Davos cast and Cressen confirmed!

a poor man’s Jason Isaacs, but still a good casting choice.

Liam Cunningham is fantastic, a solid character actor who has done everything.

Nice!

I just saw Liam Cunningham in Harry Brown.

I think he’ll be good. Reminds me of a non-French Jean Reno.

No Ygritte, looks like?

Has Devan been confirmed? And will we see Edric Storm, Patchface, and so on?

Cunningham seems to be channeling Stannis in the pic up top. I’ve no doubt he’ll be brilliant as Ser Davos though.

I’m not familiar with Davies, but he sure looks the part.

Interestingly Liam Cunningham is in the movie The Guard (2011) with David Wilmot who’s audition for Davos and Jaqen was leaked a while ago. I wonder if either of them put the other one on to the auditions.

Azurecobalt:
No Ygritte, looks like?

Has Devan been confirmed? And will we see Edric Storm, Patchface, and so on?

I’m guessing that those are roles that will probably be filled by extras or featured extras.

Well, Cunningham certainly matches the description of Davos in the books! (Brown hair and beard with bits of grey in it).

SO nice to finally have our Stannis/Davos/Melisandre trio of casting news!!!

So, no James Purefoy? Too bad :(

Well, maybe in the season 3 :P I guess I would’ve like Cunningham more if I didn’t have a crush for Purefoy. But… whatever, he will be awesome, I’m sure :)

Ingemar Svensson,

Don’t worry, all roles have not been cast (or announced yet). Just the major ones – Ygritte is more if a minor character and will be cast.

Liam Cunningham is far from a poor man’s Jason Isaacs. He is a very accomplished actor, as can be seen in this scene from Hunger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0SETWIO8U&feature=related

The film is notable for an unbroken 17-minute shot, in which a priest played by Liam Cunningham tries to talk Bobby Sands out of his protest. In it, the camera remains in the same position for the duration of the shot. To prepare for the scene, Cunningham moved into Michael Fassbender’s apartment for a time while they practised the scene at least twelve times a day, sometimes repeating the scene fifteen times in a single day. It is the longest shot in a mainstream film.

He will be amazing as Davos

Brian,

Ooooh! That’s right!

He was great in Dog Soldiers, too.

I approve and applaud them on deciding to go with Cunningham, he was great in every film he did… I can’t seem to remember Davies from anywhere though I don’t watch British production as much as I used to…

Nick,

Wow! That’s great.

Jose,

Centurion! Thank you! I was trying to place where I’ve seen this guy. Looks like another solid choice.

Arrogant Bastard,

He was the bartender.

And MAN, you aren’t kidding about Sean Harris. I couldn’t believe he was 45 years old.

Arrogant Bastard: Sean Harris

ok, seriously. sean harris as Ramsay Snow is just about the best and most spot on casting suggestion i have ever seen on this board. i just wanted to give you proper kudos. on a board with so many asinine suggestions for parts i just want to thank you for such a shockingly perfect casting idea. nina are you listening?

Lars:
Ingemar Svensson,

Don’t worry, all roles have not been cast (or announced yet). Just the major ones – Ygritte is more if a minor character and will be cast.

I was talking more about Edric and Patchface and not Ygritte.

This Cunningham news makes my week. I’ve only seen him in The Wind That Shakes the Barley but he was brilliant in it and his role actually reminds me of Davos. Reserved and honest with a blue-collar nobility. I’m so psyched… He’s gonna make one hell of an Onion Knight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0AQqBrvJwY

Josh Parker,

There are a few roles that are open for cameos, but…

When we’re talking about folks who are still kicking around in A Dance with Dragons, I’m very happy they’re casting folks who will be comfortable growing into their characters. All three of these actors are pros, and the script will give them plenty of chances to practice their craft.

I’m really happy with the decisions for Stannis, Davos and Mel. I’m sure the others we’ve heard of today will be fine, but those were the three I was the most anxious about.

Now I’m most interested in Jaqen.

Arrogant Bastard,

I forgot about Balon. I think they’d be making hard for themselves later if they’d cut Roose or Ramsay. Easier to keep them, in my opinion.

Josh Parker:
Jimm,

What were you expecting? Remember that on most HBO shows, they get respected actors who aren’t all that known, and thanks to the show they get more known. Most people didn’t know who Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson or James Purefoy were before Rome.

