaQuote Reply
Oh come on Dinara is prettier than that! We should cast her brother for Jaime Lannister though.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I just saw McCarthy's The Visitor, and I think Hiam Abbas would be a good fit for Mirri Maaz Duur. It looks like most of her work is in France, though so she probably isn't UK Equity.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007814/
WIC, maybe you could do a post on McCarthy's works. He has a clear talent for character and dialogue, but ASOIAF seems quite different in scope from his films. On the other hand, he performed in the Wire, which to me seems to have the same sort of epic feel and the same varied character perspective that ASOIAF has.
AaronQuote Reply
Interestingly, casting is apparently taking place in LA as well, according to Martin's Not a Blog.
MarkoQuote Reply
Course, considering the rest of that blog post is a joke, the LA casting part of it might be too.
AnonymousQuote Reply
The LA part is not a joke, but it doesn't give any new information either
Peter Dinklage management company and fanmail adress are in LA (http://www.fanmail.biz/16702.html), so that is probably what GRRM refers to.
yoenitQuote Reply
One of those cast lists mistakenly portrays Stannis as the elder Baratheon.
Nuclear nerd rage!
SteveQuote Reply
I heard Tom Payne went in for Viseries the other day.
AnonymousQuote Reply
I would love to see Aidan Gillen as Little Finger. He played Thomas Carcetti on The Wire, and he has this cocky, slithering ease about him which I always saw in Little Finger. Plus, he's Irish.
AnonymousQuote Reply
question, ive got an audition for sansa, and i dont know what she is like, what is she meant to look like and act like?
AnonymousQuote Reply
I suggest you try and read the first part of the book,try googling sansa, we did that when my son was called up for a casting for Bran, he got a recall now we just wait, good luck, they all seemed very nice at the casting,
tawnywitchQuote Reply
tawny: I'm curious, who was at the audition? I'm assuming Benioff and Weiss were there. Also Nina Gold. Was Tom McCarthy there as well? Any one from the BBC or just HBO people?
WinterIsComingQuote Reply
In a similair position tawny the waiting is agony. Winter, at the London recalls everyone you mentioned was there and a producer from HBO along with Nina Gold's assistant who did the reading.
AnonymousQuote Reply
ok ive looked her up, i was just wondering, the part of my script is with arya and is what is their relationship like?
AnonymousQuote Reply
Anon: Cool. Thanks for the info! Good luck on getting whichever part you tried out for.
Anon2: Not very good. Basically Sansa is the proper, stuck-up older sister who looks down on Arya because she is a rough-and-tumble tomboy.
WinterIsComingQuote Reply
Cant forget that Arya is only ment to be 9 or 10 in the first book.Cant be played by anyone too young.Give new talent a try!!
AnonymousQuote Reply
Casting for Arya Stark should be around 9 or 10 dont cast anyone too old considering there could be many more books to follow!!!
AnonymousQuote Reply
JAMIE BAMBER AS JAMIE LANNISTER.
xbeyondinsanexQuote Reply
Arya Stark is ment to be 9 or 10 surely above 12yrs is going to cause problems for further films.There are very talented youngsters out there give them a try.
AnonymousQuote Reply