Or Timothy Olyphant on Deadwood, who is an emmy nominee this year. This is what HBO does.

Liam Cunningham was the dad in A Little Princess. I am forever happy with this casting choice.

Another film I love is Perrier’s Bounty (yes I’m shilling it again) Nina Gold Cast it.
Liam Cunningham and Conleth Hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6eWd2RKUkY

GaR,

My thought exactly, they should rotate the actors who play Stannis and Davos, Cunningham is taller, younger and has the Baratheon blue eyes.

I’m not saying HBO doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m just saying that when you kill off the biggest actor on your show in the process of building up a fanbase, I feel like it would have been a good idea to ride and build off the first season momentum with one more big name actor for season 2. That way you get more people to buy the DVDs between seasons and get a huge number for the premiere of S2.

I would never have pictured him for Davos, but I loved Cunningham in everything I’ve seen him in. He does seem a little too… cultured, and perhaps a little too old, but I’m sure he’ll be fantastic. He does have a great “quiet voice of reason” voice.

Roy Mars III,

True. But then again, ASOIAF has about a billion characters, and HBO isn’t on a Dreamworks-like $500 mil budget. That’s why you really have to hand it to the casting directors. Casting big budget is easy. It’s like running the Yankees. When you have unlimited resources you can cast anyone you want. But when you’re (relatively) cash-strapped, you must pick diamonds out of the rough much of the time.

It would be great if Jason Isaacs, fresh off the mega-blockbuster Harry Potter series, just so happened to be a huge GRRM fan and loved GoT so much that he would be willing to take a massive pay-cut in order to take on a supporting role as Davos, but it’s just not realistic.

So you’ve really got to hand it to the GoT casting directors. I think they did an amazing job with season 1, bringing us completely unknown talents like the kids they cast, i.e. Maisie Williams, Richard Madden, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, etc… and picking up some under-the-radar talent who were brilliant in their roles, i.e. Mark Addy, Harry Lloyd, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Charles Dance, etc…

I admit, I’m not too familiar with either of these actors’ work, but I have full faith in HBO after seeing the amazing job they did with season 1. The casting was one of the strongest points of the show.

Leah:
Hahahahaahahaaa!

Carice Van Houten and Liam Cunningham are in a movie together about Ingrid Jonker.

Mel and Davos are having carnal relations, y’all.

That’s a plot twist! lol

Who Is Jacopo Belbo?:
ha.that guy was just about the only decent thing in Outcasts.and by decent i mean not good but did the best with what was a show that was so utterly pointless and a waste of a very cool idea that it made me want to hit my TV and i couldn’t stomach more than 6 episodes.sort of like how i feel about Falling Skies … only worse.

I feel exactly the same about Outcasts, the pilot was so brilliant and promising and then all that was totally squandered by the third episode. Cunningham was great in that as always though, definitely the highlight of the series.

meh. this is all cool, but i want to know who the big names are for this season. Jaqen seems like the perfect role to drop a Name in.

Ni:
So, no James Purefoy? Too bad :(

Well, maybe in the season 3 :P I guess I would’ve like Cunningham more if I didn’t have a crush for Purefoy. But… whatever, he will be awesome, I’m sure :)

That is because Purefoy is the Red Viper. It is known.

I would like to use a very strong word to describe people who criticize casting choices before they see any acting, but I don’t want to be banned. I’ll just call them inexcusably judgmental and leave it at that.

So, they still need to cast Roose Bolton, Ramsey Bolton, Ygritte, the Halfhand, Edmure Tully, Jaqen, Vargo Hoat, the Kettleblacks, and quite a few others, I’d think.

Forgive me if not all of them are major players in CoK… I haven’t read it in almost a year.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Not sure, but I think I was the first to mention Liam Cunningham as an excelent actor to join GoT (first for Stannis, later as ‘any role that possibly fits him’), and now I finally know what the expression ‘over the Moon’ means! :-)

Fantastic news! I haven’t read any other comment yet, but if ANYONE has doubts about Liam Cunningham as Davos, I will personally come and convince you otherwise!

Now if only they also, in some role, got that OTHER actor aboard that I’ve been suggesting relentlesly, i.e. Trevor Eve. Trevor for Balon Greyjoy!

Oooooooh what a way to start the day! :-)

weird…I don’t know the actors, but from first impressions (google and short videos) I would have guesed Cunningham as Stannis and Dillane as Davos. Although I think Stannis is more haggard, Cunningham has a more stern face and looks more like Mark Addy and Genthin Anthony than Dillane does. He also looks like he was a good speaker with good rhetorics (or at lest he gives the impression) Davos is not…he is more embarrased and honest while speaking in front of people…a character trait that fits Dillanes look better imo.
(Also Dillane’s son could have played Stannis’s squire. ;-) ;-) )

anyway it’s not as if I don’t like them. Seems like they’re both good actors. Let’s see what they’ll do with their roles. Just from first impressions I thought this to be a bit weird.

And Cressen and Melisandre are fine choices. :-)
ah, I know now: I think it’s Cunningham’s eyebrows that irritate me for Davos and would be fine for Stannis (or even a Bolton or meaner character..)

I keep being ignorant of all these people (that’s what I get for watching as little TV as possible, to avoid romantic repercussions), but I trust they’ll do a good job.

Just look at the first season’s cast and at how many of them now are THE character in the minds of many of us, despite being entirely different from their description in the books (Jorah!).

Or think how tame some of the pics looked at the beginning. Ian McElhinney, for example, at least for me; bald, portly older gentleman, yes, an interesting face, but no warrior. Then they gave him a distinguished Roman comb-over and put him inside a Kingsguard armour, and WHAM! Barristan the Bold!

Great Davos!

Okay, concerning the Red Viper… I’ve always picture him as an arabic type, seeing the description in the books (I’m Spaniard and I can assure you that Martell people are exactly like the southron inhabitants of Spain must have been back in the Al-Andalus Age, meaning people coming from North Africa). And James Purefoy is nothing like that. But in my mind he IS Mance Rayder :)

Since there’s been some Martell talk; imagine Ricardo Montalban(who unfortunately died 2 years ago) as prince Doran. That would rock.

Excellent choice for Davos. Liam is very talented and can’t wait to see him as Davos :)

Josh Parker: What were you expecting? Remember that on most HBO shows, they get respected actors who aren’t all that known, and thanks to the show they get more known. Most people didn’t know who Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson or James Purefoy were before Rome.

I was a fan of Ray Stevenson from At Home with the Braithwaites before he was mainstream. *dons Hipster glasses*

I’m not familiar with any of these actors at all! :(

So aside from Cunningham, who else was in an Arthur/Camelot type show? I’m basing this on Clive Standen’s tweet (if that was indeed true)

Louise,
Dillane, which played Merlin in King Arthur

Tezeu: I really liked Outcasts and Liam Cunningham was great for that part. I don’t know about this role though…

I didn’t really like Outcasts that much due to the poor writing, but Cunningham made it watchable for me, and I even was disappointed it got cancelled. If some big production house (ala HBO…) with talented writers would have bought the rights, I think there’s a quite interesting platform to base an interesting sci-fi series on. Based on Outcasts, I also pictured Cunningham rather as a true leader than as Davos, but I am confident he will shine in his role. He appears to be one of those actors that can play a lot of different roles…

Renjick:
Jesus christ, it’s like some people have never actually heard of this thing these people do called acting. Basing casting choices on STILL pictures of all things that could have been taken for other projects is just about the silliest…

Some ppl is happy just if have a name not if the actor choice is correct

Enteril,

The season 2 starts filming next week, so we will probably have more casting clues during the 3 ou 4 next months, especially for Ygritt, Roose Bolton, Dolorous Edd, Mance Rayder, Jaqen h’Ghar, Xaro and so on…

I never would have expected Liam Cunningham for Davos. He wasn’t even on my radar. To be honest, the only thing I can concretely remember him from was A Little Princess, which I watched years and years ago as a girl. I thought that either Stannis or Davos was going to be a “bigger name” actor to replace the void left by Bean/Addy (especially for marketing purposes), but that’s not to say lower-profile people shouldn’t have been cast. I’m sure they have just as much talent as bigger names and just haven’t found their star roles yet (at least in the States). And Game of Thrones can definitely do that! Also, HBO can save on the budget (I’m guessing, but who knows how expensive any of these actors actually are).

Liam Cunningham does fit what I imagine Davos to look like, albeit a slightly older version of the character (at least based on most photos of him that pop up in Google). But I don’t think age matters to Davos’ character as long as he looks able to sail/fight/run Stannis’ errands. And Liam certainly looks able to do all those things!

Can’t wait to see him in costume with his fingers missing! Also curious to see how HBO will do that – digital touch up or prosthetics? And don’t anyone say it’s not necessary to Davos’ character, because it absolutely is!

Overall I am very happy with our Dragonstone triumvirate. :D Welcome aboard, Liam (and Stephen and Carice)!

This picture was very Davos-y to me. Solemn and introspective, like he’s fighting some internal moral struggle. And all the blue/green sea-worthy colors helped! ;) http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bank/programmes_tv/drama/outcasts/446liam_cunningham.jpg

Wanted him for Stannis once, but he would make a great Davos, no doubt.

Excellent news. I can’t wait for season two to begin.

So so happy with Liam as Davos. He’ll blow it out of the water. Now all I need is Quorin Halfhand and Dolorous Edd.

paulgude:
Reminds me of a non-French Jean Reno.

Never thought of him like that, but now that you say it, I have to agree!

i think it would be better the other way around, Stephen Dillane playing Davos and Liam Cunningham playing Stannis

Bro,

I need a Roose Bolton and Ramsey Snow (Rami Maleck please!). Especially considering their roles in ADWD.

http://au.askmen.com/galleries/liam-cunningham/picture-2.html#!1 —> http://gameofthrones.net/resources/48-images/354-portrait-of-stannis-
baratheon.html

http://www.contactmusic.com/photos.nsf/main/stephen_dillane_2391427 —>
http://gameofthrones.net/resources/48-images/346-portrait-of-davos-seaworth.html

would be much better

Liam Cuningham has a great profile and Oliver Ford Davies I’ve seen him in Star Wars only, not much of huge roll though.

It’s funny because they seem to look for someone who his experienced and well covered and another one with experience but doesn’t cost much on the budget. Are they going for double the CGI? We’ll see. :)

So who gets cast next? I am assuming Jojen and Meera won’t be in the series till episode 2, Jacquen won’t be there till episode 5 or so, Halfhand we won’t be seeing until episode 7 or 8. So who next? Edmure and the Tully family are getting cast next I guess since the Tullys will have to be introduced in the 11th episode.

I really don’t know why I just answered my own question…..

John W,

It seems to me…

That they’re going to cast a new actor for Jaqen and then that actor will turn into whomever they cast as the Alchemist in Season Four (or five?). That said, I have a further speculation that the show might have the Alchemist and Syrio be the same person, whether or not that’s the case in the books.

Thank the old gods we got Cunningham from Camelot, and not Eva Green, as some people seemed to hope. He’ll be great as Davos.

I don’t check the site for a couple of days, and suddenly…! :D

I think all of these are solid casting choices – good actors who’ll do the parts justice, one and all. Still hoping they get Purefoy in somewhere down the line – Oberyn or Mance Rayder, like some people have said, would be good smallish parts he could shine in. But yes, very pleased with these announcements. And with the relative lack of “gates” so far compared to some of the casting threads I lurked on last year. Still time for that, I guess… :D

It would no doubt be caddish in the extreme for me to suggest Carice Van Houten would be really good at the old sexpositioning, having seen her (a lot of her) in Black Book. So I won’t (but seriously, if you read this Mr Cogman or anybody…try and get D&D to at least consider it…).

Er…

paulgude,

As to your ” It seems to me..” can you imagine the huge SQUEEEE ! emanating from living rooms around the world ? The most I’d dared imagine was a sort of ghostly, brief morph to Syrio between J and A. Your suggestion would be cheaper..why pay 3 when you can pay2 ?

Julian Walker:
So who gets cast next? I am assuming Jojen and Meera won’t be in the series till episode 2, Jacquen won’t be there till episode 5 or so, Halfhand we won’t be seeing until episode 7 or 8. So who next? Edmure and the Tully family are getting cast next I guess since the Tullys will have to be introduced in the 11th episode.

I really don’t know why I just answered my own question…..

Julian, what episode they appear is rarely relevant. Shoots like this will be scheduled around the locations, the talent (actors) and the directors. They could shoot Winterfell in September, for example.

obsidian,

Yeah…

While it doesn’t seem to work logistically in the books, the TV show may choose to consolidate Syrio and the Alchemist so that when Jaqen changes the audience goes, “Syrio!” instead of, “Who’s that guy?” and then not seeing him again for a whole season. Not to mention the description of the Alchemist, summarized by Tower of the Hand: “full cheeks, a shadow of a beard, a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black curls.” Sound familiar?

Davos usually wears gloves in the books, as I recall. So long as they have the bag of fingerbones around his neck I’ll be happy :D

this is my first time commenting here, i love your site and ive read all the asoiaf books except the new one, gonna pick it up as soon as i can! i thought the casting of melisandre was perfect, i watched black death a few weeks ago and i said to myself “wow thats melisandre.. but i guess that would never happen” and yet it did :) still unsure about the casting of stannis.. and now this liam dude is suppose to play davos? not at all how i imagined him… i guess we’ll have to see when the show starts, but i thought that henry aka desmond from lost wouldve been perfect as davos :(

Sansa’s Lemoncakes,

Thanks, totally missed that! Suffice to say … that’s awesome! :-D

Darn it, I want some more Syrio right now.

I have a suspicion that the Tullys will be cut from the show

All edmure does is screw Robb by holding the fords and then marries a frey not muhc impact and the father is sick the whole time and dies, that lets them cut some Cat stuff and show more Robb and then the Blackfish isnt needed either or any/most Riverlords this way they show more of Robb’s success and his marriage to the Westerling girl, more screen time for Robb will also make Red Wedding that much worse for non readers

Wonderful news. Davies is a very fine actor and will be a great Cressen. It’s just a shame that such a fine stage and screen actor only gets a small role. Still, it’s a rather pivotal role, introducingmany of the recurring characters who appear in Season Two.

Cunningham looks exactly as I picture Davos. I don’t know much about his acting credientials, but it’s a nice long list. He has experience on stage and screen and I trust Nina Gold and D&D to pick someone well-suited for such a meaty, recurring role.

paulgude:

While it doesn’t seem to work logistically in the books, the TV show may choose to consolidate Syrio and the Alchemist so that when Jaqen changes the audience goes, “Syrio!” instead of, “Who’s that guy?” and then not seeing him again for a whole season. Not to mention the description of the Alchemist, summarized by Tower of the Hand: “full cheeks, a shadow of a beard, a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black curls.” Sound familiar?

Brad Pitt?

Rob O Sevens,

The problem with your theory is: who then gets married at the RW? I’ll be very surprised if they cut Edmure, for that simple reason.

Inka,

I don’t think it fits with the book timeline, but think they may do it for the show anyway.

To me , he looks like Stannis more then Davos the head the face the beard. Perfect for Stannis.

Hurray for Cunningham! I’ve had a not-so-tiny crush in him ever since Falling for a Dancer – I’m happy he’s finally getting to play the good guy again. (What’s with the bad-guy label anyway? Is it because he’s got an interesting face versus generic-pretty-boy face?)

I’m generally really pleased with the casting for season 2, but I can’t wait to hear who they’ll get for Ygritte – personally I’m still rooting for Felicity Jones

Kristen,

Given that Ygritte has plenty of sex scenes (in fact a huge part of her screen time is such, and the she soon dies), I expect it will be a very low-key piece of casting.

I’m so over the moon with this news. Liam Cunningham is perfect for Davos. As others have said, if you haven’t seen hunger’, check it out.

Also…

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5294/5553237512_e8fa55e7ba_o.jpg

Davos and Melissandra in friendlier times :)

Thats all good news, I’m looking forward to the rest of the casting news!!
I think that the part of Ygritte should go to Rebecca Night. She does not perhaps look entirely like Ygritte, but she has an awesome accent and I just know she would be perfect.

For those of you looking to check out Liam Cunningham in action, he just did a couple episode run on Cinemax’s new action series called “Strike Back” (I imagine if you have HBO you probably also have Cinemax… check it out On Demand). He played a vicious Irish mercenary named Connolly. Different role than that of Davos but very intense. I think he’ll be an excellent choice.